Continuing the theme from an earlier post about when rap music had only occasional rather than constant name-dropping of expensive brands, what ever happened to carefree and self-deprecating rap songs?
It seems like ever since the crime rate began falling, turning our culture more superficial and based on trivial one-upsmanship, people have been less able to have a good laugh at how bad their life can get sometimes, while still holding out hope that their luck will turn around. (And no, Seinfeld etc. only gave off mock self-deprecation.) The rap world is just a microcosm of the larger trend toward either overly exaggerated bragging about how awesome you are, or else wallowing in self-pity.
It's hard to imagine in the falling-crime era of bragging about your rims and other bling you've used to pimp your ride, but rappers used to have a sense of humor about the less-than-impressive cars they drove. Here's "My Hooptie" by Sir Mix-a-Lot from 1989, three years before "Baby Got Back." That year also saw the popular re-release of "Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble" by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, a lighthearted but not surrendering take on all the crazy shit that girls put guys through. I haven't listened to their first major albums since checking them out from the library over 20 years ago, but I recall a lot of their stuff being goofy like that, much like the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air show on TV.
Since I never got really into rap, I can't remember others off the top of my head, but I'm sure there must be some by the pre-gangsta rappers. The last one that sticks in memory is easily the best:
Positive K, "I Got a Man" (1992)
There weren't many hits from that bunch either. "My Hooptie" didn't chart, as best I can tell. "Girls ain't nothing but trouble" hit #81 on the rap charts. "I got a man" peaked at 10 on the rap charts and 14 on the top 100.
ReplyDeleteOther examples are Bushwick Bill's "Ever So Clear", which peaked at #49 on the rap charts and Nice & Smooth's "Sometimes I Rhyme Slow", which peaked at #1 on the rap charts along with the Geto Boys' "Mind Playing Tricks on Me" which peaked at #1 on the rap charts.
Honestly, your intuition of trivial one-upsmanship increasing in hip-hop doesn't resonate with me. Braggadocio seems like it was present from the very beginning of rap. From the battles over where rap start (i.e. MC Shan vs. KRS-One), to discussing the material wealth you had (though the aspirations of the rappers have changed from rolling in a Benzo from NWA's Fuck the Police to the Bentley name drops of more recent rappers), rap and upsmanship have been constantly present. It'd take a fine-grained analysis with some quantitative data to convince me otherwise. It'd be very convincing since I am initially skeptical if it could be offered.
It's my understanding that there is no sassy sista singing along with Positive K. The sista's voice is a computer altered Positive K...
ReplyDeleteThe shift your talking about started in the late 90's in the South w the Hot Boyz and Cash Money.
ReplyDeleteUp until that point, rap had lyrics about women, cars, and money, but it was all kind of generic. CM popularized the kind of fetish-like obssession rappers have w the nicest cars, jewels, women, etc. that you see today.
The ironic part is that they really didn't take themselves THAT seriously. There was always a hint (however small) of humor in their lyrics back then. However, then the North and the rest of the country caught on. And the entire rap scene has been one big pissing contest ever since.
Such a great article which intuition of trivial one-upsmanship increasing in hip-hop doesn't resonate with me.In which to discussed the material wealth you had though the aspirations of the rappers have changed from rolling in a Benzo from NWA's Fuck the Police to the Bentley name drops of more recent rappers. Thanks for sharing this article.
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