Tell it

People who know me well, yes, that's right, all nine of you, know that I have this "thing" for hip-hop. To be honest and more accurately, I've long enjoyed a certain amount of rap music and, yes, I know there is a difference between the two. I don't even think I'm qualified to try to convey any of it here, tonight, but hanging out on a Friday night, readying to turn on the Tigers game and having already met BCL for a coupla pints, I've done some work here tonight with the ever-important background music playing. I've gone from sitting in front of the stereo or rocking steady with the headphones on taking in every note, to finding the right beat, groove, noise whatever, to play the back burner while I'm working, writing, fucking off, grilliing, again, collecting my non-thoughts. So, tonight, I'm getting a ton done, blowing out some divine shit both in-house and out, but never in the outhouse, when the small stereo unit behind my left shoulder catches my attention. It's GURU, he of the Gang Starr and Jazzmatazz series fame, and amid the backdrop thumps and hooks, I hear him talking about, what else, how goddamn dope he is, like, what the fuck else is he going to talk about? He busts two different lines on the same track, among many, the two of them separate but, to me, equally worthy of headshakedom, like "no shit, I can't believe this dude just said that." First, he emphasizes his street worthiness and settles any questions as it relates to his rap intensity when he tells listeners "I put in work like a factory."

I've seen factories. They do a LOT of work there, so this guy, you know, is fucking serious.

But really and somewhat less sarcastically, GURU draws a bead of paralellism that goes right to me, a message that speaks to me, which is what rap, punk rock, metal, speed metal, some jazz, big band music, torch songs, Cubano ryhthms, Klezmer music, fuck it, you name it, at the time time, it hits the best spot. So, I'm at my desk thinking this, that and, naturally, the other, when I hear the rapper emote the following. I actualy had to stop and rewind twice just to get it down because, well, I wanted to hear it twice more and get the word down correctly. I've been blessed with a lot of friends, as I've proudly but humbly noted here prior, AND I have a knack for doing shit the hard way, and for every friend I have, there are two other people who think I'm a fucking jerk. So when I hear homeboy blast: "and all the haters want to throw me off/
bitches wanna blow me off/got diehard fans like I'm Holy Cross," I slap my palms down atop the edge of my desk. The NCAA tourney play-in game reference was priceless.