Treal Lee & Prince Rick having a brand new single out and yet another remix of Throwed Off (Fuck Everybody) - the biggest song at SXSW this year alongside Old School Nikes by Dorrough according to the homie Rob Breezy - that I was hitherto unaware of has reminded me that I never got around to posting about that 501 Levi's jam of theirs; a no-brainer for inclusion on the Emo-stripper themed mix Breezy and I have planned :
Treal Lee & Prince Rick - 501 Levi's
(From Throwed Off mixtape; 2011)
I wanna call this one of my favourite singles of 2011 to date, but there's this little obstacle in the form of a broad called Sharlie Brown with her half-rapped/half-sung quick 16 slap bang in the middle of the video preventing me since it totally besmirches the song's nucleus. I'm not even tryna be an anti-female rapper sexist pig here (I swear! I have a post about a Lil' Kim joint coming and I wholeheartedly echo Ray's sentiment that Gucci Gucci is the best rap song by a white female since Debbie Harry went in hard on Rapture, although Murder She Wrote by Tarrie B was an undeniable synth banger of the Lethal Weapon by Ice-T calibre), but a song about the sexual magnetism of classic menswear - and possibly not even LVC 501s but just regular $60 versions - isn't supposed to feature a chick getting her Cher Lloyd on about being "a t-shirt and jeans kinda girl", especially when her appearance gives the song an awkward aroma of that Victoria Beckham and M.O.P debacle. Thankfully, the mixtape version up there dispenses with Sharlie's services so if it isn't gonna make my year end singles countdown, then it'll at least feature in the regular mixtape/album cuts list. Hooray for small victories!
I'm diggin' the way these guys are building their whole oeuvre and mythology around phrases from their own early songs like Mystikal did. If the world is never going to be yours, then the next best option is building your own island where you can be king, right?
And speaking of Rapture by Blondie, Debbie Harry really doesn't get enough credit for her bravura next-level performance on that as it's still capable of leaving the greatest minds on Earth all "huh, what?" when attempting to decipher its cryptic poppycock lyrics 30 years on from 1981. Is the man from Mars eating a guitar as the last line in the song a subliminal zing aimed at the Disco Sucks! movement and their rockist former CBGBs peers or just an excuse for a bitchin' guitar-solo, and what on earth can "Francois sez fas, Flashe' no do" possibly even mean? Jimmy Spicer may have pipped her to the post, but ol' girl predated Rammellzee as far as stream-of-consciousness abtract-rap on wax goes, and I'd much rather watch Chris Stein and, um, whatever the names of the other dudes in Blondie were doing their dad-dancing in the Rapture video than watch a bunch of gurning fellas breakdancing in the Step Into A World clip.
3 comments:
"I'm diggin' the way these guys are building their whole oeuvre and mythology around phrases from their own early songs like Mystikal did"
Rother and Audio Two aswell, but yeh Mystikal made an art out of it alright.
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The videos of Treal Lee, Prince Rick and Mr Hit Dat Hoe dancing to their own songs in their suburban cul-de-sac are what endeared them to me.
Me too, Brother James. Mr Hit Dat Hoe's knee-stackage on his 501s is off the Yeltzebub in the clip where they're dancing to Get Off Me Now on Prince Rick's lawn.
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