Andrew Knox

HUM 125 – Music Journal #3

November 4th, 2010

Rap CD Music Journal #3

1. “How I Could Just Kill A Man” - Cypress Hill (1991)

I first heard of Cypress Hill when I saw a rerun of the music video for their biggest hit, “Insane
In The Brain.” A little while later, as my taste in hip-hop grew, I downloaded Black Sunday and
listened to it every morning on the way to school for a couple weeks. I didn't discover this song until I
re-listened to Rage Against The Machine's cover compilation album, Renegades, which featured this
song, as well as “Microphone Fiend” by Eric B. and Rakim and “Renegades of Funk” by Afrika
Bambaataa. “How I Could Just Kill A Man” was Cypress Hill's first chart hit. Cypress Hill is the first
Hispanic-American hip-hop group we have covered in this course.1
While listening to the song while writing this review, I noticed that the instrumentals during the
intro have a squealing sound reminiscent of Public Enemy. After this, a funky bass line slides in, and
before too long, the first verse kicks off. My favorite instrumental part is the bridge and the lead in to
the bridge, they have a surreal carnival sort of melody. B-Real has an excellent rhythmic delivery, as
well as a talent for internal rhyming (rhyming twice within the same line). My favorite segment of the
lyrics coming in the third verse: “time for some action, just a fraction of friction / I got the clearance to
run the interference / into your satellite, shinin' a battle light, / swing out the gat, and I know that will
gat ya right.”

2. “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)” - Digable Planets (1993)

I first heard Digable Planets at an alternative record store in Ballard. The album this song is on,
Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space), was playing on the store's stereo system, and was
featured on clearance at the counter for nine dollars. I had never heard such subtle and calm hip-hop
music before. My education in hip-hop thus far had been handled by Wu-Tang Clan, Cypress Hill and
Geto Boys. I had never heard such... “hippie hop” before. I took a chance, and decided to buy it. I
don't regret it.
As I have discovered more and more hip-hop artists, I've become aware that they occasionally
draw major components of their instrumentals from common sources. For instance, the bass line which
1 DeLine

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this song is built around was also used in KRS-One's song “Mortal Thought” from Return of the Boom
Bap. This connection is made almost spooky when you consider that Reachin' was released only one
day before Boom Bap, on September 27th, 1993.2 Another connection I've found is that one of
Ladybug's lines from “Where I'm From” (also from Reachin') is sampled in a lower pitch in “Spare a
Match” by Aesop Rock, from his album Float.3
Digable Planets is the first group we've covered in this course that is composed of both male
(Butterfly and Doodlebug) and female (Ladybug Mecca) members. In my opinion, Butterfly is the best
lyricist of the three. Coincidentally, Butterfly is from Seattle. Being part of the first wave of Jazz Rap
artists, Digable Planets thought of themselves as opening the door for artistic hip-hop: “Just sendin
chunky rhythms right down ya block / We be to rap what key be to lock.”

3. “Fight The Power” - Public Enemy (1989)

This is probably my favorite Public Enemy song. This is a different version than the one I used
to listen to on repeat; the quote at the beginning of the song was new to me, as well as some of the
scratching and looping in various parts. This is also the first time I've noticed that this song samples
“Planet Rock” by Afrika Bambaataa. This song popularized “Fight the Power” as a battle cry and call
to arms against oppression. It was used with such repetition in Spike Lee's film “Do the Right Thing”
that the two are inextricably linked.4 My favorite lines start out the second verse, lambasting white
cultural icons like Elvis Presley, “Elvis was a hero to most/ But he never meant shit to me, you see/
Straight up racist that sucker was simple and plain/ Motherfuck him and John Wayne.”

4. “Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang” - Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Doggy Dogg (1993)
If “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash had the definitive instrumental of the Old School era,
then “Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang” certainly was the indelible beat of 90's West Coast Gangsta Rap. With a
funky wah guitar strum overlaid with a high treble synth ditty, all piled on top of the best synth bass
line I've ever heard and a programmed drum beat with snare clicks and hi-hat rings, Dr. Dre certainly
didn't just copy and paste this song. The hard work shows. This song also jump-started Snoop Dogg's
2 CD Universe, StarPulse
3 Aesop Rock
4 Warrell

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career. Snoop even teaches the nation how to spell his name in his second verse: “Fallin' back on that
ass, with a hellafied gangsta lean / Gettin' funky on the mic like a old batch of collard greens / It's the
capital S, oh yes I'm fresh, N double-O P / D O double-G Y, D O double-G, ya see / Showin' much flex
when it's time to wreck a mic / Pimpin' hoes and clockin' a grip like my name was Dolemite.” This
reference to popular “Blaxploitation” character Dolemite adds to the funky 70's vibe of the track.

5. “U Can't Touch This” - MC Hammer (1990)

Although more pop than hip-hop, MC Hammer's debut album, Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em,
sold more than ten million copies solely on the strength of this single. The instrumental is built around
“Super Freak” by Rick James, a fact James did not appreciate... he sued Hammer for copyright
infringement. The phrase “hammertime” was pretty funny until I turned fifteen and grew out of it.
Along with “Ice Ice Baby,” this song has generally been discounted as a cultural artifact of the late 80's
hip-hop mold. I'm not really a fan of songs with lyrics enthusiastically encouraging me to dance,
therefore, I'm not much of a fan of this song: “So wave your hands in the air / Bust a few moves, fun
your fingers through your hair/ This is it, for a winner / Dance to this and you're gonna get thinner.”

6. “Mind Playing Tricks On Me” - Geto Boys (1991)

For most of Senior Year, the intro to this song was my ringtone. I was really into the concept of
“losing my mind” back then. I was enthralled by the Geto Boy's mental illness-induced paranoia. This
delicious brand of paranoia spread over a tight instrumental: a sweet and calming funk riff sample
overpowered by a good drum machine beat. In the first verse, Scarface raps about his nightmares of a
man who “owns a black hat like I own / a black suit and a cane like my own” and is trying to kill him.
In the second verse, Willie D raps about how he thinks his car is being followed by one of his enemies,
so he pulls over and readies his gun, only to find, with a mixture of relief and embarrassment, that the
car following him was driven by “three black, crippled and crazy senior citizens.”
Verse three is about how the stress from the paranoia is starting to make Scarface crack. He
tries going to church, but he never finds solace. He begins suspecting his girlfriend is against him, she
leaves him and he regrets mistreating her. In verse four, Bushwick Bill tells the story of what happened
to him last Halloween. He and the other Geto Boys began the night stealing candy bags from children,

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until he spots the man from Scarface's nightmares. They chase him down and beat him up, stomping
and punching him into the pavement. Suddenly Bushwick realizes that he is hallucinating: “the more I
swung the more blood flew / Then he disappeared and my boys disappeared, too / Then I felt just like a
fiend / It wasn't even close to Halloween / It was dark as fuck on the streets / My hands were all bloody,
from punchin' on the concrete / God damn, homie / My mind is playin' tricks on me.” Scarface's verses
are my favorite, they straddle the line between paranoid gangster-ism and atonement. I thought Willie
D's verse was a bit too gangster for my tastes, and with several years of musical growth, I now
recognize that Bushwick's delivery isn't the best. But, hey, name another crew that has a dwarf with
one eye for an MC?

7. “No Vaseline” - Ice Cube (1991)

This is one hell of a vicious diss track against the remaining members of N.W.A. and their
corporate masters, Ruthless Records. Ice Cube leaves no holds barred. There is no intro, the song just
crashes into the first verse, where Cube savors the revenge he has in store. The beef between these
former homies arose from a financial dispute. Ice Cube was the main creative force in N.W.A., having
written about half of the lyrics for Straight Outta Compton, and he felt that Eazy E and Jerry Heller
(N.W.A.'s manager and CEO of Ruthless Records) were conspiring to rip off the rest of the group. The
disputes over royalties intensified until Ice Cube left the group in 1989.5 Ice Cube explained to XXL
Magazine how the feud escalated once Cube was preparing his solo debut album, “I wanted Dr. Dre to
do AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted, but Jerry Heller vetoed that. So since he vetoed that shit—and I’m
pretty sure Eazy didn’t want Dre to do it. But... Dre wanted to do my record.”6
On the next N.W.A. album, the tracks “Message to B.A.” and “Real Niggaz” attacked Ice Cube,
calling him “Benedict Arnold.” These songs apparently made Cube so angry that he just had to write
this song as a scathing response. He claims that as soon as the band hit it big, they “moved Straight
Outta Compton.” Because of the aforementioned animosity, Eazy E was the primary target of Cube's
lyrical abuse, “half-pint bitch, fuckin' your homeboys. / You little maggot; Eazy E turned faggot. / With
your manager, fella, / fuckin' MC Ren, Dr. Dre, and Yella. / But if they were smart as me, / Eazy E

5 Leigh
6 Staff

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would be hangin' from a tree. / With no Vaseline, just a match and a little bit of gasoline. / Light 'em up,
burn 'em up, flame on... / till that Jheri curl is gone.” Nevertheless, the other members were not spared.
Cube criticized Dr. Dre's rap skills, “stick to producing,” called DJ Yella a “yella boy” (cowardly) and
called MC Ren “Kunta Kinte,” a reference to the 70's mini-series Roots.

8. “The Humpty Dance” - Digital Underground (1989)

This track is a nice break from the overly serious tone of the compilation so far. It's a funny,
purposefully corny track about a sex-obsessed weirdo trying to popularize a dance named after himself
that resembles “M.C. Hammer on crack.” Humpty Hump was the over-the-top alter ego of Digital
Underground MC Shock G. Humpty's appearance in the music video for “The Humpty Dance”
introduced America to one of rap's weirdest characters, a nasal-y, nerdy looking MC in a gray plaid
suit, polka dot tie, fur hat and Groucho Marx gag glasses.
Shock G was so determined to maintain the illusion that he and Humpty Hump were different
people that during live concerts, Shock would have his younger brother, Kent Racker, dress up in
Humpty's distinctive costume and lip-synch his lines. For a long time, the illusion was perfect. Shock
remarked in an interview with the San Francisco Weekly that “to this day, those 60 or 70,000 people at
that Summer Jam still argue about whether it was the real Humpty or not.”7 Humpty's lyrics were as
crass as his clothing. In the first verse, he mocks a fat girl and brags about having sex in the bathroom
at Burger King. Real classy. I must say, I don't really like this song, but I appreciate what it was.

9. “Ice Ice Baby” - Vanilla Ice (1989)

While this song made Vanilla Ice's debut album, To the Extreme, the fastest selling hip-hop
record thus far, it also set white rappers back ten years. Not till Eminem rose to fame was a white MC
able to be taken seriously again. Vanilla Ice didn't sully white people's reputation in regards to hip-hop
music, since it was non-existent from the beginning, but he seemed to provide evidence for the theory
that the music industry was searching for profits by co-opting black ghetto culture and repackaging it in
a white wrapper, hoping it would appeal to a wider audience. Ice tried to demonstrate his
(manufactured) credibility by rapping about his guns and his car chases, but nearly everyone saw
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through his charade. What the hell does “stop, collaborate and listen” mean anyway?
One reviewer, looking back at the track several years later, described the cause of the Vanilla Ice
backlash, “Ice's undoing wasn't so much his actual music as it was his fabricated credibility -- his
wholly imaginary street-gang background, his ridiculous claims that 'Ice Ice Baby' was not built on an
obvious sample of Queen and David Bowie's 'Under Pressure.' It's hard to listen to To the Extreme now
and believe a word he's saying; the posturing just doesn't ring true at all.” Later, the same reviewer
starts to give a backhanded compliment, “Ice's mic technique is actually stronger and more nimble than
MC Hammer's, and he really tries earnestly to show off the skills he does have,” but this soon morphs
into a backhand slap to the face, “unfortunately, even if he can keep a mid-tempo pace, his flow is
rhythmically stiff, and his voice has an odd timbre; plus, he never seems sure of the proper accent to
adopt.”8 Today, thankfully, Vanilla Ice's legacy is all but forgotten.

10. “Crumblin' Erb” - OutKast (1994)

By 1994, West Coast Gangsta Rap was dominating the hip-hop charts and senseless gangland
killings were on the rise. This was the environment into which OutKast released their debut album,
Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. While “Crumblin' Erb” was never released as a single, the song's
message of “stop the violence and smoke a blunt instead” probably had a positive mellowing effect.
The song is laid-back, calm, reminiscent of 60's RnB, symbolizing OutKast's belief that marijuana can
bring about gangland armistice. The chorus argues that life is too short to squander it on killing each
other over money and territory, that life is better spent relaxing, enjoying the world and getting blazed.
Andre 3000 may be the main proponent of this peacenik stoner 'tude, since inBig Boi's verse, he brags
about vehicular manslaughter, gun modification and general gansta fare: “I'm runnin niggaz over like a
ninety-fo' Lexus, test it / Ten millimeters, count 'em nigga, fuck a nine / See, I added a millimeter for
y'all niggaz doin crimes and drivebys / Kiss yo' ass bye-bye, sayanora suckers.”

11. “I Used to Love H.E.R.” - Common (1994)

This is one of the most lyrically creative songs on any of the discs so far. It is an extended
metaphor, personifying the history of hip-hop music into a woman Common used to love. “H.E.R.”
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stands for “Hearing Every Rhyme,” therefore, the song's full title is “I Used to Love Hearing Every
Rhyme.” In the first verse, Common describes when he first met Hip-Hop, how she was a church girl,
but still occasionally got freaky on the side. In the second verse, he describes how while Hip-Hop may
have been proclaiming the values of social consciousness and Afro-centrism, she was becoming more
promiscuous during her travels, eventually getting to Los Angeles and getting into the “hood.” In L.A.,
a record company executive found her and “told her if she got an image and a gimmick / that she could
make money, and she did it like a dummy.” Common is disappointed in her fall from consciousness to
violence and ignorance: “now she's a gangsta rollin with gangsta bitches / Always smokin' blunts and
gettin' drunk / Tellin' me sad stories, now she only fucks with the funk / Stressin' how hardcore and real
she is.” The part about funk is a reference to Dr. Dre's p-funk production style.

12. “U.N.I.T.Y.” - Queen Latifah (1993)

In this song, Queen Latifah expands on her message of female empowerment, aggressively
rejecting labels like “bitch” and “ho” and imploring fellow women to not stand for sexist treatment
from men: “you gotta let 'em know, you're not a bitch or a ho.” She also takes a stand against the trend
of “Gangsta Bitches,” women emulating the male gangsta aesthetic, since there is already enough
violence: “there's plenty of people out there with triggers ready to pull it / Why you trying to jump in
front of the bullet.” The instrumental is made from a drum machine, a soulful and low bass line, and
saxophone samples.

13. “Baby Got Back” - Sir Mix-A-Lot (1992)

The song starts with an infamous conversation between two valley girls, “oh my god, Becky,
look at her butt.” This song is both extremely sexist and sexy; both offensive and catchy. It has been
described as “the most famous song about the female posterior ever written.” While this song made Sir
Mix-a-Lot a one-hit wonder on the national scene, some argue that the infamy surrounding this song
ostracized the Seattle hip-hop scene from the rest of America. While extremely vulgar, the song was
very popular with a wide cross-section of society, a parody version at a Washington Mutual vacation
retreat in Hawaii in 2006 went like this: “I like big bucks and I cannot lie / You mortgage brokers can’t
deny / That when the dough rolls in like you’re printin’ your own cash / And you gotta make a splash /

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You just spendz / Like it never ends / Cuz you gotta have that big new Benz / All of that bling you’re
wearin’ / Shining so bright people's starin’ / It’s crazy, I gotta ski Aspen / That’s all I’m askin'.”9

14. “We're All In The Same Gang” - West Coast All Stars (1990)
This song is a massive collaboration between many big name hip-hop stars calling for a stop to
gang violence and black unity. The song features verses by King Tee, Body & Soul (including Dee
Barnes), Def Jef, Michel'le, Tone-Loc, Above The Law, Ice-T, Dr. Dre, MC Ren, Eazy-E, J.J. Fad,
Young MC, Digital Underground (Money-B and Shock G/Humpty Hump), Oaktown's 3.5.7 and MC
Hammer. Dr. Dre produced the song, blending in certain elements of hit songs by some of the featured
artists: “Dre, meanwhile, had a bit more fun with his contribution by splicing in 16-bar interpolations of
the featured artist’s 'hits' (Ice-T’s verse over “Colors” and Digital Underground’s over “The Humpty
Dance”) and CNN clips about gang violence to break the monotony.”10
The song has a decidedly anti-white message, especially in Ice T's verse: “What if we could
take our enemies, feed em poison / Undereducate their girls and boys and / Split em up, make em fight
one another / Better yet, make 'em kill for a color.” But I suppose if Ice T was asked to clarify, he
would say that he doesn't view all white people as enemies, just the corporate masters that pull the
strings of world affairs. Digital Underground suggests in their verse that America demonizes black
people, but black people, many caught in a vicious cycle of gang violence, don't do enough to disprove
these perceptions: “Other races, they say we act like rats in a cage / I tried to argue, but check it, every
night in the news / We prove them suckers right and I got the blues.”

15. “So Many Tears” - Tupac Shakur (1995)

At this moment, it strikes me as odd to think that this is the first Tupac song I have ever listened
to. I don't understand how this could’ve happened, but I guess it did. This song was produced by
Shock G of Digital Underground fame. This is made even more interesting by the fact that Tupac got
his start in the music industry as a backup dancer in Digital Underground. This song is about the
emotional pain suffered by the survivors of victims of gangland violence, forever scarred by the loss of

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dear friends and family. In the song, Tupac spends his days daydreaming about how he could be next,
how his enemies are plotting to kill him next: “there was no mercy on the streets, I couldn't rest / I'm
barely standin', bout to go to pieces, screamin' peace / And though my soul was deleted, I couldn't see it
/ I had my mind full of demons tryin' to break free / They planted seeds and they hatched, sparkin' the
flame / inside my brain like a match, such a dirty game.” He was killed in a drive-by shooting on the
Las Vegas Strip a little over a year later.11

11 AllEyezOnMe

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Works Cited:
• Aesop Rock. "Spare a Match." Sing365, 14 Feb 2008. Web. 5 Nov 2010.
<http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Spare-a-Match-lyrics-Aesop-
Rock/1AD827611E83588348256D0B0010CEEF>.
• AllEyezOnMe. "2Pac Biography." 2Pac Online, 2 Jul 2005. Web. 6 Nov 2010.
<http://www.alleyezonme.com/bio/index.phtml>.
• CD Universe. "KRS-One Return Of The Boom Bap CD." 28 Sep 1993. Web. 4 Nov 2010.
<http://cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1004739/a/Return+Of+The+Boom+Bap.htm>.
• DeLine, Chris. "Refresher Course: Cypress Hill." Culture Bully, 16 Apr 2010. Web. 4 Nov
2010. <http://www.culturebully.com/cypress-hill-refresher-course>.
• Elliott, Kevin. "Self-Destruction vs. We’re All in the Same Gang." Stylus Magazine, 5 May
2007. Web. 4 Nov 2010. <http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/vs/self-destruction-vs-were-
all-in-the-same-gang.htm>.
• Huey, Steve. "To the Extreme - Vanilla Ice." AllMusic, 17 Jan 2008. Web. 6 Nov 2010.
<http://www.allmusic.com/album/to-the-extreme-r28388/review>.
• Javers, Eamon. "WaMu lenders sang 'I like big bucks'." Politico, 13 Apr 2010. Web. 6 Nov
2010. <http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0410/35779.html>.
• Leigh, Danny. "Chillin' with Cube." The Guardian UK, 25 Feb 2000. Web. 6 Nov 2010.
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2000/feb/25/icecube>.
• Mlynar, Phillip. "Shock G 'Fesses Up About Humpty Hump." San Francisco Weekly, 25 May
2010. Web. 6 Nov 2010.
<http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown/2010/05/shock_g_fesses_up_about_humpty.php>.
• Staff, XXL. "Ice Cube, AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted Retrospective [20 Years Later]." XXL
Magazine, 16 May 2010. Web. 6 Nov 2010. <http://www.xxlmag.com/online/?p=79574>.
• StarPulse. "KRS-One Return Of The Boom Bap CD." 27 Sep 1993. Web. 4 Nov 2010.
<http://www.starpulse.com/Music/Digable_Planets/Discography/album/P26355/R72389/>.
• Warrell, Laura. "Fight the Power." Salon.com, 3 Jun 2002. Web. 5 Nov 2010.
<http://www.salon.com/entertainment/masterpiece/2002/06/03/fight_the_power/>.

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Tracklist / Lyrics Sources:

1. “How I Could Just Kill A Man” - Cypress Hill (1991)

◦ http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/cypress/cyp_hill/killaman.cyp.txt

2. “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)” - Digable Planets (1993)

◦ http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/digablep/reachin/coollike.pln.txt

3. “Fight The Power” - Public Enemy (1989)

◦ http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/pb_enemy/fear_of/fightthe.pbe.txt

4. “Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang” - Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Doggy Dogg (1993)
◦ http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/dr_dre/chronic/g_thang.dre.txt

5. “U Can't Touch This” - MC Hammer (1990)

◦ http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/hammer/please/u_cant.ham.txt

6. “Mind Playing Tricks On Me” - Geto Boys (1991)

◦ http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/getoboys/stopped/mindptom.gtb.txt

7. “No Vaseline” - Ice Cube (1991)

◦ http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/ice_cube/death/vaseline.cub.txt

8. “The Humpty Dance” - Digital Underground (1989)

◦ http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/digitalu/packets/humpty_d.dig.txt

9. “Ice Ice Baby” - Vanilla Ice (1989)

◦ http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/van_fake/extreme/ice_baby.van.txt

10. “Crumblin' Erb” - Outkast (1994)

◦ http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/outkast/southern/crumblin.otk.txt

11. “I Used to Love H.E.R.” - Common (1994)

◦ http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/common/resurrct/love_her.cms.txt

12. “U.N.I.T.Y.” - Queen Latifah (1993)

◦ http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/qlatifah/blkreign/unity.lah.txt

13. “Baby Got Back” - Sir Mix-A-Lot (1992)

◦ http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/sirmixal/mckdaddy/baby_got.srm.txt

14. “We're All In The Same Gang” - West Coast All Stars (1990)
◦ http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/rap_comp/samegang/samegang.gng.txt

15. “So Many Tears” - Tupac Shakur (1995)

◦ http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/2_pac/matworld/so_many.2pc.txt

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