Monday, March 10, 2008

"First it feels like a prick and then it hits you like a jumbo jet"

Couple things about "Hovi Baby" from Blueprint 2.

First:
I got the whole rap world on my shoulder, they trying to see
further than I am
And I have been trying to be patient with they preoccupation
with David and Goliath.
But sooner or later, that patience gonna run it's course
and I'll be forced to be a tyrant.
What he's saying basically is that he's Goliath and he's still going to win. Like, yes, he's saying, there is the counterintuitive little myth that people like to talk about where the little guy stuns the giant, where the turtle beats the hare, etc., but that's not what's going to happen here. Goliath is going to win; this time, the counterintuitive conventional wisdom is wrong.

This seems pretty clearly related to the factoid problem, wherein the unexpected becomes the expected because people latch on to it for its narrative "isn't it pretty to think so" elegance.

Weird related couplet on Lil' Wayne's Jay-Z diss, "I Know the Future," where Mack Mane says: "That's a hint to you Davids / throwing shots at Goliath / This the new testament / where the victor is the giant."

Second thing re: "Hovi Baby":
I'm so far ahead of my time, I'm about to start another life
Look behind you, I'm about to pass you twice
Back to the future and gotta slow up for the present
I'm fast, niggas can't get past my past
How they propose to deal with my perfect present?
This has to be a grammar joke on "past perfect" but in a pretty rare display of leaving out/holding back, Jay never spells it out.

UPDATE: Keyhole notes in an e-mail that "present perfect" is a thing. Which means that the joke here is pretty much completely spelled out. I should have kept this thing dark is the point, obviously I wasn't really ready to get back on the horse. :-(

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