I don't know how painful this was, but it is objectively funny to watch Jake Tapper painstakingly explaining these references like we don't all know them. Grim's Hall very rarely features hip-hop references, but even I knew all of these.
I was not aware of those hip hop references. The lyrics were clever--"insane on the brain." By the time hip hop was big, I had already developed my particular musical tastes.
That reminds me of a year teaching high school math in the 1990s. I played some music on my boombox before school started-- generally Jazz or Soca/Calypso. One of my students came by and requested that I let him put on some of his music. I listened to about a minute of it. Boom ba ba boom ba ba boom boom boom. I couldn't stand it any more, told him so, and turned it off.
That wasn't very tactful of me, I now see. All too often I was subjected to hearing "Boom ba ba boom ba ba boom boom boom" at 100 decibels from passing cars when I was walking down the street. As I result, I developed a visceral dislike of hip hop---or whatever you call it.
My student, who was black, replied that I didn't like black music. I pointed out to him a Lester Young CD of mine, so he saw that there was some black music I liked. What surprised me was that my student recognized one of the songs on the Lester Young CD---Shoe Shine boy.
The son of a childhood friend has spent his adulthood writing---journalism, screenwriting. He has written about hip hop matters in his journalism and screenwriting.
He was wrong perhaps to say that it was “black music”; Cypress Hill, which did the ‘insane/brain’ song, is Latin. House of Pain, whose ‘Jump Around’ was of the same era and still widely played, was white: Irish Americans from New York. I don’t contest his sense of pride in it, but like rockabilly and the blues, it’s a style that we would never have had without the black American influence, and yet also one that has integrated with America in was that have broadened it.
It’s not a surprise that he knew some of the old songs though. Hip hop itself is a vector. Very much of the best of it samples riffs and themes from older music, especially but not only black artists.
It's like Tapper himself only just figured them out, and like any first grader, is in a rush to explain "Did you know?"
ReplyDeleteEric Hines
"'Insane in the brain' is a reference to...."
ReplyDeleteWe know! We've all heard the song at least a thousand times.
I was not aware of those hip hop references. The lyrics were clever--"insane on the brain." By the time hip hop was big, I had already developed my particular musical tastes.
ReplyDeleteThat reminds me of a year teaching high school math in the 1990s. I played some music on my boombox before school started-- generally Jazz or Soca/Calypso. One of my students came by and requested that I let him put on some of his music. I listened to about a minute of it. Boom ba ba boom ba ba boom boom boom. I couldn't stand it any more, told him so, and turned it off.
That wasn't very tactful of me, I now see. All too often I was subjected to hearing "Boom ba ba boom ba ba boom boom boom" at 100 decibels from passing cars when I was walking down the street. As I result, I developed a visceral dislike of hip hop---or whatever you call it.
My student, who was black, replied that I didn't like black music. I pointed out to him a Lester Young CD of mine, so he saw that there was some black music I liked. What surprised me was that my student recognized one of the songs on the Lester Young CD---Shoe Shine boy.
The son of a childhood friend has spent his adulthood writing---journalism, screenwriting. He has written about hip hop matters in his journalism and screenwriting.
Gringo
He was wrong perhaps to say that it was “black music”; Cypress Hill, which did the ‘insane/brain’ song, is Latin. House of Pain, whose ‘Jump Around’ was of the same era and still widely played, was white: Irish Americans from New York. I don’t contest his sense of pride in it, but like rockabilly and the blues, it’s a style that we would never have had without the black American influence, and yet also one that has integrated with America in was that have broadened it.
DeleteIt’s not a surprise that he knew some of the old songs though. Hip hop itself is a vector. Very much of the best of it samples riffs and themes from older music, especially but not only black artists.