Monday, October 18, 2010

Party and Bullshit





People seem to have trouble with the lyrics of this song, as if it exemplifies, as its name suggests, the most morally and intellectually vacuous kinds of music. But as with everything, you really have to appreciate it for what it is: a perfectly unending stream of wobbly gravitas. Always a man of contradictions, Biggie smothers quite a large pill of uncertainty in a thick and potent honey of violence, drugs, and lechery. Yet one can only marvel at his insistence: the perfectly unbroken line that lays across the first verse, or the perfectly placed spondee in the second ("ain't no stopping Big Poppa, I'm a BAD BOY"), one of my favorite moments in hip-hop. Its the production that most completely reveals the complexity of his lyrics, backing his nervous confidence with a beat that wavers like a swing set in a thunderstorm. Party may be in the title, but I've never been to one where it was played, and I don't think I'd have enjoyed it if I had.

No comments:

Post a Comment