A Change of Heart

Here I am, once again reporting from the dull, blunt edge of pop culture. (You may remember such past reports as my "discovery" of 'Lazy Sunday' three months after it aired, and my 2006 review of Signs.)

Today's subject is Lupe Fiasco's "Kick, Push" - a skateboarding themed, hip hop single released this summer. Click here for a sample. (It plays automatically after some stupid ad for cucumbers. Who eats cucumbers, anyway?)

I can hear the majority of my readers already...

MOMR: Um...I think I'll pass on this one. Really, Reinman. Hip hop?

Me: No, that's just it. When I first heard the song, I instinctively wanted to hate it because it combined two things I'm slightly hostile to at best - hip hop and skateboarding.

MOMR: But it grew on you, right?

Me: Well, yeah.

MOMR: Just because something grows on you, doesn't make it good. I've got earwax growing on me right now. Are you gonna review my earwax next?

Me: No. Shut up. You haven't even heard the song.

MOMR: Let me guess. It has interesting, clever lyrics which won you over because *gasp* they didn't contain any of the usual hip hop fare - namely, sex and violence. Just because something doesn't resort to the lowest common denominator doesn't make it good.

Me: But the music...

MOMR: Was catchy? Unique? More than just a thumping bass line?

Me: I would add a soothing, jazzy rhythm accompanied by rising horns and slight string crescendos reminiscent of countless 1960's film scores for exotic James Bond-type locales. But yeah.

MOMR: So why don't I just listen to a James Bond album? Or better yet, The Incredibles score? That way I get the delightful music without the annoying rapping.

Me: But you're missing the point. The rapping itself was actually another reason I grew to like the song.

MOMR: Sure. How many "Yee-ah's" and "Uh's" by the way? Fifteen? Twenty?

Me: Thirty-three. But there's more to it than that. Lupe tells...

MOMR: Lupe! So you're on a first-name basis with the young gentleman?

Me: Fine. Jerk. Mr. Fiasco tells an engaging, coherent story about a young man who gets a skateboard, learns to ride, and falls in love. And on top of that, the chorus seamlessly and efficiently translates an action (riding a skateboard) into the spoken word. No easy task.

MOMR: I like how you praise the story by calling it "coherent." I'm so impressed now. But you know, I tend to enjoy things that go beyond simply "not sucking."

Me: But it does go beyond! It's not just an anthem for skateboarding - it's a nostalgic look at adolescence. Though I've never touched a skateboard, it brought back memories of my own youth. And moreover, the song helped me to understand a skateboarding sub-culture that I had previously mocked and derided.

MOMR: Previously mocked and derided?

Me: Yes.

MOMR: Wait. So based on this apparent musical masterpiece, you've had a complete change of heart? You're going to give up mocking skateboarders forever? Are you insane?

Me: Woah. Easy there. It's just a song, man. Nobody's giving up anything. Say why don't we go drive by the skate-park for old time's sake.

MOMR: Yes! Just a sec. Let me grab my "skateboarding is a crime" shirt.

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In conclusion: Me and Most of My Readers - 1, skateboarders and cucumbers - 0