"The Magic Stick," 50 Cent and Lil' Kim

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There's something fantastically shoddy about this song. It sounds like it was thrown together in about 10 minutes to cash in on 50 Cent's popularity: the vocals are mixed way too low, 3/4 of the song is made up of repetitions of the unusually long chorus, the last minute or so of the song is instrumental. But it's so much fun, especially the production, with a great palm-muted guitar lick sample and those breaks in the song that don't really seem to pop up where they're supposed to. I could give a shit about the lyrics, typical Lil' Kim nastiness but so edited that they're unintelligible on the radio, but I like this way more than any other 50 Cent song, especially that shitty "20 Questions" which I can't escape. Anyone else heard this song?

― NA. (Nick A.), Friday, 20 June 2003 11:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh yeah and it's got the hallmark of 21st century rap songs: out-of-key crooning by the rappers on the chorus.

― NA. (Nick A.), Friday, 20 June 2003 11:47 (twenty-two years ago)

well said. it also completely fails to live up to the first 5 seconds of the song, which sounds pretty awesome.

― Al (sitcom), Friday, 20 June 2003 12:26 (twenty-two years ago)

It's ok, not as good as '21 Questions'. The magic stick refers to his cock i assume?

― ss, Friday, 20 June 2003 13:08 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't know that it sounds shoddy to me, exactly, rather than extremely loose, which is really nice considering how suffocatingly tight a lot of very recent vintage hip-hop is these days. I mean, "Magic Stick" sounds like a field recording or something, relatively speaking, like some old, long-forgotten standard from the American Anthology of Hip-Hop.

And, put in relation to the completely cynical, glossy "21 Questions," I think it's kind of beautiful.

― Ess (Ess), Friday, 20 June 2003 13:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Is that the 'I got the magic stick, I can go for hours' track? The guys I work with keep singing it, it's very distracting. (also, I thought it was Snoop Dogg. Bad me.)

― cis (cis), Friday, 20 June 2003 13:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Dare I say Lil Kim outshines Fiddy?

Actually, it may be that I like 50 Cent less and less the more time goes by.

The beat is nice. The song is nice, too.

― scott m (mcd), Friday, 20 June 2003 13:27 (twenty-two years ago)

The whole thing sounds like a bad commercial jingle on a hiphop station, only stretched out way too long and too many of those incredibly annoying breaks.

― My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Friday, 20 June 2003 13:57 (twenty-two years ago)

I like this song a lot. I love that last "ma-a-gic" in the chorus -- it sounds so low-down. And it has an Oriental, pentatonic vibe to it. And 50 Cent sounds like a zombie.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 20 June 2003 14:23 (twenty-two years ago)

it sure makes people dance!

― s1utsky (slutsky), Friday, 20 June 2003 15:06 (twenty-two years ago)

is this why my friend keeps leaving messages on my machine going "i've got the magic stick"?

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 20 June 2003 15:10 (twenty-two years ago)

I wonder how the Detroit indie-rock venue with the same name feels about this song.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 20 June 2003 15:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Probably kind of blase and ironic. Whatever.

― NA. (Nick A.), Friday, 20 June 2003 15:13 (twenty-two years ago)

The production's great -- the way the opening break coverts down to the guitar sample is the best two seconds of radio around right now. It is weird, though, how bored they both sound -- I mean, Kim's about to fall asleep ("I'll do it anywhere, anyhowwzzzzzzz...") and 50's his usual blank self. It sort of works; they sound tired and dismissive. I also find it amusing that "magic stick" can go on radio but "magic box" apparently takes things too far.

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 20 June 2003 15:35 (twenty-two years ago)

only ilm would hate on this song!! i was sort of obsessed with it when i first heard it , its still my fav single from my fav album this year and possibly my fav song with 50 since how to rob or u not like me!! and it doesnt sound lazy , listen to how kim quietly sings up on 'makin you high', chorus is wonderful, beat like perfect clockwork god i could bump it for hours

― trife (simon_tr), Friday, 20 June 2003 18:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Uh, only like one person said they didn't like it. Personally, I think it's great, just kind of weird in its sloppiness, but that makes it kind of cooler.

― NA. (Nick A.), Friday, 20 June 2003 19:01 (twenty-two years ago)

(I find lazy-Kim more fascinating, to be honest. It's like "do I really have to tell you again about my sexual bravado?")

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 20 June 2003 19:49 (twenty-two years ago)

doesn't do anything for me except remind me how great 50's dancehall album would be if there was gonna be one

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Friday, 20 June 2003 20:21 (twenty-two years ago)

great beat. well-written tune. sounds like one of those weird Dre "2001" guitar parts.

― Johnny Badlees (crispssssss), Saturday, 21 June 2003 18:24 (twenty-two years ago)

three weeks pass...

This has really grown on me. John gets at why: it has the "slackness" that's so prized in dancehall, a kind of offhandedness, a (real or feigned) indifference. It's compelling, but not in an insistent or oppressive way.

It reminds me of those innumerable 1930s raunchy blues duets, where the singers sound similarly seen-it-all and the entendres are alternately imaginative and totally obvious. The fact that the horniness is untempered by any pledges of love, devotion, or even any boasts of anything besides sexual prowess, just makes it all the clearer and easier to take.

Is this the most overtly raunchy Top 10 single ever?

― amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 15:51 (twenty-two years ago)

This song somehow spits in the face of those who would consider 50 Cent's beats (I know they're not *his* beats...I was going to say Dre but I'm not certain this is his record) too simplistic or dumb or unimaginative. Not because it is especially complicated or sophisticated or unique but because it's totally appropriate and pretty much flawless as far as it goes.

― amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 15:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Also Nabisco OTM. I like Kim *much* better when she isn't trying too hard, or trying to stifle her essential raunchiness. She works best as a one-joke rapper, and this song is like the distillation of that joke.

― amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 15:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Is this on the Kim Lp? If so I'll get it, why not, Duane loves it

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 16:00 (twenty-two years ago)

And I don't really know why the radio has to bleep out "magic box." Nothing objectionable about that! I mean, she is referring to one of these

http://www.arlenstudio.com/magic-box-1.jpg

right?

(AT: yes it's on the Lil' Kim CD.)

― amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 16:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Is this a 50 Cent feat. Lil' Kim song or a Lil' Kim feat. 50 Cent song? (I mean in terms of how it's officially credited).

(xpost)

― NA. (Nick A.), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 16:01 (twenty-two years ago)

(that's 50 Cent's crotch in the mirror)

― amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 16:02 (twenty-two years ago)

She's a Buffy fan, that sign makes us laugh! Thanks A.

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 16:03 (twenty-two years ago)

This beat is sick. That little guitar bit is just fab. A few other things I completely dig: the "OHH!" right at the break (best 1/2 second on hip hop radio this year?). Kim's enunciation of "heeeeaughd ovah heeeeuuuls" kills me. And it is amazing how lazy and nonchalant they are- it's like they're both hot as hell and have absolutely no reason to break a sweat bragging about it. They're the couple that scares everybody with how attractive they are.

Oh, and the full stops in the beat are great.

― rgeary (rgeary), Thursday, 17 July 2003 02:09 (twenty-two years ago)

eight months pass...

ooooo my god this song is soooooooo awsome i love it it talks about drugs and sex theres nothing beater

― Tinkerbell stormy bowen, Saturday, 20 March 2004 01:03 (twenty-two years ago)

four years pass...

ooooo my god this song is soooooooo awsome i love it it talks about drugs and sex theres nothing beater

-- Tinkerbell stormy bowen, Friday, March 19, 2004 8:03 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Link

― and what, Monday, 28 July 2008 17:10 (seventeen years ago)

weird that i started this thread, i barely remember this song now

― n/a, Monday, 28 July 2008 18:15 (seventeen years ago)

classic

― J0rdan S., Monday, 28 July 2008 18:20 (seventeen years ago)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2cYXY-N-40

― n/a, Monday, 28 July 2008 18:20 (seventeen years ago)

weird that amateurist thinks dancehall slackness is the same as indie rock slackness

― t_g, Monday, 28 July 2008 18:26 (seventeen years ago)

Revives like this seem so quaint now, a reminder that there was a point when ILM's popism was so wide-eyed that http://www.nomaas.org/images/drudge_siren.gif BREAKING: THERE IS A SONG ON THE RADIO AND IT ISN'T VERY GOOD http://www.nomaas.org/images/drudge_siren.gif seemed like a sentiment worthy of starting a thread for.

― some dude, Monday, 28 July 2008 18:43 (seventeen years ago)

if you actually read the initial post where i talked about why i liked the song, you would know that isn't true

― n/a, Monday, 28 July 2008 18:48 (seventeen years ago)

It's ok, not as good as '21 Questions'. The magic stick refers to his cock i assume?

-- ss, Friday, June 20, 2003 1:08 PM (5 years ago) Bookmark Link

― n/a, Monday, 28 July 2008 18:49 (seventeen years ago)

yeah true, i kinda looked at the "shoddy" part and vaguely remembered the thread and glossed over it, sorry

― some dude, Monday, 28 July 2008 18:51 (seventeen years ago)

Haha, the funny thing is that you said "well said" in the thread's third post.

― jaymc, Monday, 28 July 2008 18:53 (seventeen years ago)

lol yeah. i think i liked his description, i just thought it rang equally true if you don't think its shoddiness is fantastic.

― some dude, Monday, 28 July 2008 18:55 (seventeen years ago)

I love this song too - It's Lil' Kim feat. 50 (before they hated each other, although I think they're buddies again). I kinda collect rap instrumentals off of Kazaa for some reason (I don't rap - I'm a huge dork) but I really dig this beat. On the instrumental you can hear the guitar licks even better. Like someone said, the "ooaaah!" is wild. Weird beat, very original. The midtempo Dre influence is undeniable, but those trumpet stabs and guitars give it such a sleazy vibe. And 50 is a great hook writer. Someone can PM me if they want the beat for themselves.

― skygreenleopard, Monday, 28 July 2008 19:09 (seventeen years ago)

and i ain't out shoppin' spendin' dudes' c-notes
i'm in the crib givin' niggas deep throat

― lex pretend, Monday, 28 July 2008 19:55 (seventeen years ago)

la bella mafia is kind of an underrated album, twista's verse on 'thug luv' is a thing of wonder, 'the jump off' is a total banger and 'heavenly father' transcends its hackneyed (even then!) chipmunk soul sample with some cold, cold misanthropy. "i'm the reason bitches want bigger breasts", A+.

― lex pretend, Monday, 28 July 2008 19:58 (seventeen years ago)

I never thought of this as sounding like Dre so much as sounding like Rza, which as a Wu-dork I was pretty excited to hear on the radio. But yeah, this is one of my favorites songs that I always forget about ever.

― The Reverend, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 03:28 (seventeen years ago)

two months pass...

ooooo my god this song is soooooooo awsome i love it it talks about drugs and sex theres nothing beater

-- Tinkerbell stormy bowen, Friday, March 19, 2004 8:03 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Link

― and what, Monday, July 28, 2008 5:10 PM (2 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

― lex pretend, Saturday, 18 October 2008 18:48 (seventeen years ago)

http://www.nomaas.org/images/drudge_siren.gif

^^^lol at altered file

― Carrie Bradshaw Layfield (The stickman from the hilarious 'xkcd' comics), Saturday, 18 October 2008 18:57 (seventeen years ago)

ahahahah

― s1ocki, Saturday, 18 October 2008 21:59 (seventeen years ago)

BREAKING

― s1ocki, Saturday, 18 October 2008 21:59 (seventeen years ago)

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