We movin' in time so fast. Sometimes I feel like da recent past is at a further distance than the recent past's recent past was back when the recent past was the present. The chasm of time is widening, the unit of the year is expanding, 365 days has stretched, a day is inflated, an hour in 2015 is longer than an hour in 2009, ya feel??? I know u do!
Case in point, the "Trap Goin' Ham" video, released to much fanfare and controversy in 2009. Pegged as a descendent of Juvenile's "Ha," the footage received the usual accusations of exploitation and poverty tourism from well-meaning scolds. The kerfuffle was such that Killer Mike, erstwhile weed carrier trying his hand at ownership by subcontracting to Pill, felt compelled to defend the video when asked about it. So did the Gray Lady's Jon Caramanica, who wrote, "teeming with substance-addled folks acting erratically, it’s the sort of document that was once de rigueur in hip-hop and now feels appealingly anachronistic."
Da fuck? I say that with empathy, 'cause I agreed with him in the '09. Just speaks to how quickly and profoundly YouTube changed the whole game. Back then we was still accustomed to all them polished post-Hype videos, so the "griminess" and "authenticity" of early YouTube vids like "Trap Goin Ham" was something refreshing. We wasn't used to any mothafucka with a digicam bein able to upload whatever fuckin visuals they wanted to accompany their dumb music. Now every other trap video follows the exact same script, which also speaks to the fact that trap wasn't really a thing at the time. The concept was well established, sure, but no one called it that, and it hadn't yet tipped over into cliche. A few dilweeds tried pushing terms like trap-hop and trap-rap when Jeezy came out and Clipse were gettin hoovered by the meeja, but God was good then and shot that shit down with great mercy (amen). I blame EDM for bringing that blight-word back, cause I blame EDM for a lot of my problems.
Who was shocked by this video anyway, unpaid interns from the boonies of Massachusetts? Let's see. We got some fat bitches, poor ppl, Yelawolf, dancing old ppl, drunks, marijuana enthusiasts, and an angry bum throwing juice. Look like the usual krazy kharacters in any low-income urban neighborhood south of the Mason-Dixon. Only thing missin is the tranny hooker tryin to sell u her booty. Other than that it's just regular-ass people and the crumbling concrete edifices common to the urban Souf. The most "shocking" thing is da bitch smoking crack, and that shit make me yawn itz so banal. Cuttin off a fuckin head and wearing it as a mask, now that would be shocking. Betta yet, show me a man I need, am I right ladieeees?!?
I miss Pill. He could rap. Last I heard he was making decent guap selling aluminum siding in Alpharetta, so good for him. At least he can rest easy knowing his video gave birth to Noisey's ghetto-gawkin' reportage.
Always liked this song, but never understood the hoopla surrounding the video when pretty much every underground gangsta rap video from the noughties looked like this.
ReplyDeleteShout outs to Kreayshawn's 2008/2009 videos for DB Tha General.
I always thought this song was overrated trash & i have the posts & timestamps to prove it. Pill was never a great lyricist, he would write things like "like a full-grown dog I'ma pull on y'all," like the least vivid , evocative similies, and his wasn't even the best use of this Beasties sample! (credit for that goes to Big Tuck).
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