Niggas In Paris

It's impossible.

 

I want to disagree. I really do. But I can't come up with any proof that she's wrong.

*raises the volume on 2 Live Crew's "Me So Horny"*

 

That being said, this is one of my favorite things ever recorded:

Spoken word, and awesome.

 

I prefer

.

I think there's a common theme among the crowd that asks, "Why is rap so meaningless?" that somewhere along the line, rappers lost sight of the genre's origin. That theory, to which Ms. Gray refers, is false. The origins of hip hop came when DJs were looking for ways to extend R&B breaks to create better dance music. They looped the breaks, juiced up the drums and added rhymes, most of which were nonsense or braggadocio, which spawned rap.

So, at its point of origin, rap was a sample, a beat and a black man boasting, which sounds pretty similar to what Ms. Gray and others lament. They'd be better off focusing on how much rap has grown in the time since Kool Herc. There's unbelievable potential to grow beyond mindless party music.

 

Oh, I know. Her point, largely, was the denigration of women and other black men, which I agree with. One can brag without being a misogynist or tossing "nigga" around quite so liberally.

Which is, of course, coming on a thread about a song called "Niggas in Paris." So there's that.

 

Just to throw some gas on the fire...

woke up quick, at about noon
jus' thought that i had to be in compton soon
i gotta get drunk before the day begins
before my mother starts bitchin about ma friends
about to go and damn near went blind
young niggaz at the path throwin up gang signs
ran in the house, and grabbed ma clip
wit the mack 10 on the side of ma hip
bailed outside and pointed ma weapon
just as i thought the fools kept steppin
jumped in the fo' hit the juice on ma ride
i got front back, and side to side
then i let the alpine play (play)
pumpin new shit by NWA
it was gangsta gangsta at the top of the list
then i played my own shit and it went somethin' like this
cruisin down the street in my six-fo''
jockin the bitches, slappin the hoes
went to the park to get the scoop
knuckleheads out there cold, shootin some hoops
a car pulls up, who can it be
a fresh El Camino rollin kilo G
he rolled down his window and he started to say
its all about makin that G.T.A.
(CHORUS)
coz the boys in the hood are always hard
you come talkin that trash, we'll pull ya card
knowin' nutin in life but to be legit'
dont quote me boy coz i aint said shit
(SCRATCHES) yo man
"Get the fuck out"
(SCRATCHES) pump that beat
"muthafucka, say what"
Down on B's is the place to give me the pace
he said ma man J.D. is on freebase
the boy J.D. was a friend of mine
'till i caught him in my car tryin to steal the Alpine
chased him down the street to call a truce
the silly muthafucka pulls out a deuce deuce
little did he know i had a loaded 12 guage
one sucker dead, L.A. Times front page
(CHORUS)
coz the boys in the hood are always hard
you come talkin that trash, well pull ya card
knowin' nutin in life but to be legit'
dont quote me boy coz i aint said shit
(SCRATCHES) "yo LeRoy"
(SCRATCHES) "beer drinkin breath stinkin sniffin glue"
bored as hell and i wanna get ill
so i went to a spot where ma homeboys chill
the fellas out there makin dat dollar
i pulled up in ma 6 fo' impala
they greet me wit a 40 and i start drinkin
and from the 8 ball, my breath starts stinkin
left to get ma girl to rock that body
before i left, i hit the bac-ardi
went to her house to get her out of the pad
dumb hoe said somethin that made me mad
she said somethin that i couldnt believe
so i grabbed the stupid bitch by her nappy-ass weave
she started talkin shit, wouldnt you know
reached back like a pimp, slapped the hoe
her father jumped up and he started to shout
so i threw a right cross and knocked his old-ass out
(CHORUS)
coz the boys in the hood are always hard
you come talkin that trash, well pull ya card
knowin' nutin in life but to be legit'
dont quote me boy coz i aint said shit
(SCRATCHES) "who do u think you are Mr. Big Stuff"
(SCRATCHES) "rock this muthafucka like the hard 3 tha hard way"
I'm rollin hard, now under control
then wrapped the 6 fo' round a telephone pole
i looked at ma car and i said "oh brother"
i'll throw it in the gutter and go buy another
walkin home and i seen the g ride
now cat is drivin, kilo on the side
as they busted a U, they got pulled over
a undercover cop in a dark green Nova
cat got beat for resistin arrest
he socked a pig in the head for rippin his Guess
now G is caught, for doin the crime
fourth offense on the boy, he'll do some time
(CHORUS)
coz the boys in the hood are always hard
you come talkin that trash, well pull ya card
knowin nutin in life but to be legit'
dont quote me boy coz i aint said shit
(SCRATCHES) L.A. playa
(SCRATCHES) big drum beater
i went to get them out but there was no bail
the fellas caused a riot in the county jail
two days later in municipal court
kilo g on trial cold cut a fart
obstruction of the court said the judge
on a six year sentence, ma man didnt budge
Baliff came over to turn him in
kilo G looked up and gave a grin
he yelled out fire, then came suzie
the bitch came in with a sub-machine uzi
police shot the bitch but they didnt hurt her
both upstate for attempted murder
(CHORUS)
coz the boys in the hood are always hard
you come talkin that trash, well pull ya card
knowin nutin in life but to be legit'
dont quote me boy coz i aint said shit
(SCRATCHES)
"yeah, i kicked a little ass
but that was a blast from the past muthafucka
(SCRATCHES) "get busy ya ya ya yall"

 

How is that gas on the fire, exactly?

 

That may be, but so long as Americans codify the crap and embrace West's fairly wretched worldview (which I suspect, at day's end, is really just a geek posturing) that potential remains docked at the listening station, so to speak.

I, for one, is rather interested to see how long people in their 30s and 40s - beginning to raise teenagers coming to an age of "choice" in their cultural interests - keep shoveling in the crap. How much more of The Bachelor? How much more of Jersey Shore? How much more of the shit rap music? It's fairly well know that these shows get a lot of mileage out of the Gen X crowd. (Many cultural extremes, such as evangelicalism, do.)

 

I remember getting Body Count's first album when I was a freshman in college and kind of being, "Wow, these lyrics are tough to listen to..." But that was so in your face that you couldn't ignore it. They were trying to get attention and get noticed.

 

Phil Mushnick in the Post:

 

Old white guy tries to make a clever point about hip hop and fails miserably. Film at 11.

 

No kidding...