As I am a purveyor of all things relevant rap music, I was recently surprised to find that one of the songs that I just recently downloaded (legally, of course) had at least one and possibly two allusions to the subject of fairy tales. First of all, here is the youtube link to the song Ooh Aah by the Grits. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-yCg-0-baE . One of the relevant lyrics is as follows:
It's times like these that make me say,
Lord if you see me please come my way.
Leavin bread crumbs for when I stray
Clearly, this calls to mind the story of Hansel and Gretel and the various versions of the story. However, what I find especially interesting is that the rappers largely ignore the point of the story. Leaving bread crumbs as reflected in the story is what caused Hansel and Gretel to become lost after they were left in the woods by their parents. There are two possible interpretations obviously as either the rappers ignored the story and were just generally ignorant (always a solid bet as I am fairly certain Lil Wayne is illiterate) or they believe that their path is meant to deviate from what life is prescribed to them by others. Regardless of the intent of the lyric, this idea is also fascinating because it combines the idea of religion with fairy tales, which to this point has been intentionally avoided. For this particular rap song, religious imagery abounds so it is especially interesting that the authors also sought to put in an allusion to a fairy tale. The other lyric that I could be an allusion is as follows:
Rollin down the hills cause life's a hassle
Encircled by my folly like a moat surround a castle
Without the inclusion of the other fairy tale, I would probably argue that this allusion was weak at best but it seems like a bit of word play meant to call to mind the story of Jack and Jill. Though neither of these references may seem particularly consequential, the fact that fairy tales are such a universal part of our culture that they pop up in something as banal as a rap song is relatively impressive. One of the hallmarks of good rapping is the ability to seamlessly blend aspects of culture into a coherent song, something that the Grits do extremely effectively in this case.
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Lil Wayne was at the top of his class until he dropped out of school at age 14, following the death of his step-father, because he got a record deal and needed to make money to feed his mother. I obviously get the point of your statement, but FYI he is NOT illiterate.
ReplyDeleteNot that this is exceptionally relevant as it was a joke but from the man himself. "I don’t read a damn thing. That’s why I don’t write music. I’m too cool to be reading and writing…I'm an intelligent *****"
ReplyDeleteInterviewer: You know how people get together and they like, “Yo, you read…”
Lil Wayne:
"I’m not even in that conversation circle. That would be crazy, I can’t answer nothing so why would I sit there and talk? I ain’t read no books. I sit and watch ESPN all day."
Intelligence clearly not his hallmark.