Monday, January 31, 2005

De Piggy's Gettin' Thar

Heard someone on de radio jokin' that yu know you're gettin' old, when de song yu hear as yu enter an elevator prompts yu to exclaim, "Yeah! That's de Jam right there!" I've had that happen to me--several times, it will when yu love instrumentals, guitar solos, an' Kenny Loggins (can yu say "Footloose"?). De problem isn't so much havin' yu favourites bein' old school, de problem is constantly criticizin' de new stuff by usin' old school to knock it down. Da Piggy does that all de time. Don't want to hear no 50 cents (he needs Kurtis Blow to teach him timin'), don't want to hear no Ludakris (he could stand to study under Slick Rick), don't want to hear no Kim (but Missy's cool, an' Pharrell's got great old school flavour), an' ah rooted for Nas instead ov Jay, only 'cause Nas has more old-school an' constructive rhymes in him IMHO. Yep, old school's got me. I'm still tickled at de memory ov mi 13-yr-old neighbour in JA tryin' ta decide between "de mawga one or de mampy one" every time JJ Fad was on TV--he loved 'em an' de Super-sonic song. When Jdid posted about Special Ed recently, an' also reminded me ov Grand Poo (all Nubians!), ah was in heaven that day. It just don't get better, but I'm still alive. That's how ah feel about it. Can you say HATER!? Ah confess. That's what mi old-school preference makes me--an' it's de same for Reggae to some degree. Ah hear Assassin an' them, an' ah say to mi-self, I'd rather hear Stitchie singin' "Lover Boy Sess" or Tiger singin' "Don is Don" or Major Mackerel singin' "Noh Rush De Don Ban'." Tullo' T, Courtney Melody, an' others who might still be around had their hey-day back then. Can't tell yu how ah got in trouble for singin' Ninja's "Dead B-mb- Clawt." Mi Grandma nearly collapsed when she caught mi. "That's NOT how I raised you! Don't you dare sing that disgustin' bizniz! Mel, you goh wash out yu mouth wid soap now!" (She an' I both LOVED Red Dragon's "Fresh" though.) On Disco 9000 mini-bus, I'd hear de "bad" songs again, an' start singin' them again. Mi aversion to much current "popular" music convinces me that mi time is about past. It must be some-fing that happens when you're older than 30; yu start lambastin' new stuff, in favour ov de old. (Yu still got some good years to go, Kami--enjoy them to de fullest!) So, I've officially entered de hip-hop "Hater" stage. If you're a head from de new school, an' yu Hate mi opinion, don't git mad, git money! Your stuff just might become great old school for de current generation--an', hey, smooch Da Piggy!

10 comments:

Scratchie said...

Kisses Melody,
I am way ahead of you on the old school thing. My son has 50-odd compilations of mixes and rhythms and what he calls music on CDs. I hate almost every one of them. Do you know what it's like to get nto the car in the evening and have your ears assaulted by booggoo yaggaa sounds. My stuff was never that bad!!!...was it??? My parents might disagree though. Circle of life.

Melody said...

Kiss Kiss, Scratchie, you're right about it bein' de circle ov life, but it seems like de earth gets less subtle with each revolution. Less an' less is bein' left to our imagination, an' it's a challenge feedin' children's imagination these days--which leads right to your other point: maybe our parents' generation thought so about us too!

Jdid said...

definetly feeling you on this piggy. the new hot fella is one The Game. my friends are trying to convince me he's the hottest thing since sliced bread but compared to the ol skool hip hop even compared to some of the mid 90s stuff i'mmnot feeling him atall

Tiger, courtney melody, daddy lizard, stichie, major mackrel, peter metro, lovindeer. actually someone gave me a best of lovindeer cd man it ws so sweet hearing those songs

Abeni said...

Lol,I already dislike hip hop.Sorry jdid:)Never had a feel for it at all.Am more dancehall,reggae,soca kinda girl.Yes I can hear somebody saying it eh much of a difference with the dancehall.

Anonymous said...

Me know me old from time. Mel, most o dem 'new age' name you quoting don't even vaguely sound familiar to me.

Lots of the 'music' nowadays just doesn't do it for me. In fact, this AM was mentioning to a colleague that me really geting old as my radio in the car is almost always on KOOL FM. Plays soft music, no Dance hall or stuff like dat. Nodody a chat crap inna you ears, adverts few and far between. Helps keep the blood pressure within acceptable limits when making way through the traffic.

Had a Paediatric Surgeon who I had worked with for a while during internship (hope he resting peacefully) who referred to the Dance Hall suppem as coughing, spitting and barking!

Mi cousin Legal Aid recently said he realised his age when he heard music he used to rock to in his teens playing on that "Oldies But Goodies" thing early in the AM on RJR I think. Dr. D.

Melody said...

Jdid, this is de 1st that I'm hearin' 'bout "The Game"! I'm voluntarily outta touch for de most part. Yeah--that Lovindeer was a wacky so-n-so! And nuff espect 2 U again for that Special Ed flash-back--ain't nobody like Ed!
:-) Kami, yu mighta missed de best hip-hopperations--plus some ov de greats were a few years in advance ov ya, but wif de right experiences an' memories, yu woulda be an old-school fanatic too!

Melody said...

Doc, that's what ah was talkin' 'bout de elevator music! De laid-back Jazz stuff is thought to be de prerogative of old fogeys an' such. An' ah also detest de pop stations 'cause ov their frequent fast-food ads--so yu see it, we're both becomin' lovable antiques! But HAPPY lovable antiques!! LOL to de coughin' an' barkin', that's dance-hall at its hypest!

Anonymous said...

So whos this Special Ed guy? Is he someone on "Ed, Edd, and Eddie" or wha? What did he sing that I might know...

Mad Bull

Melody said...

MB, he's The Magnificent wif da sensational style! That was his most popular song, "I'm The Magnificent!" You didn't recall "I've Got It Made" or "The Mission" when Jdid mentioned those, but think back to late 80s early 90's, an' recall a suave young rapper wif great rap skills--that's him!

Melody said...

Dennis did nice fe true, Sunshine. If it wasn't fe "Baltimore" by The Tamlins, Dennis' "Silhouette" woulda be mi favourite cover version ov all time!