Thursday, May 10, 2007

Old School.



[Disclaimer: I have no clue whether the links below will work or not. I tried on Monday evening to post the above YouTube video on my site, and here it just appeared today, so who knows what the hell YouTube will do.]

Isn't it cute when young folks today talk about "old school" with regard to music and they mean something by the Counting Crows? Tee-hee.

No, seriously, I'm feeling nostalgic for old school rap. I wanted to have my students look at some rap lyrics in class, and as I was searching around to find which ones I wanted to use, I started thinking about how much fun I had twenty-something years ago listening to folks like these guys...

Sugarhill Gang, Public Enemy, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, Sister Souljah, Kool Moe Dee (I know, stop laughing)...

5 comments:

andi said...

I used like artists like Grandmaster Flash and Ice T. They made you think, informed and entertained at the same time.
I don't "get" much of what passes for music these days, rap or otherwise, I guess I am just getting old.

SallySunshine said...

A lot of my friends growing up were aspiring musicians/artists of either a hip-hop or R&B bent. So, I was exposed to a lot of different hip-hop influences like….

Too Short, E-40, Rappin’ 4-Tay, Jodeci, Biggie, DJ Quik, Snoop, Three 6 Mafia, Lil’ Kim, Foxy Brown, Jay-Z, old school TuPac, Dre, LL Cool J and Outkast….. just to name a few.

Since many of the lyrics were not necessarily “woman positive” my girl friends and I made up different words and used them instead. We’d sit in my room for hours with my boom box smoking blunts (yes we rolled our own! heh) listening to hip-hop and coming up with our own lyrics. I think I may still have the lyrics we made up to “Playerz Club” by Rappin 4-Tay somewhere in one of my old notebooks.

I remember when I first discovered Lil’ Kim when I was in high school. Her album “Hard Core” totally blew me out of the water. Her sassy attitude and biting lyrics were just what I needed then. In fact, at the gym these days you can still catch me listening to “Big Mamma Thang” or “Dreams”.

Here are some lyrics from “Dreams” - the song starts with Lil’ Kim sitting around with some of her girlfriends when she starts to drift off and dream about various male rappers.

You really have to hear it to get the full effect but here it is anyway…

“Gimme all the rhythm and blues niggas
then rock the shots of liquor
they make me cum quicker
rub between your belly like jelly
R.Kelly, you think you ballin but your body's callin
fuck the bumpin and grindin
have you jumpin and whinin while I'm climbin
i be doin groups like Troup body rockin H-Town
or Horace Brown watch out now
Baby face can pay the rent and cook me five meals
what the deal on that Prince cat
he be lookin kind of fruity but he can still eat the booty
Brian McKnight’s tight
Joe is lookin kinda slow and oh, what about D'Angelo
I want some of that brown sugar
so watch this rap bitch bust all
over ya nuts like……………………………”

I’m assuming certain feminists wouldn’t be too pleased with my hip-hop loving, mini-skirt wearin’, porn-watchin’ self, but, oh well, you can’t please everybody!

belledame222 said...

from Public Enemy to "Flava of Love." cringe.

unfortunately "commodify your dissent" is alive alive-O.

Plain(s)feminist said...

from Public Enemy to "Flava of Love." cringe.

God, I know.

Hahni said...

well my 10 year old has recently discovered Slick Rick, so we're having fun doing the old school rap/hip-hop thing.