|
 |
 Regulate... the Debunk Era by Tim Molloy Recently I checked in at an Internet message board popular among academics, researchers, and thug bitches as a place to unwind from the normal toils of our hip-hop-centered intellectual pursuits. While the site is unparalleled for its frequently devastating commentaries and observations about the music to which we have all dedicated our lives, I must confess that on this particular day I took umbrage at an offhand remark posted by one of my colleagues. That the offending comment came from one of hip-hop's most influential leaders only added to my disappointment and frustration. This individual -- lunchboxing.com founder and CEO Jamie Flam -- has to his credit graciously offered me this space in an attempt to right the rather egregious wrong he has foisted on the hip-hop community -- and particularly on the billions of people worldwide who gather daily spiritual sustenance from the boisterous raps and soulful crooning of Warren G and Nate Dogg. At the risk of furthering the misinformation included in Jamie's post, I reproduce it here -- praying that my gentle readers will understand that I am doing so only to demonstrate the reprehensible shallowness of the argument Jamie attempts to bolster. I just downloaded 'Regulate' by Warren G and Nate Dogg and was reminded of the following line: 'The Rhythm is the Bass and the Bass is the Treble.' It comes off sounding great from Nate, but the more I think about it, the less sense it makes. Here is an analogy I cam (sic) up with: 'The Seasoning is the Salt and the Salt is the Pepper.' I think they are comprable (sic) ...if nothing else you get a good laugh if you imagine Nate Dogg singing that line! Well, thank you Jamie for a big bellylaugh indeed. Har-dee-har-har-har. Har. There's no denying that many a soft-minded would-be intellectual -- no offense to Jamie -- has passed an afternoon questioning word choices by Warren and Nate that are, on their face, so obtuse as to appear almost meaningless. But to surrender this mental wrestling bout without the proverbial pin is to do a bad thing. To begin: we need to bear in mind that "Regulate," like the works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, exists in an ethereal realm of "magical realism." Note that before Nate even recites the phrase in question, Warren explicitly invites, nay, dares the listener to join him in this alternative reality, or "whole new era," of suspended disbelief: Warren: I'm tweaking into a whole new era G-Funk step to this I dare ya Funk on a whole new level Nate: The rhythm is the bass and the bass is the treble Granted, many listeners will find themselves incapable of abandoning their earthly concerns, but Warren makes clear from the beginning of his narrative that he refuses to be caged within such limitations of the imagination. Even in moments of great adversity -- as when his antagonists threaten him with weaponry in his own town -- he escapes into a dream of flight. The events that immediately follow suggest that this "contemplation" is the very source of Warren's ultimate salvation, personified in the form of his homie Nate: Warren: If I had wings I could fly let me contemplate Glance in the cut and i see my homie Nate In this context, Nate's ultimate declaration relating the "rhythm [to] the bass and the bass [to] to the treble" takes on a clearer meaning. It's easy to overlook Warren's subsequent declaration that in the G Funk Era "rhythm is life... and life is rhythm." But such an oversight would deny us an understanding of the transitive relationship described within "Regulate" between "the bass" and "life," namely: If Rhythm = life, and vice versa; and rhythm = the bass; then the bass = life Thus we see that the earthly life, that of physical threats and overly grounded academic interpretations -- sorry, Jamie -- is also that of the "base," or common. In his dreamlife, Warren is able to remain grounded in the "base" even as he celebrates the treble; he can exist in the rhythm of life even as he lives a life of rhythm. He exists simultaneously in "our" era and the "whole new level" of the "G Funk Era." We can only assume that he is "high like every day," as we too would be if we smoked like Nate smokes. F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of "The Pat Hobby Stories," once observed that "the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposite ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function." He wasn't talking about how dumb Jamie Flam is, but he could have been. 
For more information on Nate Dogg click here. Tim Molloy is a stupid asshole. |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| lunchboxing.com 2003 | all content © | all rights reserved | suck it so hard | feel the rhythm of the night |
