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A Serious Question

2008-03-17 | by hrrundivbakshi [mail]

I really like this "song." The serious question is "why"?

I look forward to your responses.

HVB

11 comments

Comment from: Mr. Moderator [Member]
About 44 seconds into this performance, when he raps, "Living room, bedroom, dinettes..." he shows a real facility for turning the beat around. The guy's got mad rapping skills, the beats are mos def, and he can bust a move? This should have been one of those Sugarhill hits. Fantastic!
2008-03-14 @ 13:21
Comment from: shawnkilroy [Member] Email
you like it because it's good.
he found some subject matter that's not all bling, gang-banggin, and mysogeny.
everyone can relate to dinettes.
it's positive!
2008-03-14 @ 13:31
Comment from: alexmagic [Member] Email
You enjoy the way that it seems to combine the “Cha-Cha Slide” with the classic old school feel of, perhaps, “Jam On It” by Newcleus. Also, you enjoy the vocal effects that crop up in the second half of the song, which keep you from changing the channel, instead lingering long enough to start wondering if maybe you really could use a new dinette set. You could, by the way.

Additionally, while you may not want others to know this, you have begun imitating Sammy Stephens’ “Mini Mall Rap” dance, and you will break out these moves at the next wedding you attend. You will have had too much to drink at this wedding, even though I’m warning you now to slow down a little.
2008-03-14 @ 14:39
Comment from: BigSteve [Member] Email
It's all about the rhythm, and you can tell this guy has it by the way he moves all that mass around.

I've actually driven past his establishment many times. One of my best friends lives in Montgomery, I've visited a lot, and I even lived there for three months when I was evacuated after Katrina. If I recall correctly it's on 'the bypass,' in the part of town where the malls used to be patronized by the white people who have moved farther out and only shop at Eastchase now. If I ever get back down there I might be tempted to stop by, though I have a feeling my buddy Frank will decline to accompany me.
2008-03-14 @ 14:54
Comment from: Rick Massimo [Member] Email
Additionally, while you may not want others to know this, you have begun imitating Sammy Stephens’ “Mini Mall Rap” dance, and you will break out these moves at the next wedding you attend. You will have had too much to drink at this wedding, even though I’m warning you now to slow down a little.

Partial Post of the Day!

Seriously, it's pretty good. In the 15-20 years they've been putting rap into commercials, this is the first one I know of that was obviously produced by someone who probably has actually made a rap record before, or at least wants to - as opposed to something knocked off disdainfully by a grumbling, balding, pony-tailed 50-year-old CSNY fan.

And for a furniture seller, the guy's got skills, which is also generational - hip-hop's old enough that kids who may have done a bit of rapping when they were in high school are now furniture sellers.

Also, for what it is, the production values are pretty high in general.
2008-03-14 @ 15:26
Comment from: sammymaudlin [Member]
Because, as a kid, you used to love Fat Albert. Hey Hey (hey).
2008-03-14 @ 17:14
Comment from: hrrundivbakshi [Member] Email
You know, I think Shawnkilroy is right. The main reason I like this "song" is because I can relate to it. All this guy wants to do is entertain me in the hopes that I'll buy a bedroom set from him. The simplicity of the message is downright refreshing, in this age of shoe-gazing tortured metaphor, bling/ho braggadocio and all kinds of other shit that requires me to understand somebody else's weird obsessions in order to say I'm a music fan. All I need to do to complete the artist/audience mystical circle is buy a chair or two. I am so down with that -- it's downright Buddhist, people!

HVB
2008-03-14 @ 19:15
Comment from: 2000 man [Member] Email · http://www.whammoblammo.blogspot.com/
That's some butt ugly furniture.
2008-03-14 @ 19:19
Comment from: Telewacker [Member] Email · http://jungleofcities.com
He's got the Mike Singletary eyeball thing going on...

2000 man - s'not butt ugly - I think I have that same divan - except I had to go all the way to the dang mini mall...
2008-03-14 @ 20:09
Comment from: saturnismine [Member] Email
sheesh, hvb, the next time you want to know why you "like" a song, don't forget to say "hold the crescent city geography lesson".

for the record, hvb, i think shawnkilroy is right, too. it IS good.
2008-03-14 @ 20:41
Comment from: mwall [Member] Email
HVB is very consistent, there's no doubt. For him it's all about performance in the service of values. Seriously. He's really a cultural studies guy, like Dr. John, albeit of a surprising sort.
2008-03-14 @ 20:56

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