Very Special

Most days at work I listen to my Ipod - I just put it on shuffle and let it play in the background when I'm in my office (which is most of the time). It always makes me smile a little bit when I'm sitting around doing some work and a really random song will come on. It might be one of the songs from the extremely excellent Best of Rocky Balboa soundtrack (getting me a little too pumped up at my desk). Or it might be some completely inappropriate song from NWA (RIP Eazy-E) or a song from some very forgetful album. In general, I enjoy the fact that I spent way too much money over the years on CDs and try to reminisce about where I acquired that specific CD as it comes on.

Today's smile inducing song was "Very Special" by Big Daddy Kane, featuring Spinderella. Those who know me know that I do have a strong affinity for hip hop and rap from the 80s through the late 90s. Big Daddy Kane was just a great rapper. He is probably best known for "Ain't No Half Stepping" (with a great video here - I remember these kids dancing in the background - perhaps Kid & Play's inspiration?) - a nice rap tune. But he's had quite the interesting career. There are a few things that I remember well and a few that I had to rely on the glorious interwebs for. I clearly remember when Madonna's book (Sex) came out during my freshman year at BU, it was all the buzz. Someone on my floor got the book and I remember how surprised I was that none other than Big Daddy was prominently featured in it (I have since forgotten that Vanilla Ice appeared in it as well). I think I've blocked out any memory of Big Daddy's little daddy (if indeed it was shown), but I still found it strange that he was in the book (apparently he appeared in Playgirl as well).


I knew that he was friends with another personal favorite - Biz Markie (I'm still waiting for my own personal Biz alarm clock). Apparently BDK was the brains in the operation, having written most of the lyrics for Biz's biggest hits. He also was one of the guys that gave Jay-Z his start - Jigga was actually a hypeman for BDK shows in the 90s (along with Positive K - the guy that sang that song "I Got A Man" and sang both the male and female parts on his one-hit wonder). I was fortunate enough to see BDK perform a few years back at small theater in New York City. Unlike some of the other "legends of rap" that I've seen over the past few years (Slick Rick and Digital Underground come to mind), Kane was awesome. He brought it and brought it hard for a solid hour plus. He got to all of his stuff, covered some other rappers' hits and even did a little move busting of his own. It was high energy and for any real rap fan of the era, a great show. So, I still enjoy and support BDK.

I digress a bit though. This song made me smile mainly because I get such a kick out of the mini-genre that was the rap love song. You know what I'm talking about - when the rapper "slows it down" and sends one out to the ladies. I've been trying to rack my brain for a few more examples. LL Cool J's "Around the Way Girl" might have been the most mainstream example ("bamboo earings, at least two pair"). But there have been others through the years - "I'd Rather F*** With You" by NWA; "Song Cry" by Jay-Z; "Dear Mama" and "Brenda's Got a Baby" by Tupac; "I Need Love" by LL Cool J, "Do 4 U" by Father MC (and Mary J. Blige) and many others. It's always amusing to me to hear the respect these rappers have for the ladies - me thinks it's a tad transparent. Did they really need more reasons to attract the rap groupies, I mean the sentimental ladies? I guess one good rap love song can overpower album's worth of bitches and hoes.

This lovely duet with the DJ from Salt N Pepa had some really solid lyrics. Just a few favorites - "since they say love is blind, I'm the Ray Charles of rap", "you're always on my mind, even more than my own skull", and "those tropicana drinks don't blend as good as us". I mean, those were clearly classic lyrics that must have taken literally minutes to compose. Rhyming ain't easy! Just taking it slow and giving us something a little different than the normal rap song.

Lastly on this somewhat related post - I really don't get the IPod shuffle at all. It clearly shuffles within a segment of albums, not the entire collection. Why can't they invent a shuffle that truly shuffles across the whole IPod? I understand the concept of the word random - I'm not sure Mr. Shuffle does though. How often do you hear multiple songs from the same artist or even the same album back to back? If it is an indication of my luck, I guess I need to play the lottery some more. Please Apple geniuses, get to work on this. It would make my life a little better.