One person’s view: “I wish he really had said nothing on this track. I’d have enjoyed a hip hop version of 4'33" more than this festival of circular logic.” – Axver @ Rate Your Music
The public’s view: 1.95 / 5.00, the worst #1 hit of 2007 & 2008
“This Is Why I’m Hot” purports to tell us why Shawn Mims is hot, but the explanation it provides is less than satisfying. Mims asserts that he is hot because he is fly. Everyone knows that flyness implies hotness, so this would seem to be a straightforward application of modus ponens. The problem, however, is that Mims can offer only flimsy evidence of his flyness. He tells us that there are unspecified Chicagoans who deem him fly based on his choice of clothing, but his reliance on anonymous hearsay suggests the possibility that he is neither fly nor hot and is simply blowing smoke up everyone’s butts.
Although you can listen to “This Is Why I’m Hot” all day and still not know why (or even if) Mims is hot, that doesn’t mean it lacks all informational value. The track reveals Mims’s chameleon-like ability to blend in with the local hip-hop community in any region of the United States, and it incorporates samples of other rappers to illustrate this special talent. When Mims mentions L.A., we hear a melody that is associated with Dr. Dre and Snoop. As he name-checks the Bay Area, a wisp of the beat from E-40’s “Tell Me When to Go” plays. In his line about the Midwest, he references Houston (“The H”) and uses a warped voice to mimic the slow-tempo style of rap that is popular there. Mims’s definition of the Midwest is a little loose for my tastes, but he’s a rapper, not Rand McNally, so I’ll cut him some slack.
It’s quite clear from these lyrics that Mims is a utility player in the world of hip-hop, a man known for his versatility rather than his originality. This absence of a unique persona – along with his lack of any prior or subsequent hits – undercuts the effectiveness of his boasts on “This Is Why I’m Hot”. For example, does anybody really believe that stores close to let Mims shop without other people around? I’m wondering why this would even be necessary. It isn’t as though Mims’s fly apparel, which is so admired by the residents of Illinois, is a closely guarded trade secret. He wears it in his video that anyone can watch! More likely, Mims wants the privacy so that no one sees his credit card being declined.
Perhaps I shouldn’t joke about Mims’s finances, because they are a sore spot for him. He has spent much of the past 17 years complaining that Capitol Records cheated him out of almost all of his “This Is Why I’m Hot” royalties. Kanye West probably made more money from the track than Mims did, because of the 6-second sample of “Jesus Walks” in the first verse. But at least Mims is now recouping his losses by selling $40 T-shirts, the flyness of which is not guaranteed.
I can understand why “This Is Why I’m Hot” irked people. No one wants to hear an obscure rapper with average skills crowing about how he’s hot and you’re not, and how he’s hogging all the women and how you can’t go to Walmart right now because he’s in there picking out a new baseball cap. Yet, I think the song works if you consider it as sort of a parody of the brag-rap genre. Maybe you disagree with me and believe that the lyrics are just too stupid and annoying to tolerate on any level. If so, you’re really going to love the next exhibit in our museum of “bad” #1 hits.
No comments:
Post a Comment