The Slow Jam As A Battle Rap

From the Open thread, we have this collabo from H-Town and Jodeci. Yeah, it's definitely old man in the club...Or is it a 12 year old in the club? The fascinating thing about this song is that while it's ostensibly a love ballad, it almost comes off like a battle rap. Like, the dude isn't so much talking about how the woman makes him feel, as he's celebrating his own prowess.

Nothing wrong with that--Wilson Pickett called himself "A Man And A Half." But it's, to me, one of the more off-putting aspect of male R&B singers from the 90s. A lot of these dudes spent too much time around rappers--it's almost as if they were singing for each other. The music feels like it's derived from how a 13 year old might imagine sex. ("Do you want on a table? Do you want in the shower? Do you want it in the jacuzzi?") Ahem. Not that there's anything wrong with any of that...Moving along...

One of things I loved about Mary is her approach was always a little more mature. And revisiting Prince now, there something about him having female back-up singers which completes his music, something about him having Sheila E. sing, "We can fuck until the dawn," and not way Lil' Kim would say it.

All of that said...It was cool to hear my man give us that old "And you know, and you knooooowwww!" Hehe. That's classic.

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