Saturday, July 31, 2021

Gangsta's Paradise

I'm not into rap at all, but for the past couple of weeks I've been listening obsessively to "Gangsta's Paradise" by Artis Leon Ivey Jr., alias Coolio. It just sort of popped into my head.

The video is part of the experience. I like watching his mouth move, and I like how intense the backup singer is.

Yesterday, Bruce Charlton mentioned in a comment that August 1 is Lammas. This led me to the Wikipedia article for that date, and it turns out it's Coolio's birthday.

3 comments:

Francis Berger said...

On my knees in the night, sayin' prayers in the streetlight . . .

I've always liked that line from the song and the image it conjures. I have never been particularly drawn to rap music, but I was exposed to a great deal of it when I worked as a teacher in the Bronx. Turns out, some of it is actually quite incisive.

My go-to rap song since March 2020 has been Sabotage by the Beastie Boys.

"Oh my God, it's a mirage
I'm tellin' y'all, it's a sabotage . . . "

Ingemar said...

I listened to this song a lot a few weeks ago. How serendipitous.

jorgen said...

Weird Al's Living in an Amish Paradise is better.

And I've been milkin' and plowin' so long that
Even Ezekiel thinks that my mind is gone

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