Common ft. Lily Allen - 'Drivin' Me Wild'
Aww I LOVE it when rappers do that 'State of the Nation' thing. Y'know, when they use their rap reportage skills (don't say 'raportage', it's beneath you) to define just exactly where things are at with the great state of Hip Hop. And seeing as the rapper's most prized superpower is the ability to see through bullcack and describe reality as it really is, these rap reports (again, a pun is not necessary here) tend to be pretty damning - like Nas with his cheery 'Hip Hop Is Dead'....
Now, this is along those lines, only because it comes from the mouth of a rapper like Common, who seems to be empowered with a supernatural degree of compassion - unless he just seems compassionate compared to the majority of his mirror-kissing fellow rappers - his picture is broader, and takes in the impact modern celebrity culture is having on people.
So, there's two people in this song, a girl and a guy. The girl is more obsessed with her shapely body than FERGIE HERSELF, and spends every spare moment, and every spare penny on her punishing beauty regime, at the cost of, y'know, enjoying her life. And for what?
The guy is someone who had no need to act like he pulled himself out of a rough neighbourhood, no need to flash his cash like he's never seen that much before and he's got peoples faces to rub it into, and no need to act like he's street, because he's not. But he's such a massive rap fan that he wants to act like his idols, people who HAVE experienced punishing lows before hitting the dizzying heights.
In the wrong hands, these characters could wind up like the bloke in 'Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)', a figure of fun for smug musicians to point at (yeah, cos the Offspring are like, SO WAY COOL). And this is where Common's compassion comes to the fore. He takes the time in the third verse to say these are not stupid people, or that they should be mocked, he's just saying it's a shame the things that we all feel we need to do to prove ourselves, when all we really need to do is BE ourselves.
And look! He brought Lily Allen along to coo beautifully into everyone's ears as an extra treat. What. A. Man.
Download: Out now
CD Released: October 14th
(Fraser McAlpine)
Comments
The Offpspring ARE cool!
*sings* 'they didn't have Ice Cube, so he bought Vanilla Ice. . . '
[Don't get me started on the Offspring...we'll be here hours! - Fraser]
The Offspring ARE cool!
Get started, man.. it's 2 to 1 as of now :P
Yeah, come on Fraser. State your case. . . or I'll keep singing.
*sings* 'you gotta keep em seperated'
OK, I'm even using a whole new comment, that's how important this thing is (to me).
So, the Offspring thing...
a) OMG that bloke has a terrible voice. Thin and reedy and strained and...just BAD. Not punkrock bad either.
b) I've a real inbuilt reaction against songs which claim to be satirical, but lack compassion. 'Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)' is a great pop song, totally ruined by the sneering lyric, which just seems to be saying "HA! THIS GUY IS SUCH A LOSER! HE'S NOT REMOTELY COOL LIKE WE ARE!!", which is a bit ripe coming from a thirty-five-year-old punk rocker who can't sing.
c) It would still be nasty even if the Offspring were the coolest band who ever were.
d) 'Get A Job'. They re-wrote 'Ob La Di, Ob La Da' and made it worse. That takes some doing.
e) Their pop punk never really did it for me. Green Day had the songs, Busted were a better pop band, and any of the original punk rockers were better punk rockers. So what's the point?
f) Seriously, that voice. OUCH!
That'll do for now. You did ask!
The point is that music is allowed to be pointless =D
[Of course it is! But not pointless and sucky. - Fraser]
I see, you raise some interesting points here. I will try and respond to them one at a time.
a) Dexter's voice is perfectly fitting for their style of music, just like Kurt Cobain's (who couldn't sing either) was for the whole grunge movement. The voice of a generation they called him!
2) Poking fun a someone is not nice and should in no way be tolerated. . . however if you've seen the video that accompanies this tune then you will see that this guy deserves it. Also, whilst your comment 'which is a bit ripe coming from a thirty-five-year-old punk rocker who can't sing' did make me laugh out load and have the whole of my office stare at me. I can only wish I am that cool when I reach 35. . . in 15 years time, scary!
c) The Offspring are one of the coolest bands there ever were, eclipsed only by a few including ZZ Top. Man, those beards are crazy!!
d) I actually agree with this point, both those songs are not great. The thing is 'Americana' really isn't one of there better albums, previous releases such as 'Smash!' and 'Ixnay on the Hombre' are infinitly better.
5) Obviously they cannot compare to the musical phenomenon that was Busted, however Green Day are insignificant next to Dexter, Noodles and the drummer. Even their more recent albums like 'Conspiracy of One' and 'Spinter' carry better tunes then any of that 'American Idiot' rubbish.
6) I like his voice, see point A.
In conclusion I feel The Offspring are a fun summery kind of band. Unfortunately I did not listen to them this summer. . . as we didn't have much of a summer I listened to HIM, a wintery band.
[a) No it isn't. It isn't it isn't it isn't. It's rubbish!
the rest was fair enough. Horses for courses and all that. Love your interesting numbering scheme too! - Fraser]
You really don't like his voice do you? Imagine if you had to interview him. . . or maybe you already have? lol
[Thankfully not. I'm sposed to be nice! - Fraser]
p.s. RE: the crazy numbering/lettering scheme, just me trying to be funny. . . think it paid off.
Also I'm loving the new colour scheme! Not only because it looks good, but also because it seems to let me post more comments. I write loads and only a few ever get up because I get annoying 'Proxy Time Out Errors'. But now, well its comment central for me!
[YAY! Keep it up, fella! - Fraser]
I didn't listen to them this summer either, but thanks to the reminder I'm making up for that now ;) Ixnaaaayyy :p