worst protest song/political song to place in the Pazz & Jop singles poll

deej my point is that if his baiting wasn't so successful, people would only be annoyed at him and never you. that is clearly not the case, and constantly being stubbornly in denial of that just makes you look way more ridiculous than him.

^should have been included in poll/wry commentary on thread xp

i'm a board hero, i don't know what you guys are on

in one of the many times i've seen School of Rock i watched the part where bonzo plays thru a montage of dewey finn giving various AV rock images to the class pointing out specifics with a pointer and almost teared up for his vision of rock as an exciting world changing beauty.

i guess its my fault for assuming that hes a dude who wants to actually talk about & take this stuff seriously

who, the Legendary KO?

what's beef?
beef is when deej makes whiney start his jeep

if the legendary ko is trolling im certainly not the one who responded lol

bonzo goes to bitsburg then he goes for a cup of teaaeeaeea and as i watched it on tv somehow it really bothered me baaaaaahbahbahbah my brain is hangin, upsidedowhowhowwwwn

i guess its my fault for assuming that hes a dude who wants to actually talk about & take this stuff seriously

― challopian youtubes (deej), Monday, January 24, 2011 10:42 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

FYI, you're the one who never answered my legitimate question about your dislike of the song over "When The President Talks To God" and fucking "Mosh"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ4LJebvtB4

this is either Sun City or Bright Eyes

deej u have been noising up ILX lately w/ your 300 post argumentative idgi bullshit, cio

pretty sure the bright eyes song is actually the worst song of the last decade

n/j school of rock is one of my favourite movies of all time

in one of the many times i've seen School of Rock i watched the part where bonzo plays thru a montage of dewey finn giving various AV rock images to the class pointing out specifics with a pointer and almost teared up for his vision of rock as an exciting world changing beauty.

― zvookster, Tuesday, January 25, 2011 3:42 AM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark

man

in one of the many times i've seen School of Rock i watched the part where bonzo plays thru a montage of dewey finn giving various AV rock images to the class pointing out specifics with a pointer and almost teared up for his vision of rock as an exciting world changing beauty.

Thanks. I was just about to mention "Bonzo"'s use in a film, but I couldn't quite remember where I'd seen it. Great scene.

Fuck that fucking bright eyes song forever

lol @ whiney riding for "the legendary KO"

I never play Sun City.

I'm sure the Bright Eyes is worse, but "Mosh" is the worst of these I've heard.

Bright Eyes song is terrible and was potent for about one week in early 2005 - it's like one of those clumsy early Dylan songs which he had the good sense to never officially release.

Free Nelson Mandela is great and joyous and specific and unexpected and I have no idea why it's on this list.

Can someone explain to me exactly why the Legendary KO record is so hated? Even leaving aside its timeliness, I love the wit and empathy in the lyric, the way the anger isn't overplayed, the way a recent hit is twisted in a way that makes complete sense and gives the track a defiant empathy rather than predictable I'm-being-serious-now gravitas. Sure, it was probably overpraised by the likes of Greil Marcus because of what it represented but I do not get why so many people (or maybe just a few very vocal people on ILX) think it's so awful.

the legendary ko track is just so corny and awkward. it's the wrong song to try to rework for starters, everything about "gold digger" is unserious and wry - it's a that's-just-how-life-is shrug about a stereotypically humorous situation that celebrates human foibles and couldn't be less aggressive or suitable for any kind of attack. shoving a ~serious message~ over the top both detracts from the message and leeches out the fun of the hook/beat.

what i hated was how pointlessly point-missing it was though. hey, legendary ko - "gold digger" was an amazing thing! kanye blurting out "george bush doesn't care about black people" on live tv was an amazing thing! YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO ADD ANYTHING TO THESE AMAZING THINGS.

"georgia bush" >>> legendary ko

Thanks Lex. OK, I think the message benefits from the fun of the beat rather leeching it - the tone isn't defeated or plain furious, it's defiant and humorous. And I don't think one blurted comment - which Kanye never followed up - obviated the need for any other commentary on something as big as Katrina. Remember, this was before Lil Wayne or Jay-Z or anyone else responded. I see it as like an old civil rights freedom song, where people would spontaneously rewrite a current hit (like, aptly, Ray Charles's Hit the Road Jack) to have topical, often witty lyrics.

the other reason i think it was pointless is from the political standpoint as well as the pop standpoint - as a political statement, it didn't come close to kanye's original outburst, despite (or because) kanye didn't follow it up. bush himself called kanye's comment the worst moment of his presidency. beyond a few rock critics, barely anyone noticed and certainly no one remembers the legendary ko's contribution to the discourse. it came off like the legendary ko was trying to make an awkward quasi-political act by kanye into a Proper Political Thing, but it had zero impact from that point of view.

The Legendary KO track isn't great but come on there are at least two songs on here that are worse, Mosh and the Bright Eyes one.

The Stop The Violence Movement - "Self Destruction" (#20, 1989)

Never heard this, any good?

When the president talks to God
Are the conversations brief or long?
Does he ask to rape our women’s rights
And send poor farm kids off to die?
Does God suggest an oil hike
When the president talks to God?

When the president talks to God
Are the consonants all hard or soft?
Is he resolute all down the line?
Is every issue black or white?
Does what God say ever change his mind
When the president talks to God?

When the president talks to God
Does he fake that drawl or merely nod?
Agree which convicts should be killed?
Where prisons should be built and filled?
Which voter fraud must be concealed
When the president talks to God?

When the president talks to God
I wonder which one plays the better cop
We should find some jobs. the ghetto's broke
No, they're lazy, George, I say we don't
Just give 'em more liquor stores and dirty coke
That's what God recommends

When the president talks to God
Do they drink near beer and go play golf
While they pick which countries to invade
Which Muslim souls still can be saved?
I guess god just calls a spade a spade
When the president talks to God

When the president talks to God
Does he ever think that maybe he's not?
That that voice is just inside his head
When he kneels next to the presidential bed
Does he ever smell his own bullshit
When the president talks to God?

I doubt it

I doubt it

I mean, honestly.

oh yeah, the bright eyes one is definitely worse. bright eyes, generally, was the worst.

um, never heard it, but the lyrics aren't ... um...

I'd say "not awful", but

I dunno maybe the version of it is bad and you'd like it more if Jay-Z had done it.

That sounds 'wrong', I mean that thesedays people 'expect' political expression to sound like *this*, and not like *that*...

haha um reading the lyrics has made me remember how much i GENUINELY LIKE 'when the president talks to god'.

i was thinking 'yup that's one of those embarrassing political conor oberst songs that i don't even enjoy being embarrassed by' BUT NO

his little trembling voice! "I guess God just calls a spade a spade"!

also iirc it was an itunes-only thing at a time when that didn't feel like an official release.

mattdc, re: self destruction, no it's not much good, & i never want to listen to it. mc lyte kills it tho. the west coast equivalent that symsymsym posted upthread is far superior. followed it up with a heavily underrated post too imo :D

good work trying to troll aero into posting again by bashing the bright eyes #

Sometime (former?) ILX'er swoods and I have been trading off our Top 100s on Facebook; I had Legendary K.O. at #52, and put it at #2 on my 2005 year-end. In the annals of in-the-moment political outrage, I rank it with "Ohio," the Mothers' "Trouble Every Day," and not a whole lot else.

Perfectly valid to think it's a lousy record, but I've got to take issue with a couple of specific complaints raised above. I don't think it matters a bit whether Legendary K.O. had a "long and rewarding career"; to make that argument, you're essentially writing off Rob Base, ? & the Mysterians, and every other great one-shot ever. (I know, neither Base nor ? was technically a one-hit artist--you know what I mean.) Saying everything you ever had to say on one record and then having the good sense to disappear yourself can be a good thing.

Also: "beyond a few rock critics, barely anyone noticed and certainly no one remembers the legendary ko's contribution to the discourse." Is this true? I don't know--I remember "George Bush..." as being kind of an internet sensation ("viral," if you will) when it first appeared. Did George Bush take notice of it the way he did Kayne West's original comment? No--I'm quite sure he never heard Legendary K.O.'s record. Just like I'm quite sure Nixon never heard "Ambulance Blues" or "Smiling Faces Sometimes"--it doesn't make them any less brilliant in my eyes. I'm even tempted to make the opposite argument, that there's something especially inspiring about a voice-in-the-wilderness record that no one hears, but I won't go that route either. Ultimately, a song stands or falls on its own merits.

Kayne's aside about Bush was a fantastic, completely spontaneous moment. His actual statement was relatively measured; he accused Bush of indifference. By changing "doesn't care about" to "doesn't like," Legendary K.O. took West's charge into the realm of incendiary recklessness. Probably quite unfair, but it makes the record that much more compelling to me. I also think it's ingenious that they were able to use one of Kayne's own songs as their source material. Ditto managing to work "Connecticut" into the mix, which reminds me of Young MC's use of "opportunistic"--I think you've got to be pretty adroit to get by with such words. And best of all for me, "Five damn days, five long days/And at the end of the fifth, he walkin' in like 'Hey'."

I have no idea what Kayne West thought of "George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People," but I don't recall any kind of legal injunctions or anything to get the record pulled. My guess is that he was okay with it, and maybe even thought it was as great as I do.

when another relatively unknown rapper did a politically minded mixtape version of another Kanye song the same year (Lupe Fiasco's blood diamond-themed version of "Diamonds"), Kanye had him guest on his album and helped launch the guy's mainstream career, so I'm guessing if Kanye was at all impressed by The Legendary K.O. we would've known by now.

I am working hard on learning to spell Kanye West's name correctly. I've got the "West" part down cold.

Just call him "west" from now on, that won't confuse people.

I sincerely don't believe I'm exaggerating at all when I saw that literally thousands of no-name MCs are rapping over beats from from popular songs and making tracks that are at least half the time as good or better than "George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People" every single day. there is absolutely nothing exceptional about that song except that if you were desperate for anti-Bush rap in 2005 you might've kidded yourself into thinking it's remotely as good as "Gold Digger."

er "say" not "saw"

xpost: I was just speculating on what West (thanks!) thought of the record. Trying to be consistent, it really doesn't affect my own feelings about the record one way or the other.

So I just kidded myself into liking the record? Man, I'm such a dupe. I didn't even realize I was desperate for anti-Bush rap at the time--hadn't consciously thought about such a thing once, but it must have there somewhere in the deeper recesses of my mind.

I don't know man, I just literally cannot fathom any other reason to hold this song in such high esteem beyond having a fist-pumping "right on!" reaction to the topic, which was the point of grouping these particular songs together for this thread.

i've always assumed people spelling his name as "kayne" must be doing it as some sort of joke, because i've seen it so much over the years

clemenza OTM. some dude's contempt is way OTT. I think in the days after Katrina it was acceptable to be looking for an anti-Bush rap and OK to enjoy one that's quick, witty and measured and it's incredibly obtuse not to accept that subject matter and circumstance can elevate a record above thousands of other no-name rappers freestyling over hit beats.

of course subject matter and circumstance can elevate a record; sometimes they also overshadow the actual music.

The guy is just dull as dishwater as a rapper and there's not a single hot line in the song imo. You say it's "perfectly valid to think it's a lousy record," but that all other conclusions I draw from that are too far; if such a lousy record gets that much praise why shouldn't I think aloud about why?

If you're saying #16 is too high on P&J, sure, I agree, and it's because of the phenomenon you're talking about, but I don't see why it's so worthless and terrible. Most of the other songs here have at least one line that makes me bite my fist with embarrassment - at worst this is solid.

Xpost Think it had more to do with lumping all who like it under an unflattering umbrella

For what it's worth, I don't think "George Bush don't like black people"; West's charge of indifference was much closer to the truth, I'd say. So I'm not sure that I exactly had what you call a fist-pumping, right-on reaction to the record. I found (and continue to find) it a compelling song. That 50 million rappers may have been out there trying to do the same thing with West's comment doesn't matter a bit to me. I haven't heard those records; if I ever hear one that's better than Legendary K.O.'s, I'll be happy.

I think the Kanye misspelling is just a case of "kay" being a natural thing for your fingers to want to type, and "kan" not being so natural.

Maybe an interesting question to pose re: the subject of the thread is, given that musical taste is subjective anyway, why shouldn't a listener enjoy a record in part for its political content? I mean, there are classic records I disagree with and awful ones I agree with, but most of the time it's not that simple. There's no doubt I like the Legendary KO record more than if the same rapper was rapping about something else over the same beat but so what? Don't all these factors feed into your enjoyment of a record?

It's this idea that "quality" is somehow sacrosanct and impervious to any other considerations, like when I hear people saying they don't care what race/class/gender a musician is as long as the music is good when race/class/gender may all play a part in whether it's good and what kind of good it is.