Day 52: "Dirty World" – Hot Boys, Get It How U Live! , 1997I woke up this morning thinking about history, trying to put Donald Trump's election into perspective. The closest analogue in American history I can think of is Andrew Jackson, another ostensibly populist candidate who has been enshrined in history with a place on the $20 bill and whose presidency is most famous, anecdotally, for bringing a giant block of cheese into the White House. Of course, Andrew Jackson's other famous legacy is enacting a policy of literal genocide. So, well, so much for looking there for comfort.But history can still be a source of encouragement: Shit has always sucked, and, broadly speaking, people have always found ways to cope and survive. In 1997, The Hot Boys—yes, the guys who invented "bling bling" and who nobody north of the Mason-Dixon line took seriously as lyricists—were talking about many of the same issues that we face today. On "Dirty World," Juvenile rails against cuts in the social safety net ("food stamps and welfare done been cut now / they done fucked the Medicare up, so niggas stuck now"), racist police, unjust prison sentences, and crooked politicians. All of it seems topical today. Wayne, meanwhile, observes, "man, you hate me and I hate you, look what this world do." Divisiveness and racist hatred is not new.There's solace in this song, though, coming from the preternaturally wise 15-year-old Wayne, who, as he would do when he based a song around the line a couple years later, breaks his taboo on cursing for the occasion. In the hook, Wayne intones, "It's a dirty world but it still spin / you can't do nothing about it but try to live in it." It's not the most comforting approach, but it's true, and it's offering some reassurance as I listen to it on repeat today. "Try to live in it" doesn't mean quietly accept it. It means try to get by, rail against its dirtiness, keep fighting. So I guess now we all try to do that.On another note: Let's Talk About Mannie Fresh. He may be best known as a minimalist synth wizard, but, as I've mentioned before, that's not quite accurate. Mannie Fresh is comfortable with all kinds of sounds: This song, released a full decade before Wayne would be a crossover pop star and nearly two decades before rap's default mode would be melodic, leans on a guitar melody that pushes Wayne into a sing-song cadence on the hook. Never underestimate Mannie Fresh's innate musicality.Follow Kyle Kramer on Twitter.
Advertisement