Now I don't usually review music as it's not at all my forte and my opinion is usually too bias to give a creditable opinion on a piece of audio art. Yet, after hearing Lil B's I Got AIDs track, I thought I'd give it a go. As Lil B is somewhat of an inspiration as he's clearly gone about producing a piece of work in which the content is unfamiliar to him, I'm just hoping that when I tackle an unfamiliar subject I don't come across as a clueless moron.
Now some deluded hip hop fans will praise Lil B for daring to tackle such a taboo topic such as AIDs in a genre that most pierce of glorifying violence, drug use and misogynistic values. Yet conscious hip hop has always been around and always will be, it's just not often pushed into the limelight. I can neither confirm or deny that Lil B is a trailblazer in the respects of making a track about AIDs, although I'm sure someone must have touched on it in the past.
But to the track itself; it begins with a small phone conversation then Lil B delivers the bad news; “I've got AIDs”, for what is supposed to be a conscious track about AIDs awareness, this opening bar instantly installs a perception that this song is in fact a piss take. It almost presents itself as a spoof, something that is likely to feature The Lonely Islands if they were more puerile and controversial. Yet it's not, this is meant to be serious, so don't laugh at the ludicrous line, it's time to learn about AIDs.
Lil B goes on to rap; “I shoulda used a condom, instead of trusting these women”. There's a bona fide tip for all those attempting to avoid contracting AIDs; use a condom! Apparently you can still fuck a women that has AIDs as long as your boy's in his wetsuit. Because condoms have never been known to tear or anything, condoms are the most durable substance in the world. The latter end of that line places the blame squarely on the shoulders of Lil B's ex-lovers, as he trusted them when really he shouldn't, so be careful guys if a woman wants to sleep with you she probably has AIDs. Lil B calls upon some advice passed down to him from his mother; “My mom said; 'keep ya dick in ya pants and you'll be good'”. Wise words there from Mother B. But while mom was dishing out sexual advice over a bowl of Frosties in the morning, it seems they've fallen on deaf ears. Lil B goes on to say that he was worried about getting the girl pregnant, not knowing that she had AIDs, now I'm no sexpert but condoms are often used to halt pregnancies. I understand that I've pointed out the drawbacks of them already but in all seriousness, if you're worried about getting a woman pregnant and you take no precautions you deserve AIDs.
The start of verse two offers some possibly unintended wordplay; “Now I'm fucked, cos I had unprotected sex”. Get it? He's “fucked” cos he had “[unprotected] sex”! But why is this an unintended piece of wordplay? Because I highly doubt Lil B to possess the skill/talent/luck of penning this line, also this line in itself is quite humorous, therefore it probably isn't meant to be pierced how I've seen it. Remember this is about AIDs, AIDs is serious! We then find out Lil B's also contracted herpes, but moaning about herpes when you have AIDs is like whining about a paper-cut on your figure as your lower intestines slosh out of a stab wound in your gut. Lil B continues on and brings up famed basketball player Magic Johnson [whom, from my research contracted HIV but it never developed into full blown AIDs, guess that's why they call him Magic]; “Magic Johnson the only one that's still alive, sittin' down all alone, it makes me wanna cry” before we highlight the subtle genius of rhyming 'alive' with 'cry' [I've heard of half-rhymes before but never half-arsed-rhymes]. At first listen I thought this line was entirely about Magic and Lil B was thinking about how Johnson was all alone and that thought made him want to cry. But on later inspection I'm not sure if Lil B is simply talking about himself wanting to cry after what has happened to him. That's surely the mark of a true artist, the pure fact, that I as a hip hop head can not truly assess what the fuck he's on about. Lil B ends verse two by saying if he could go back in time he would have wore a condom, so again I'll point out the fact that he'd still fuck a AIDs ridden woman, so he clearly hasn't learned his lesson. The final line is; “Now I’m dying, saying 'goodbye' to my momma”, I can just picture Momma B's 'I told you so' face.
Verse three is without a shadow of a doubt the best verse, as it doesn't exist. In total this is a ten bar song (twenty lines) which for a hip hop song is fucking pitiful, especially a song that is apparently about awareness. Lil B's delivery or flow is mediocre, his tone is completely void of emotion, whether or not that's purposeful because of his remorseful emotions or just a complete lack of care on Lil B's part. No anger is present in his voice when mentioning the “bitches” he's trusted. One of the most important aspects of being an emcee/rapper is being able to rhyme words, a process that Lil B has turned his nose up at, rhyming words like; pregnant/sexin', sex/bet, AIDs/pay and the unbelievable condom/momma damn! Basically nothing rhymes, I've released bodily gases that have held more rhyme merit than Lil B on this track. The beat is OK.
Overall, this song is clearly less about AIDs awareness and more about getting people talking about Lil B, yet all they'll say is; “Oh, Lil B, that guy that made that terrible song on AIDs awareness.” Maybe if Lil B took the time to pen something more thought provoking than a confused message of wear a condom and get tested that featured words that rhymed, this review would have been totally different. But if Lil B had made a decent AIDs song, this review wouldn't exist, because I just wanted to take the piss out of it. Too enjoy [I Got] AIDs take your [hearing] AIDs out.
Ben's Rating:
-5 / 0
No comments:
Post a Comment