Hip hop has long been a venue for laughter. Consider songs like Eminem’s “My Name Is” (“Dr. Dre, don’t just stand there, operate”) and Digital Underground’s “The Humpty Dance” (“I use a word that don’t mean nothing, like looptid”). But even songs that on the surface appear hard sparkle with puns and one-liners. The lyrical intermingling of menace and mirth may derive from a tradition in Black culture known as the Dozens, a game in which contestants trade snaps, aka yo’ mama jokes, hoping to both intimidate opponents and entertain onlookers.
Some examples:
- Jeru The Damaja’s “Come Clean.” Here’s a man who calls himself “Tha Damaja” and insists that he’s “real, rough, and rugged,” warning listeners not to “provoke the wrath of this rhyme inventor.” Yet he also brags, cheekily, that he can “control the mic like Fidel Castro locked Cuba,” and professes “styles more fatal than second hand smoke.” Take that, Big Tobacco & sucka MCs!
- GZA’s “Liquid Swords.” He declares himself “the body dropper” and “head amputator,” someone who can “drop megaton bombs more faster than you blink.” Meanwhile, he argues that your “shit’s played like zodiac signs on sweatshirts,” and that your “lyrics are weak, like clock radio speakers.” Your mom's a clock radio speaker.
- EPMD’s “You Gots to Chill.” As Parrish Smith informs you that “when it’s time to roll, Uzi patrol is packin’,” he more benignly notes that “when it’s time, [I’ll] issue dig-em-smacks.” His partner in crime, Erick Sermon, similarly brandishes (metaphorical) weaponry at the opportune moment: “Pack a nine in my pants for when it’s time to roll.” Yet he also advises, helpfully, “if you tired, then go take a nap!,” though you might regret your decision, “because right now, I’m ’bout to shake and bake.” These rhymes make me scared and hungry.
I’ve picked classic examples from when I listened mostly to hip hop (80s and 90s), but feel free to share more recent specimens in the comments.
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