Let's take this back to the old school
Digg It!
Das Efx is one of my favorite groups of all time, and their first album is in my top 5 hip hop albums ever. They are certainly one of the most underrated. They completely changed the rap game in the early 90s with their insane iggedy metaphors and 1970s and 80s pop culture references. The lyrics on their first album were incredible. The following is from the song "East Coast":
Yo I'm back, black, heavens-to-Betsy, time to get loose
I took a bite outta crime, washed it down with some juice
I'm not the New Kids, but I'm knockin blocks off, sonny
Yep I rock like the Stones plus I'm rollin in the money
So diggity-ask about, I know you digs me like a shovel
I kick straps for sport cos I'm short like Barney Rubble
Check the slang, boogity-bang, umm, I goes berserk
when I flex like Popeye, I fight like Cap' Kirk
So bozo, I'm knockin em out the box by the pair
I'm high strung, my tongue got moves like Fred Astaire
Unfortunately, everybody stole their style, so then they tried to go "gangsta", which wasn't their their strength, and they fell off pretty quickly.
JGT: "The lyrics on their first album were incredible."
Das Efx: "Bum stiggedy bum stiggedy bum, hon/I got the old pa-rum-pum-pum-pum."
Indeed.
I'm the baddest, got more fans than Randy Travis Crazy cowboy
I'll skip, flip back to Dallas
He's the Don, have you seen my grey poupon?
Bust this, we roll more spliffs than Cheech and Chong
We can do this, I kiggity-can't lose like Parker Lewis
Get the picture? I'd rock a barmitzfah if I was Jewish
Goddamn, I'm sittin on the bay by the dock
Smokin, strokin on my big fat cock-
er spaniel, breaker 1-9, what's ya handle?
Cos now I got the siggity-siggity souped like Campbell's.
I'd like to replace incredible with brilliant.
Perry Como was doing 'diggity' before these guys were born.
Ditto Walt Disney with 'iggedy'
Not to mention 'papahoomowmow'
Don't even get me started on ...well, you get the picture.
No wonder I never heard of them.
True wit is nature to advantage dressed,
What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed.
I nominate Pete Rock & CL Smooth as most ridiculouly underrated rap act ever.
And don't forget that Gangstarr has got to be the sure shot.
But you're forgetting John Donne and the Metaphysical Pigs. I heard Donne once and he brought down the house with his awesome images. And then there was Dryden and his Neo-Classical 'N*****. That was a show! Muthahfuckah is just about a perfect double iamb. You just can't get away from that blank verse short long short long. You can throw in all the muthafuckahs and hos that you want but you're still doing blank verse.
Digital Underground. Although the Humpty Dance still gets play at bars, they seem to be largely forgotten as a group. But their first 2 albums are still awesome, and they did the ripping off P-Funk for beats thing a few years before Dr. Dre did it. And they did it well.
like JGT said... they are brilliant. hey Ern, don't start comparing that ass eating, a capella doo wop shit to hip hop. especially good hip hop. i know you're old, white and entitled to your own opinion, but geez man. there were no fun lyrics to go with "sha-na-na". uhg... this is a conversation meant to be had over beers with access to music quickly.
Well I'll be darned, shiver me timbers, yo head for the hills
I picked a weeping willow, and a daffodil
So back up bucko or I'll pulverize McGruff
'Cause this little piggy gets busy and stuff
Arrivederci, heavens to mercy, honky tonk I get swift
I caught a snuffleufagus and smoked a boogaloo spliff
I got the nooks, the cranies, the nitty gritty fodey-doe
All aboard, cast away, hey where's my boogaloo?
Oh I'm steaming, agony
Why's everybody always picking on me
They call me Puddin' Tane, and rap's my game
You ask me again and I'll t-tell you the same
'Cause I'm the vulgar vegemintarian, so stick 'em up freeze
So no Park sausages, Mom, please
A-blitz shoots the breeze, twiddly-dee shoots his lip
Crazy dazy shot the Sheriff, yup and I shot the gift
And that's pretty sneaky, sis oh yep
I got my socks off, my rocks off, my Nestle's cup of cocoa
Holly hobby tried to slob me, tried to rob me silly stunt
Diggedy-dun dun dun dun dun, dun dun
"Puddin' tane; puddin' tane;
Ask me again I'll tell ya the same"
Zombie, my dear dead friend,that's from the doo wop day.
Diggedy is Perry Como. Ballad.
Iggedy is from a Walt Disney movie.
That hippedy hoppity rap crap. They're not choosey about who they plagiarize.
Ern,I know they are lifting lyrics, music and lines from films and other musicians, but they make them better and more fun.
There's nothing wrong with breathing new life into something old and stale or something that was dead from the beginning.
dun dun dun dun dun, dun dun
Shave and a haircut, two bits
Yeah, Ern, you are kind of making the point without getting it, necessarily. The reason these guys were so good is that they took long dead catchphrases and slogans and made them fresh and fun. They had a whole bunch of kids who could care less about Perry Como and Puddin' Tane trying to figure out what those things meant. The whole thing is a jigsaw puzzle of words and phrases and you had to try to put them together. That's why these guys were so fun.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
We have a winner!
On that note, tonight I'm playing "Time Of The Season" by The Zombies (any relation?) where I first heard the phrase "who's your Daddy?"
Perry Como was cool (kool?)