Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Rap and Venn Diagrams

I love the beauty and precision of a good logical argument. And I love good song lyrics, rich in metaphors and poetic imagery. And I'm particularly thrilled when they come together. As in:

I’m hot coz I’m fly
You ain’t coz you not

This, you may know, is the chorus to Mims' song "This Is Why I'm Hot." It's the #1 song in America.


Mims goes on to add:

For those who say they know me know I’m focused on my cream
Playa you come between you’d better focus on the beam
I keep it so feen the way you see me lean
And when I say I’m hot my nigga this is what I mean

That is just so feen. Still, the possibility for confusion exists. And if you find yourself in need of some logical remediation and poetry tutelage, Village Voice writer Rob Harvilla breaks it down for you, complete with Venn Diagrams and mathematical equations.

3 comments:

Beth said...

Well now I know I can never be a song writer because I can never come up with lyrics so...feen?

The beauty of the English language...I'm at a total loss for words.

Anonymous said...

It's good to know that Rob Harvilla is still alive. I hadn't heard anything of him for years since he had been writing for The Other Paper and Alternative Press.

Anonymous said...

Hey Scott --

I was just thinking the same about Mr. Harvilla.

I heard he'd moved to San Fran. He used to do some reviews for Spin, but haven't seen his name there for awhile.

Though we never met, I'll always have a soft spot for him after he choose to lead off his "Columbus Mix-Tape '02" column with the NSA's "Getting Fired."

Good to see he hasn't lost his acumen for lyrical analysis. I'll never crank up the Mims the same way again.

Grant