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#Lil Nas X continues to be funnier than me
ordinarytalk · 2 years
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therecordconnection · 3 years
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Lil Nas X as an artist has been so fascinating to watch in terms of growth. If you had told me that the “Old Town Road” kid was going to just keep fucking curbstomping his competition and end up being the center of really thought-provoking (if not a bit controversial) discussion, I don't think I would've believed you. I absolutely love “Industry Baby” and the video feels like he definitely watched the video to Olivia Newtown John's "Physical" and said, "I can and will make something gayer than that for the 21st century". 
I think if you follow the songs "C7osure", "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)", and "Industry Baby", you get a really great trilogy that shows an artist who has become very confident in his own sexuality and has found a way to present it in a way that is wildly entertaining while still being very poignant to his audience. If a lot of gay black men (or just queer youth in general) have been following him and finally had the strength to come out or embrace their sexuality because of Nas' success, his music, his memes, his humor, etc., it should be considered a victory. I'm constantly impressed by just how plugged in this kid is when it comes to internet culture and how to use it as a tool for promotion. It’s clear that he's got it all figured out in a way that I never could've dreamed of at his age.
I also think he’s become a master of presenting himself in a way that's so mature while still leaving plenty of room for him to be really playful and hilarious. This and "Montero" are not meant to be taken that seriously, which only makes it funnier and more ridiculous when homophobes express disgust and start clutching their pearls. It's like, "Oh, this is what makes you mad? I feel sorry for you that you can't enjoy this, because this is just incredible art. You’re really missing out." I think Nas just keeps finding new and innovative ways to throw those disgusting, idiotic criticisms back without ever really revealing weakness. I think he's also shared really creative points and arguments that keep highlighting the ridiculous amount of hypocrisy these people show when they complain about his art. I don’t think he feeds off of controversy. I think it finds him and he’s just become adept at knowing how to throw it back. It’s an incredible skill in this day and age.
I imagine some stuff that he reads or sees on Twitter and other places probably bothers him and maybe even gets under his skin a little bit. (I mean, with death threats and tweets from actual sitting senators, how could it not?) He usually just posts another relevant picture of Squidward on Twitter and keeps going about his business. 
It's been absolutely amazing and such a thrilling, wild ride to see this guy go from "Old Town Road" to "Industry Baby". I legitimately think he's one of the best, most entertaining, most original dudes working in music right now and what he's doing and offering to people is truly invaluable. I’m always excited to see what's next for Nas and where he’s going. The guy is such a bright star and I hope he continues to go far.
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thesinglesjukebox · 4 years
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LIL NAS X FEAT. NAS - RODEO (REMIX)
[5.50]
And Lil by... ordinary size?
Brad Shoup: In a pop punk era, Lil Nas is modern rock: flat intonation, stately guitars, gloomy vibe. He continues his plug-and-play ways, swapping out Cardi B's unthematic verse for one from a reasonably game Nas. X's stay the same, which is fine. I can't imagine him delivering a funnier line than "we might go and have some sex". [6]
Alfred Soto: Like Billy Ray Cyrus', Nas' appearance signifies more than the contributions: a good sport, he understood the importance of genre-busting even in an era in which genre-busting serves the cross-streaming Spotify ethos. Certainly the star power carries "Rodeo" on its shoulders. [6]
Thomas Inskeep: "Rodeo" is a slightly dull, Western-themed record with "boomin' system"-level bass (yay) and some pretty dull verses from LNX (sad emoji). Cardi B's guest spot on the original, meanwhile, is better than "Big" Nas's on this new version. [4]
Wayne Weizhen Zhang: Better than Lil Baby feat. DaBaby, and not as transcendant as Charli feat. Charli, but pretty close. Lil Nas X feat. Nas is a surprisingly potent pairing: Nas X's chill and circular flow contrasting with big Nas's crisp and brisk one to make for a generational bop. [8]
Katie Gill: Lil Nas X hasn't yet proved to the music world that he is more than a one hit wonder -- which is a bummer, as "Panini" has grown on me over time. But this song won't be the smash hit follow-up. It feels like a computer spat out a list of things that made "Old Town Road" popular (the country/trap hybrid, silly yet fun lyrics, an easy to sing along chorus, guest verses from previously established talent) and then shoved them all together in formulaic fashion to create "Rodeo." [5]
Will Adams: Maybe it's recently released anecdotes about Nas that are souring this for me, but I struggle to find what's necessary about this. Or maybe it's the decision to replace Cardi B with a "Lil Nas + Big Nas! OMG!" gag whose excitement lasts about five seconds. [4]
[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]
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deadcactuswalking · 5 years
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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 9th June 2019
Okay so full disclosure; I haven’t been enjoying writing this show for a while, mostly because of how I’ve been barely been able to keep up with life yet alone new music as it comes out each week... but let’s not get into detail. This isn’t what I’m here for, I’m here to ramble about pop music that probably isn’t all that interesting anyway, in this case a lot of British hip hop.
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Top 10
“I Don’t Care” by Ed Sheeran featuring Justin Bieber is unsurprisingly still at the top after being at first place running on the chart ever since its debut four weeks ago.
Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus hasn’t moved since last week either, still at number-two.
In fact, the whole top 10 is stable and kind of stale. To exemplify that, only number-five has moved from last week. Hence, “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi is at number-three.
“Vossi Bop” by Stormzy holds on at number-four.
Billie Eilish’s “bad guy” actually moves a singular space up to number-five.
“Piece of Your Heart” by MEDUZA and Goodboys, however, has not at number-six.
“Hold Me While You Wait” by Lewis Capaldi is at number-seven.
The late Avicii’s “SOS” featuring Aloe Blacc is at number-eight. I’ll be up next week thanks to the album’s release.
To my surprise, Ed Sheeran’s “Cross Me” featuring Chance the Rapper and PNB Rock is still at number-nine off of the debut last week. I’d like to add that this is an Ed Sheeran song with a producer tag. Huh.
Shawn Mendes’ “If I Can’t Have You” rounds off the top 10 by not moving at #10.
Climbers
Well, there aren’t many climbers this week, especially since it’s busy in terms of new arrivals, but there are some increases here. “Wish You Well” by Sigala and Becky Hill zooms up 15 spaces to #24 (Methinks it didn’t have a full tracking week last week as this sudden increase seems odd), whilst “Falling Like the Stars” by James Arthur continues an unfortunate gain up the charts as it’s moving up 10 spaces to #25. Other than that, we have nothing. However, it’s a different story with our Fallers.
Fallers
We’ll have to do what we usually don’t have enough fallers to do anymore and split it into genre categories, especially as pretty much everything in the second half of the Top 40 is in freefall.
In terms of pop, rock and EDM, “Summer Days” by Martin Garrix, Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy and Macklemore is down six spaces to #40 off of the debut, “Giant” by Calvin Harris and Rag’n’Bone Man continues its fall down six to #39, “3 Nights” by Dominic Fike is sadly down five to #38, “Late Night Feelings” by Mark Ronson featuring Lykke Li is down six to #36, “So Am I” by Ava Max collapses down 10 spaces to #35, “Easier” by 5 Seconds of Summer (Featuring Nine Inch Nails, simply because it’s funnier this way) is down five off of the debut to #34, “Talk” by Khalid is down six to #28, “Here with Me” by Marshmello and CHRVCHES is down four to #20, and that’s about it.
For hip-hop and R&B, we have slightly less notable hits, with “EARFQUAKE” by Tyler, the Creator featuring Playboi Carti and Charlie Wilson continuing its unfortunate fall down 13 spaces to #37, “Fashion Week” by Steel Banglez, AJ Tracey and MoStack falling down five spaces to #33, “Guten Tag” by Hardy Caprio and Digdat dropping down four to #27, right next to “OT Bop” by NSG collapsing down nine spaces to #26 off of the debut. We also have “The London” by Young Thug, J. Cole and Travis Scott down four to #22, “Keisha & Becky” by Russ and Tion Wayne down four to #19, and that’s all.
Dropouts & Returning Entries
Well, streaming cuts have snabbed “Grace” by Lewis Capaldi of its longevity as it drops out from #14 – no, I’m not complaining – and the same could be said for “Your Mrs” but JAY1 out from #37 but I’d argue that’s just because people are starting to realise the song is awful. Otherwise, well, streaming cuts have hurt “Sucker” by Jonas Brothers as well out from #20 and “Just You and I” by Tom Walker is out from #36 (There will be a rebound), but it’s not like I didn’t expect the Skepta album bomb of sorts to get rid of competition, as “Motorola” by DaBeatfreakz featuring Swarmz, Deno and Dappy is out from #38, “No Diet” by Digga D is out from #32 and... “Earth” by Lil Dicky and Friends, which isn’t competition for Skepta but would have been out from #40 anyway. There is one returning entry but we won’t be covering it in this section, because it’s time for the new arr—
ALBUM BOMB
Skepta – Ignorance is Bliss
New section time, I suppose, even though there won’t be any new content for the most part. This is just a separated space for me to talk about mini-album bombs as they don’t really exist in the UK, but they allow three songs from an artist at once. Hence, Skepta is currently charting three songs from his highly-anticipated album Ignorance is Bliss (Which I haven’t had the time or motivation to listen to, as with most recently-released albums), two of which are completely new and will be at both ends of the chart. There is one returning entry however, as “Greaze Mode” featuring Nafe Smallz, despite being pretty awful, reaches a new peak at #18 after dropping off last week.
#32 – “Bullet from a Gun” – Skepta
Produced by Skepta and Ragz Originale
Now, the BBC usually censors any objectionable material on the album covers and replaces them with a picture of the artist, but Skepta flipping the bird and holding a gun was fine here, I suppose. This song was actually part of the double A-side single Skepta released to promote the album before its release, but it never charted in the top 40 until it ended up as the opening song on the tracklist, as well as having a video pushed. Now, I hated “Greaze Mode” so hopefully its less accessible counterpart will be better, and, well, it is, but not because this is of insane levels of quality. The instrumental’s eerie synths here are hypnotic like most of Skepta’s self-produced synth loops but the infectiousness of the beat doesn’t translate to the vocals and content here, as his oddly low-mixed vocals under the trap percussion don’t go into any detail until the verse where he talks about how he can’t make any sorrowful songs mourning his father because he’s only thankful for him and how he has rubbed off on Skeppy himself, and then he actually goes into a pretty emotional verse about facing demons and considering seeing his daughter’s face every day as a blessing, with a rapid and blunt flow, because he can’t be sure every day that he’ll be alive to see the next morning, not because he’s still involved in gang violence as he’s matured from that experience but because he’s paranoid of those we are supposed to place our trust in most, the police. That’s only a few bars though, and while they connect and they are pretty powerful lines, it has to be book-ended with Skepta taking your girl because it was just your turn and not learning his lesson by shooting you as that’s just how the world works. I mean, this isn’t bad by any means, but staying on topic would be appreciated when you emphasise such heavy subject matter for as many bars as you do but completely abandon it by the end of that one extended verse. The beat’s great, though, and Skepta’s delivery has always been pretty aggressive on these types of beats, so for what it is, it’s decent and it works fine for Skepta’s 13th Top 40 hit. Next.
#14 – “What Do You Mean?” – Skepta featuring J Hus
Produced by Skepta and iO
Now this is Skepta’s 14th Top 40 hit over here in the UK and J Hus’ sixth (In terms of top 20 hits, it’s Hus’ third and Skepta’s fourth). J Hus, recently released out of prison, delivered a consistently fire and really impressive feature verse on Dave’s “Disaster” last time we had a British hip-hop album bomb onto the charts, and has performed with Drake hours after he was released, but honestly a lot of the time I find J Hus to be uninteresting in his solo work, and his last album was droning and honestly pretty dull. This, on the other hand, is a complete banger. Skepta’s self-produced beat is equally as menacing and eerie as “Bullet with a Gun” but I see it takes some steps from ‘90s G-funk with that synth line, backed up by strings and plunging 808s. J Hus’ Auto-Tuned chorus is really slick, and he shows a lot of swagger in his funky yet relatively mellow hook, before Skepta comes in bouncing with a pretty intense verse. Is the content anything interesting? No, but it’s not trying to, and when the beat is this interesting of an amalgamation of trap, G-funk and freaking banjos in the second chorus, as well as smooth as hell flows delivered by Skepta, you don’t need insane lyricism. I love how the multi-tracked vocals from J Hus transition perfectly into Skeppy’s verses as well, and both ride the beat fantastically. Not much to say about this one but I’m glad to see some trap with an actual groove to it that doesn’t overstay its welcome, as well as performers who know what they’re doing spitting on it. Oh, and the vocals are actually mixed decently this time. Seems like Skeppy’s mixing may be a bit inconsistent especially on the vocal side, as the bass and kick here are much louder than they need to be. I love this, though, so check it out.
Oh, yeah and J Hus crooning “North Korea” is hilarious to me.
NEW ARRIVALS
#31 – “Mother’s Daughter” – Miley Cyrus
Produced by Andrew Wyatt – Peaked at #10 in Hungary and Slovakia, #54 in the US
Miley Cyrus has released another absolute trainwreck of an album a la Dead Petz, but this time it’s harder to swallow as it’s just an EP and all tracks take on a different style of music, despite being primarily trap-influenced. That sounds like it’d be an interesting venture into the Cyrus psyche but nope, SHE IS COMING is just as awful as I and many others expected, but the breakout single, her 16th UK Top 40 hit, doesn’t exactly make that evident, because instead it’s just mediocre, almost painfully so. This starts with a scratchy guitar mumble before exploding into a synth-lead trap beat, complete with high-pitched vocal samples, but it seems really lightweight, mostly because all these pop princesses that try their hand on trap beats can’t pick a beat with any bass or intensity, especially when this song is about playing up a archetypal villain role for the media, I assume, and despite the distortion on her vocals she still has the country twang, can’t flow for the like of her and belts a post-chorus that is pitchy and hard to listen to. Really, the whole song is just one big mess, not even mixing wise as it’s completely fine on a technical level (Although the lack of much noticeable sub-bass to speak of concerns me), but the messiness of the songwriting really shows in the bridge, which essentially takes away the gliding synths and places the scratchy guitar groaning in its place, whilst Miley rapid-fire spits an incredibly janky flow. The final chorus also has these “Oh, my God” lines as filler to replace the lines in the chorus, which doesn’t break up the monotony of this song at all. The cringeworthy outro aside, this is just boring – and it looks like I won’t get a break from dullness anytime soon.
#16 – “Bruises” – Lewis Capaldi
Produced by Lewis Capaldi and James Earp – Peaked at #19 in Scotland
When I said that Capaldi had streaming cuts, that may not have been entirely accurate as Capaldi has debuted his fourth UK hit in the top 20 to replace “Grace”, so seemingly the three song per artist rule has kicked out the lowest performing song. Now Capaldi’s success doesn’t surprise me, because there’s no one making breathy, low-key ballads that Sheeran specialised in – well, there are, they’re just not gaining real traction – so we need to fill a hole while Sheeran’s off partying at a party he doesn’t want to be at with Justin Bieber and PNB Rock. I am, however, incredibly disappointed by his success, because he and James Arthur make me want to throw bricks at squirrels. Now this is actually his first official single as it was released independently (And on his label) back in early 2017, but thanks to inclusion on his newest album, has had a boost two and a half years late, and we weren’t really missing anything. I’ve heard this before reviewing the charts this week, I feel it was an advert, and it really does seem like a song for melodramatic commercials. I’ll give it to him, Capaldi has strength and he has a lot of power in his young voice, with a rock edge I appreciate that Arthur doesn’t have, but this instrumental is painfully simple, to the point where it’s so minimal that it can’t work, especially with Capaldi’s multi-tracked falsetto nonsense crooning, as that would make much more sense with an actual drum beat instead of just soul-less piano notes being looped under Capaldi essentially vocally riffing. By the final chorus and bridge, you’d expect some strings or something, surely, but, no, it stays as it was until the last second, where a secondary piano line plays... and it just plays the vocal melody from the chorus, once. It’s not worth it at that point, and there’s not even a stylish finish to the whole thing. To be fair, it’s the only Capaldi song I’ve heard that isn’t excruciating. Doesn’t mean it’s any good though.
#15 – “Shine Girl” – MoStack featuring Stormzy
Produced by Ill Blu, TSB and Levi Lennox
God, I really don’t like MoStack. I’ve never heard a chorus or verse from him that’s compelling in his five Top 40 hits (and three Top 20 hits) since “No Words”, and most of his singles are Auto-Tuned faux-dancehall faux-grime nonsense, but he’s just released a 40-minute album (Delightful) with features from J Hus, Dave, Fredo and of course Stormzy, who has propelled one of the STACKO tracks to the top 20, becoming his 14th Top 40 hit and his seventh Top 20. Is it any good? Well, actually, it’s much better than most of MoStack’s stuff, mostly because the twinkling synths in this Afrobeats track are actually fitting as instead of attempting to be threatening, menacing or intimidating, it’s a love song. Stormzy’s hook, despite being somewhat overly possessive, is somewhat cute and the multi-tracked harmony backing vocals are really nice... MoStack exists though, and the content here pretty much chalks up to having sex with other girls despite the fact that both Stormzy and MoStack are always talking about how they love the sex from this girl in particular. MoStack is nasal and irritating as usual, although I do like the completely irrelevant line where he asks why Stormzy’s high
Wait, Stormzy, why you look so damn high?
It’s offbeat, drenched in Auto-Tune and reverb, and mixed below both the instrumental and Stormzy, but overall, MoStack is mostly a non-presence, so that’s cool. I like Stormzy’s hook well enough, and the piano dwindling at the tail-end is pretty excellent, so, you know what, Stacko, you get a pass for now.
#13 – “Never Really Over” – Katy Perry
Produced by Zedd and Dreamlab – Peaked at #4 in Scotland and #15 in the US
So, she’s back. Katy Perry has been existent for  a while now but she hasn’t released that big comeback single since her waning success with the Witness era, so she’s come back with a bang... except it’s a Zedd production and it’s only in the top 20. To be fair, I’d accept anything if I had just experienced that trainwreck of an album cycle. Did you guys hear about how Zedd doesn’t actually produce or compose his own beats, though? Yeah, that’s pretty dreadful, apparently he can’t play piano in a note other than C. I don’t believe that for a second personally, but the dude absolutely tears into Zedd, it’s hilarious. Anyway, is this Katy Perry song any good? Well, it does take me back to the days where Katy Perry was massive, with the cute yet simplistic synth line and finger-snaps making up a vibe similar to the introductions to a lot of her earlier hits. It is familiar overall actually, I swear I’ve heard that vocal melody in the pre-chorus before. The rattling percussion adds some bounce but may be a bit too stiff and unnatural, as a lot of Zedd’s production is. The snares and even Perry’s vocals are clipping over the cloudy synth mix in the chorus, however, and the lyrics are repetitious and somewhat meaningless... but who cares? That drop is incredible. The song could be a Chris Brown song featuring posthumous vocals from XXXTENTACION produced by Tay Keith if it had that fun, 80s-reminiscent drop which Katy Perry essentially triplet-flows over. The way it carries into the bridge as well makes it very manic and it works as a damn good post-chorus. Oh, yeah, and that ticking clock is annoying, and only made sense in “Stay” and “The Middle”. I’d say stop using it, but Zedd doesn’t exactly have much control over his compositions so I’m gonna say it’s Dreamlab’s fault for implementing it if anyone. It’s really jankily pushed into this song and doesn’t make for a good outro at all, there’s literally a clock solo. Oh, yeah, and this is Katy Perry’s 28th UK Top 40 hit. That’s insane.
Conclusion
There’s not much really to go home about here, although Best of the Week is probably going to Skepta and J Hus for “What Do You Mean?”, with the Honourable Mention going to both Skepta and Katy Perry – yep, it’s a tie – for “Bullet with a Gun” and “Never Really Over”, while Worst of the Week is easily going to Miley Cyrus for “Mother’s Daughter”. In fact, I’d be hesitant to give ANYONE, even Reviewing the Charts nemesis Lewis Capaldi (and MoStack for that matter), a Dishonourable Mention of any sort. Hence, follow me on Twitter @cactusinthebank for more musical ramblings, sarcastically quote-tweeting Piers Morgan and I’ll see you next week.
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deadcactuswalking · 5 years
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The Beauty of “Doin’ Your Mom” by Ray William Johnson
Love him or hate him, Ray William Johnson is a pioneer of new media. He was one of the most famous YouTubers back in the day in what was about the late 2000s and early 2010s, and was really the first dude to make a true, long-term career on the platform, forming a company just to fund his Equals Three show, which, yes, it’s somewhat unwatchable but it’s vintage YouTube so I give most of it an excuse and play it off as dated comedy from someone who was actually old enough to know better, but it was a different time and I’m actually consistently impressed by Ray and how he continues to pop up everywhere as nostalgia for the early days of YouTube starts to seep into this post-ironic era of Internet culture, as people remember the remnants of the more sincere YouTube, with people like Quinton Reviews, TheGamerFromMars and wavywebsurf making informative videos about the classic YouTube and its viral videos that propel someone into stardom for at least about 15 minutes. Now we’re in the age of a company-fuelled platform that treats its community of content creators as the fries on the side of their order of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Do I miss the days of “Chocolate Rain” and when any viral hit could make it through the cracks? Of course I do, but it’s not like that can’t happen and memes can’t spread, look at how Lil Nas X has taken advantage of the memes surrounding “Old Town Road” to build his own career – and it was only a matter of time before massive companies learned how to use the Internet. I’d argue Ray is at fault at least in some capacity for making the transition to a talk show highlights website a tad cooler, though, and it’s not like he wasn’t making himself and his show (As well as his animated “Band” which I’m pretty sure is just him) a brand in itself. Ray overall was a fascinating man and still is, and whilst most of his content isn’t looked upon fondly, he does have a few gems in there, like “Orphan Tears” from the Your Favorite Martian days, one I still jam to every now and then, because it’s catchy and whilst incredibly dated now due to the club beat and Bill Cosby references doesn’t feel like it won’t last the test of time like most other YouTube content that has ever been uploaded, especially its music – including the more recent stuff from people like the Paul brothers, but before “It’s Everyday Bro” there was another iconic comedy hip hop track on YouTube that I’d argue is a much more judicious choice for analysis, and it was by Fatty Spins – often stylised as FAttY SPiNS for the sake of confusion – a hip-hop collective fronted by Ray William Johnson and his friends Micfri (The white dude) and Breeze, a singer and according to this song, guitarist? They released about six known songs and have since been lost in the sands of time, at least for all we know. This is my review of the hip-hop classic, “Doin’ Your Mom”.
SONG REVIEW: “Doin’ Your Mom” – FAttY SPiNS (Ray William Johnson)
This song only has 400,000 views on its music video as we speak and it’s on the official channel for the band (The description states Micfri uploaded it) so I’m perplexed, I thought it was much bigger but I suppose it’s either a late reupload or it was never as viral as I assumed. Anyway, let’s dive deep into “Doin’ Your Mom”.
Doin’ your mom, doin’-doin’ your mom, doin’ your mom, doin-doin’ your mom...
I’m not even going to get into the absolutely insane video that screams early YouTube but it’s pretty cute, it’s just a bunch of adults probably too old to be yelling along to the repeated refrain of “Doin’ your mom” but they’re having fun  with it at least, although Micfri makes no effort to actually lip-sync. My favourite shots in the video include of course the iconic intro where they walk on the street with a boombox like they just walked away from an explosion and the acapella version of the hook plays in the background like it was the most grandiose chorus in the history of music, but also honestly any shot where Ray is making a face, like at about 1:20, the shot with the green-screened purple background while the hook’s playing. I know this is intended to be funny (That’s why I didn’t do this for April Fools as I was going to; it felt too contrived) but there are parts in the video that seem so natural and like they thought the song was so much better than it is, and it’s almost more humorous than the song itself. Let’s briefly cover the instrumental while we’re here – it’s nothing all too special but it’s a fitting backing for the epic feel the song has, with the reverb and echo on Ray’s voice as he sprays over an odd yet VERY late-2000s fusion of rock and hip-hop, as there are some GarageBand-sounding guitars and a buzzing synth that help propel the intense strings that almost carry the song, with additional little tweaks like the twinkling synths adding a lot of punch but not making it too cluttered. Honestly, there are some parts of the song that seem like genuinely great musical ideas that may seem kind of wasted on this topic, like the screeching guitar solo or when the beat cuts out in the middle of each verse just to return with the guitar added and an additional synth melody, with both Ray and Micfri’s verses reflecting this change in a shift of their flow. I should probably add that Ray is actually a pretty good rapper for a YouTube personality, and his voice is suited for tracks like this (Yeah, somehow the chorus never gets old despite being repeated ad nauseum). As one of the comments said on the band’s Equals Three Wiki page (Yes, that exists and its comment section is hilariously absurd), he kind of sounds like he could voice Knuckles the Echidna.  That’s enough rambling about how oddly appealing this song is sonically and let’s get straight to the meat and potatoes.
COOL TRANSiTiON
The last line of the hook has always puzzled me.
You know we straight, we doin’ your mom!
“Yes, I had to confirm I am in fact heterosexual by engaging in intercourse with your mother”. I know “Straight” is part of hip-hop slang and refers to people who don’t engage in criminal or dangerous activity like gang violence...
Yeah, we straight but if you wrinkle up the situation, he will go grab the iron – Tyler, the Creator on “OKRA”
..But did we really need reassurance from Ray William Johnson that he and his friend Micfri aren’t shooting people? – Oh, and what does this have to do with doin’ my mom? I shouldn’t worry, the verses go into fascinating detail about how Ray and Micfri met my mother as they trade bars recalling the event.
I’m doin’ your mom, yes, yours! / I first saw her in the Wal-Mart picking out your drawers
Micfri’s first verse is probably the most normal verse here, and doesn’t really have anything I can make all too much fun of other than an awful pun, until it ends because the last line is... well...
Five minutes later, she agreed to get with me / So we went and rocked the minivan like, “Giggity, giggity, giggity”
Micfri goes painfully offbeat just to shove his awkward Family Guy reference in there because I guess it still was 2010 and the show was still relevant, although I’d argue it has more of a place on YouTube now that those funny moments compilations are piling up way more views than they should. That’s all fine, right? Like there’s nothing in this verse that is too interesting, but that dreadful joke transitions pretty hilariously into when Ray comes in...
I was ridin’ your mom like she’s Mario Kart / I gave her a lift back to her crib ‘cause her car wouldn’t start
Yeah, okay, he stretches out some sentences and mumbles a few lines so they barely fit the meter but it works in such a janky manner because the rest of the song is an absolute mess anyway so if anything Ray is just making it work, because, mmm, he just gets it. I love he pronounces words here as well, it’s odd as hell, especially when he accentuates “Car” with a high-pitched and slightly Canadian accent?
How many times I tap that ass? OVER 9000!
Oh, my God, I forgot about this part. This is obviously a reference to the ancient Dragon Ball Z meme where Vegeta says Goku’s power level is at “over 9000” in the 4Kids dub and it was probably funny then, but with the gang vocals and his enthusiastic delivery, it’s even funnier now with nearly a decade of hindsight. There are some jokes that legitimately hold up though, mostly because they’re not incredibly dated and instead rely on Ray’s wit.
Yeah, she called me Pledge ‘cause I knocked the dust off her
Come on, that’s actually pretty clever, I suppose. Ray’s still a comedian after all despite all the memery so he has some clever jabs throughout his verses at least, especially the second verse, which is... even more interesting.
I like your momma’s big butt, and I cannot lie
That’s a cool reference that doesn’t feel forced because it fits in with the song. Nice, we’re seeing some improvement.
We make sexy time, yes? And every night I tap that / She saw me butt-naked, now she thinks I’m half-black
Wh... What? I thought Ray WAS half-black? Is that the joke? I don’t know, I mean seemingly it’s saying how black men are stereotyped to be packing under there but HALF-black? Aren’t you underselling yourself a bit there, Ray? Also, he’s already half-black, or at least mixed. I mean, he’s said the N-word once or twice before on Equals Three so I assumed he had to have some sort of privileges. Is he just that insanely tanned? This is probably the second most questionable punchline in the song, we’ll get to the worst one in a bit.
And I blame it on the al-al-alcohol
Wow, this song really IS dated, huh?
She likes the donkey punch, she likes the dirty Sanchez / Sometimes, she even likes to fool around in YOUR bed
Okay, that is epic, and by that I mean it’s the only bar in this track that feels like it was a good diss directed towards the listener, because most of this song goes into grim detail about the intercourse with said listener’s mother but none of it is as ruthlessly personal as that one.
And I’ll be honest, she likes me to Chris Brown her when she acts like Rihanna
Oh... Oh... That’s, uh, that’s a big yikes from me, Ray, Jesus, okay, well, this was topical in 2010 but I’m still not going to excuse this. I don’t mind using Chris Brown’s domestic assault case as a punchline against him because he deserves all the vitriol he gets, but relating him leaving Rihanna bruised and bleeding after having her phone smashed and being punched and freaking BITTEN to having rough sex with the listener’s mother is insanely insensitive, and how the drum pattern cuts out for Ray to say the last part, especially with the reverb on his voice, makes it even more awkward. You’ll be glad to know, however, that Micfri immediately justifies that horribly problematic bar with easily the best on the track.
She’s so therapeutic when I need to cure my restlessness / I (Brrrrrr) motorboat your mom’s breastesses
I don’t know if it’s the “Brrrr” or the “breastesses” but this line is hilarious to me, and I have mostly no idea why it’s such a good one. Anyway, the verses are finished now, so you expect us to have just a few repeats of the chorus until the song ends, right? But no. We have a bridge, and it’s the gorgeous climax of the song (No pun intended) that honestly may just be the best part, other than the comments on its Wiki page, but we’ll get to that. Breeze croons the bridge in cheap Auto-Tune, and the amount of vocal effects that are added unnecessarily to accentuate the oddly profound lyrics here, that are said only twice but are so essential to why the song has aged much better than it seems to have on the surface.
I’m havin’ sex with your mother and that makes me (Better, better) better than you
There’s something I can’t describe about this bridge and the subsequent guitar solo that makes it work so effectively, and I’m left speechless by it every time. The best part is I’m not joking for the most part, and this song, despite its mind-numbing chorus and incredibly dated and at some times shockingly offensive lyrics, it’s aged incredibly well because it knows it will not be taken seriously and is entirely self-aware, but in a way that doesn’t seep into the song’s content. Most memes these days are TOO self-aware, so when a legitimate, genuine meme comes along that embraces it instead of revelling in it, I’m fully supportive.
You was at the club / Bottoms up when I first met you – The Boyboy Westcoast on “Bottoms Up”
Boyboy embraces the meme and he has a very lighthearted perspective and modest attitude on the song that makes his self-awareness less of an aging factor, and it’s the same for Ray, but some of the memes feel self-aware to a fault when they’re all too loud about the sarcastic manner in which they desperately cling onto a self-awareness that may not actually be there, like when the Backpack Kid did that awfully cringeworthy Verified video on Genius about his flossing song. The heart wasn’t there and it felt plastic and manufactured, but it’s all present in Ray, Micfri and Breeze, as they’re all having fun dancing in the video and while they know they’re really stupid and they look like lunatics, they don’t care... and disregarding the comments of the wiki page in which anonymous users respond to in-depth analysis and rankings of the Mario Kart games with “I will end you”, and no, I’m not kidding, that is the beauty of “Doin’ Your Mom”.
You know we straight, we doin’ your mom
deadcactuswalking
Seriously though check out the wiki page for both the song and the band (They’re linked here). The comments are beautifully absurd.
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