The Depths: Hip-Hop Analysis (1) Summer Grind Issue 2012

I thought I would try something new here. As a writer and a lover of hip-hop I felt that it was prudent to analyze some songs if for no other reason but to extol the genius and the symbols, metaphors, and other literary devices that are present in this wonderful art form.

Let’s begin.

 

Song: “Wildflower”

Artist: Cee Lo Green

Album: The Lady Killer (2010)

“Wildflower” is a wonderful metaphor in and of itself. The song, expertly sung by Cee Lo Green, takes the chance to compare a beautiful woman with a wildflower. Throughout he finds similarities between a true beauty and flora, a true wonder of God’s creation.

All it takes is some moonlight and as long as the weather’s fair

Reacts through a river, romance by the evening air

A fragrance on her flesh, this is who she is; don’t apologize

You are to awe her but you’ll only be beautiful in the beholder

Two lines in the first verse really affirm and play into the extended metaphor of the song.  The first would be the line ‘A fragrance on her flesh’. This line could be said of the sweet fragrance most women carry as well as the aroma of a bouquet of wildflowers might have. The same could be said of the line ‘…only be beautiful in the beholder’. This speaks of the old adage that beauty rests in the eyes of the beholder, a phrase that applies to women and flowers.

Wonderful wildflower

Open up, let me see

Sexy hints in season

Share your sunshine with me

The chorus as a whole calls her a ‘wonderful wildflower’. The implication of ‘open up and let me see’ is that she should share her individual beauty with him and only him. The rest of the chorus plays in a similar fashion.

The picture is perfect is perfect, a keepsake ‘cause the occasion’s rare

It’s poetry in motion, I’m just proud to say that I was there

To pull her out of the ground, standing out in the crowd, oh my how she’s grown

Hold her in both my hands and put her right on the table when I get her home

‘The picture is perfect’ refers to his woman, his flower. This is further enforced by saying she’s a ‘keepsake ‘cause the occasion is rare’. The last two lines are a brilliant bit. The crowd that she stands out of is in direct parallel to a flower in the earth amid its fellows. Finally, to ‘hold her in both my hands’ could either be an embrace or the way you’d carefully hold a vase full of flowers. The same can be said of the phrase saying to ‘put her right on the table when I get her home’. It could be either be flower placement or foreplay depending on the way it’s taken  

Wonderful wildflower

Open up, let me see

Sexy hints in season

Share your sunshine with me

Show those pretty colors, baby

Show them all to everyone

Everybody’s got a little light under the sun

As with the chorus it speaks of that individual beauty to be given to only him.

Wonderful wildflower

Open up, let me see

Sexy hints in season

Share your sunshine with me

Wonderful wildflower

Open up, let me see

Sexy hints in season

Share your sunshine with me


Courtesy of Lucius Black for Royalty Magazine

Strike Of The Lady Killer (Summer Grind Issue 2012)

Before I start here I would first like to apologize to the readers. This is long overdue.

I know the lateness of this whole thing but I felt it necessary that I put the light on a singularly wonderful album. It is a travesty if a person who calls himself a writer for a music magazine doesn’t call attention to good music.

The album?

Cee Lo Green’s The Lady Killer.

For a while I was silently expecting another Gnarls Barkley album. After St. Elsewhere and The Odd Couple, I was waiting for a third to make a trilogy. I even spent a bit of time trying to figure the title for the next album.

Could it be 21 Jump Street?

Or maybe Party Of Five?

I did that in vain, however. No more Gnarls Barkley for now. But the day may very well come. But not today.

Instead we were treated with The Lady Killer. I didn’t know what to expect, honestly. Hearing “F*ck You” for the first time had me confused. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a damn good song. It’s just that the first single gave me no clue as to what was coming.

I went into the first listening with an open mind.

‘Wow’ was all I could say.

This album was (and still is) wonderful to hear. The songs are amazing and the production is of a quality that I haven’t heard in quite a while. Every song was worth further examination but I will talk about four.

“F*ck You” is the heartbreak of a schoolboy’s crush and how he feels now that he’s grown beyond it. I feel like a lot of the good guys, the good guys who got left behind for the asshole or the bad guy can relate. This is a sad story that becomes something of an off-key happily ever after.

“Wildflower” starts with an amazing piano flourish. The concept is a wonderful metaphor. Green compares a beautiful woman to a wildflower. The analogy is perfect and Cee Lo’s voice makes it soar to great heights.

“Bodies” is a tale of dying chivalry and how it lures a beautiful woman to his bed. There is a sad, almost eerie timbre in this one. An occasion female voice accentuates the track perfectly. It’s a well thought out track.

“Fool For You” is a love song where a man, where Cee Lo tells of how much he loves that woman. He loves her in such a way, with such intensity that he has no choice but to be a fool…such a fool for you.

I know the title of the album implies that he kills the ladies but once you listen to it will kill you as will. Got ‘em.


Courtesy of Lucius Black for Royalty Magazine