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As soon as I ask “where have all the rappers gone?” I find myself engulfed by them... so before I get into Wiz Khalifa, I'm going to ask: where have all the bands gone? I'm not just curious-- I'm praying I can evoke them the way I've evoked rappers. Here's hoping.Song:
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As for “Black and Yellow,” I'm discovering that my measure of these songs' worth fall into two very easy categories: separating the wheat from the chaff is as easy as determining “does this song have any personality?” That may just be my particular relationship with music, but I'm usually going to value a song that has the stamp of effort and humanity above a song that sounds perfectly engineered to end up on the charts regardless of who sings it.
And now we break from pop music to explore the dominant themes in the writings of George Orwell...
Just kidding. (but not really)
There are so many hilarious mistakes in the brag track “Black and Yellow” that it sort of demands respect for being such an individual's song. From the weirdly Christmas carol opening to the main theme (apparently, his car is black and yellow: “the niggas' scared of it, but the ho's ain't”), there isn't actually anything good about this song, but it's so humorously, badly written that it's a hell of a lot more endearing than a lot of the bad songs I've heard so far. There's no way a pop producer or media guru made this song happen.
The goofy “Jingle Bells” chorus (which also opens the song) is part of it: where Waka Flocka Flame's song was dramatically epic, Wiz Khalifa's sounds like a Christmastime commercial for bargain kitchenware. This is music that invites Dick Van Dyke down the chimney... it's even funnier in a song that is mostly one guy bragging about how sexy and dangerous he is.
MCs and rappers, more than anyone else in music (except maybe the black metal guys... but I doubt they're going to be popping up here anytime soon), represent their image in words; Wiz Khalifa doesn't come across as a particularly bright guy. For one, even if his car impresses guys and attracts women, talking endlessly about his car does nothing but make him sound like a huge douche, and his delivery doesn't exactly make him sound clever.
My favorite part of this affair is that the ridiculous Christmas chorus is, verbatim “Yeah! Ah-ah, you know what it is. Black and yellow, black and yellow, black and yellow, black and yellow,” and... while I figure that we all get the point of the song... by the end he calls us all out: “You already know what it is. If you don't, you should by now.” The constant harping on what it is keeps bringing Grandpa Simpson into my head.
Moving on, lyrics like “not a lesbian, she a freak, though” remind me of the parallels between the current hip hop and R&B scene and 80's party rock hair metal-- these are dim guys who relate to the whole world through the prism of a giant ego. Big houses and shiny cars... now bring me the women. For this song, that isn't even symbolic; the car really is the whole point, and Khalifa thinks it makes women want him and men want to be him.
Embracing the fact that this is not the way a hip with the ladies, admired by the fellas, suave, cool guy talks (I have a really nice car! You should see it!), I'll take the funny-bad music over the bland-bad any day... but outside of a good laugh, I'm not needing to hear this one again.
Please tell me this guy's not a superstar.
And now we break from pop music to explore the dominant themes in the writings of George Orwell...
 |
| Just imagine the car... |
There are so many hilarious mistakes in the brag track “Black and Yellow” that it sort of demands respect for being such an individual's song. From the weirdly Christmas carol opening to the main theme (apparently, his car is black and yellow: “the niggas' scared of it, but the ho's ain't”), there isn't actually anything good about this song, but it's so humorously, badly written that it's a hell of a lot more endearing than a lot of the bad songs I've heard so far. There's no way a pop producer or media guru made this song happen.
The goofy “Jingle Bells” chorus (which also opens the song) is part of it: where Waka Flocka Flame's song was dramatically epic, Wiz Khalifa's sounds like a Christmastime commercial for bargain kitchenware. This is music that invites Dick Van Dyke down the chimney... it's even funnier in a song that is mostly one guy bragging about how sexy and dangerous he is.
MCs and rappers, more than anyone else in music (except maybe the black metal guys... but I doubt they're going to be popping up here anytime soon), represent their image in words; Wiz Khalifa doesn't come across as a particularly bright guy. For one, even if his car impresses guys and attracts women, talking endlessly about his car does nothing but make him sound like a huge douche, and his delivery doesn't exactly make him sound clever.
My favorite part of this affair is that the ridiculous Christmas chorus is, verbatim “Yeah! Ah-ah, you know what it is. Black and yellow, black and yellow, black and yellow, black and yellow,” and... while I figure that we all get the point of the song... by the end he calls us all out: “You already know what it is. If you don't, you should by now.” The constant harping on what it is keeps bringing Grandpa Simpson into my head.
Moving on, lyrics like “not a lesbian, she a freak, though” remind me of the parallels between the current hip hop and R&B scene and 80's party rock hair metal-- these are dim guys who relate to the whole world through the prism of a giant ego. Big houses and shiny cars... now bring me the women. For this song, that isn't even symbolic; the car really is the whole point, and Khalifa thinks it makes women want him and men want to be him.
Embracing the fact that this is not the way a hip with the ladies, admired by the fellas, suave, cool guy talks (I have a really nice car! You should see it!), I'll take the funny-bad music over the bland-bad any day... but outside of a good laugh, I'm not needing to hear this one again.
Please tell me this guy's not a superstar.
Stay with the song, walk away, or run like hell:
I find it interesting that the songs that annoy the HELL out of me are the ones that entertain you.
ReplyDeleteYour reviews surprise me. Thanks for doing them!