Posted on 03/11/2006 9:16:07 AM PST by Signalman
And the winner is... "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp!" The Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences would like to inform the world that this is the best movie song of the year, and you best believe it.
Taking its place beside other best movie songs like "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head," "Moon River," "A Whole New World," and "Fame," the pimp song, performed in the film "Hustle and Flow," is now enshrined forever in movie history.
You ain't knowin'?
Actually, that's the refrain from the song chanted about seven thousand times within the body (no pun intended) of the work.
The basic theme of "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" seems to be that selling women for sex is a competitive industry with no health benefits or paid vacation. That is hard, indeed. Pimping isn't all it's cracked (no pun intended) up to be. The long hours and demanding clientele do take a toll.
As the show business community looked up to the Oscar stage last Sunday, they could not help but be impressed with the lyrics of the best song selection:
Wait I got a snow bunny, and a black girl too You pay the right price and they'll both do you, That's the way the game goes, gotta keep it strictly pimpin - gotta have my hustle tight Makin' change off these women, Yeah!
Where have you gone, Henry Mancini?
Now, what are we unenlightened, non-showbiz people to think about the best movie song of the year? If you saw the rap group "Three 6 Mafia" perform their classic, you can decide for yourself. But, no question, the Academy voters were sticking it "to the man."
And who's the man? That's us, folks. The people who pay to watch movies. They are sticking it to us.
But why? All we do is enable many foolish people to become wealthy and famous. We buy magazines to read about them, we watch TV programs that kiss their posteriors, and some of us pay ten bucks to see their movies, which are often incomprehensible.
No serious person could think that awarding a song that describes the "pimp life" would play well in Tulsa. So whas up with that, as they say in the hood?
The pinhead apologists for a decaying music industry will trot out the same canard: The pimp song simply reflects street life as it exists today. Okay, fine. If you find that reflection worthwhile, well, that's why you live in America.
In Al Qaeda dominated Northern Pakistan, "Three 6 Mafia" would find themselves beheaded. By the way, it's not easy being a terrorist, either.
The truth is that Hollywood doesn't really like the folks very much. They see us as marginal intellects who couldn't possibly understand the art on display in the pimp song. So they voted for an effort they knew would displease many Americans. This is called "arrogance."
It is hard to believe that any sane person could think "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp" is worthy of an artistic award. I know I "ain't knowin'," but I'll submit this thing was written in five minutes on a bar napkin someplace.
However, I will concede that being a pimp is probably more difficult than it appears. But it isn't nearly as difficult as sitting through that best movie song of the year.
Never mind as I know the answers - None of the above. As that crap isn't "music". Freaking jungle drums made from logs by Borneo Head Hunters are closer to "music" than that shit will ever be.
Good point...or should I say, WERD UP, YO! LOL...
"Keepin' it real"
I'm not a fan of hip-hop or rap and the song's lyrics are nasty. The music's not bad.
However, the song is an integral part of the film. The film is all about the characters trying to get the song recorded.
In that respect I can understand why the Academy voted for it.
OK, so you don't like it. That doesn't change the fact that much of the creative energy that would have gone into jazz or Blues or Rock is now going into hiphop.
I'd add that hip-hop is "Mainstream America." It just isn't Mainstream America over 30...
Full lyrics
[Chorus 2X: Shug - singing] + (Djay)
You know it's hard out here for a pimp (you ain't knowin)
When he tryin to get this money for the rent (you ain't knowin)
For the Cadillacs and gas money spent (you ain't knowin)
[1] Because a whole lot of bitches talkin shit (you ain't knowin)
[2] Will have a whole lot of bitches talkin shit (you ain't knowin)
[Djay]
In my eyes I done seen some crazy thangs in the streets
Gotta couple hoes workin on the changes for me
But I gotta keep my game tight like Kobe on game night
Like takin from a ho don't know no better, I know that ain't right
Done seen people killed, done seen people deal
Done seen people live in poverty with no meals
It's fucked up where I live, but that's just how it is
It might be new to you, but it's been like this for years
It's blood sweat and tears when it come down to this shit
I'm tryin to get rich 'fore I leave up out this bitch
I'm tryin to have thangs but it's hard fo' a pimp
But I'm prayin and I'm hopin to God I don't slip, yeah
[Chorus]
[Djay]
Man it seems like I'm duckin dodgin bullets everyday
Niggaz hatin on me cause I got, hoes on the tray
But I gotta stay paid, gotta stay above water
Couldn't keep up with my hoes, that's when shit got harder
North Memphis where I'm from, I'm 7th Street bound
Where niggaz all the time end up lost and never found
Man these girls think we prove thangs, leave a big head
They come hopin every night, they don't end up bein dead
Wait I got a snow bunny, and a black girl too
You pay the right price and they'll both do you
That's the way the game goes, gotta keep it strictly pimpin
Gotta have my hustle tight, makin change off these women, yeah
[Chorus]
Wow...bitches and hoes...the author obviously has a towering intellect...LOL...
The "movie is about them trying to get the song recorded?" LOL.....that they use THAT "song" to base a movie on is amazing.....
That is indeed strange. Back in the mid-80s I figured rap would have a lifespan not extending beyond the end of the decade, and now (two decades later) it's become a world music institution.
This should be encouraging for seminary students,..if true,..Greek and Hebrew can't be far behind...Oi! I can hardly wait!
It's a known fact that good music ceased to exist in popular culture after 1972.
"That is indeed strange. Back in the mid-80s I figured rap would have a lifespan not extending beyond the end of the decade, and now (two decades later) it's become a world music institution."
If you care about this sort of thing, its important to remember that rap is only a subset of hiphop/urban - the genre has had more staying power by being more diverse and also by influencing rock.
Know how rap/hip hop started? Some kid in Queens became fascinated with his ability to pinpoint where certain lyrics appeared on an old album. He began marking off lyrics with a crayon in his bedroom and learned how to make them repeat...so, it goes from some 14 year old's bedroom in Queens to worldwide phenom? Odd.
Actually, white people invented rap music.
Ever been to a squaredance?
"It's a known fact that good music ceased to exist in popular culture after 1972"
There is always something new... while it looked like good music was dying and disco was rising little known bands like the Ramones, blondie and the Sex Pistols were working in new York and England to revitalize rock... sure they thought punk was new and totally different but in the end Rock absorbed punk and got another 20 years of life.
...and black people invented country. At least that's where Hank Williams senior learned his craft.
Among other things, that's what makes it American. Everybody has a piece of it.
I think someone on another thread said it best when saying something like "should this song really be enshrined along side of songs such as Moon River." That kind of says it all.
There is always something new...
Yes, young people are constantly trying to find new ways in which to annoy me.
Quite the opposite, in fact. Rap started it all, and hip/urban are the subsets. .....just like rock and jazz are subsets of blues.
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