This is how we dressed in the eighties, son.
If you grew up in the 80’s chances are you recognise the name Harry Allen as the man who, when asked by Public Enemy ‘Yo Harry are we that type?’ famously replied ‘Don’t believe the hype’. Turns out Harry Allen is a ‘hip-hop activist and journalist’ and, inevitably, he has a blog:
Why does rhyme work? Why does the act of mating like sounds grab a listener’s interest? I mean, when you think of it, why should so simple a trick hold the fascination of grown men and women, or anyone older than an infant?
It’s a good question and Allen is an interesting writer and blogger, although he has a tendency to lapse into academic jargon. Speaking of hip-hop and jargon, one of the fringe benefits of watching The Wire is that I can now understand pretty much everything Snoop Dogg says. I know this because he has a twitter account. Unlike most celebrity Twitterers I’m pretty sure it’s really him and not some publicist:
good mornizzle ma twizzles..i think its greenery time yezziiir!!!
wat is do doo doo p.e. squad funkadelic
been 4 dayz since been of here. Happy 420 ma tiwzzles may all your smokn dreams come true!! yeezzzziiirr!!
@ABabyBlueEyes babi blue wat it du?
Rounding out the random hip-hop based links, I love this Roots video trilogy from their awesome album Game Theory:
we’re addicted to pattern recognition. even when there isn’t one we like to think one might be there. Stop Making Sense, as someone once exhorted.
Comment by Neil — April 27, 2009 @ 10:41 am
I’ve just started watching the first season of the wire (up to ep7) and it’s F’n excellent. And yes, it’s a great catchup on “urban” (cough, pc, cough) slang
Comment by Chris — April 27, 2009 @ 11:13 am