R.I.P. Hip-Hop Skits?
Entertainment Weekly's Michael Endelman has a clever take on the impact of "shuffle-ization."
Techies rejoiced at the unveiling of iPod Shuffle, a stick-of-gum-size MP3 player with a low price ($99) and a fairly limited application (since there's no screen, songs are played in completely random order.) But in another community -- the hip-hop nation -- heads are bowed in sadness. The further shuffle-ization of the musical universe can mean only one thing -- the death of the hip-hop skit, the "funny" nonmusical tracks sandwiched between songs on nearly every rap album since 1989. From De La Soul's pioneering game-show skit on 3 Feet High And Rising to Dr. Dre's "The $20 Sack Pyramid" to Eminem's "Ken Kaniff," we'll miss these often scatological interludes that bloated so many '90s rap records past the 70-minute mark. The on-demand shuffle era will see them coldly programmed out of existence. To mourn, may we suggest spending the weekend with the Fugees' "Chinese takeout" skit and weeping for an art form going the way of the Atari 2600?If you wanna pour a 40 for your favorite sketch, please do so in the comments.
Posted at 9:55 AM
All of those skits suck. I won't shed a tear to see them go .... Good riddance
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That is kind of sad, although i skip them on a lot of records that i love.
The record that immediately comes to mind is Black Sheep's "Wolf In Sheep's Clothing" -- the opening "U Mean I'm Not" skit without the head-nodding "Butt in the Meantime" beat is just not the same.
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De la Soul Art Official Intellignce
GHOST WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!
Hey hip hoppers! Ballers! Ball-ettes! Chicken Heads! Ghost weed will make you sound like your faaaaavorite rapper! Just a couple of hits, and...IT'S GANGSTER!
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the skit isn't really dead, and the iPod Shuffle won't really have a great impact on the world. (besides, we all know skits are annoying in a proper iPod set on Shuffle too.)
of course, considering that not even the last Handsome Boy Modeling School album could come up with any good skits (when the Skit-Creator, Prince Paul, can't do it, no one can), we can hope it's dead. the last De La Soul album had none, after all.
I'll pour a 40 of Pepcid ("a girl in Bed-Stuy...") out to the "where the fuck my killa tape?" skit on the Wu's debut. That shit is funny because it sounds like a real conversation. Now where the fuck is my killa tape?
http://www.stylusmagazine.com/feature.php?ID=1358
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that fugees skit is so offensively racist it makes me cringe every time i hear it. the only interludes i can think of that are worth much are "kim & cookie" on stankonia and "3 way" on eve's scorpion. by and large, though, i won't be sad to see them go. i don't have a shuffle, but i hit the forward button when most of them start on my mini. the worst is when they're appended to the end of a song -- folks should at least have the decency to assign them a separate track.
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Ok, I loved the skits/spoken word portions between songs Rhythm Nation 1814 from Janet Jackson. Those were important to the album. It made it what it was. Same with her Janet album. The little intermissions will be missed.
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AOI: Bionix
Headless Horseman Weed
I swear, everytime I tried to write a song that shit was about horses!
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All my playlists are peppered with interludes because im so incredibly ADD.
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B-b-b-b-b-but without those skits, how are we supposed to know that the ladies sitting across the room really, really want to have sexual relations with the rapper?
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Umm... different skits can still come on randomly in between songs. I have a bunch of commedy clips on my ipod and they're always welcome to break up the music when I'm on shuffle mode.
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Not to disrespect all the other De La skit love, but I don't think anything can top the wraparound skits from De La Soul is dead.
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My favorite skit is the "Shaquita" skit on Drag-on's first album! That shit is hilarious!!!
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I'll be the first to admit that I had never heard of hip hop skits until I got my issue of Entertainment Weekly last week. That's how white, that's how white! GOODNESS GRACIOUS!
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i immediately thought of prince paul's a prince among theives.
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Bored journalists + iPod = 10,001 articles about how the iPod is going to change every aspect of contemporary culture. GET SOMETHING NEW TO WRITE ABOUT, MORONS.
For God's sake, I actually like putting the occasional comedy clip into my iTunes library just to break up the song after song rountine. The reason why hip hop skits should stop is because they are EMBARRESSING.
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Deltron 3030's "Meet Cleofis Randolph the Patriarch" and "The Fantabulous Rap Extravaganza" spring instantly to mind. That or any interlude on any Kool Keith album ever.
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The author is wrong about the ipod shuffle. You can play your mp3's in order, sans shuffle, if you like, which kind of kills his whole premise.
Also, I think apple has done itself a disservice by promoting it as merely a "shuffle" player -- most people believe that's all it will do.
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AS much as I wish skits were a thing of the past, I don't think they are going anywhere. To say that iPod shuffle will do away with skits is utterly ridiculous IMO. Can you picture a hip-hop artist sitting around saying "Damn man, that new mp3 player just came out. I guess we better forget about those skits since no one will put them on their iPod shuffle." Asinine.
What they should be saying: "You know what? These skits make our album too long and nobody wants to listen to them more than once - plus they ruin any kind of musical continuity that might otherwise be there."
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I don't think this means skits are dead, though maybe it will hurt albums that are meant to be taken as a whole. Anyway, Ludacris has some funny ones, like the one where the girl wants to visit him and he lives in the HUD house. And there are good ones on Chronic 2001, like the Pause for Sex, or whatever it's called.
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it's not going to have an effect those skits. who wouldn't want to listen to a ghostface album with his skits? hilarious.
madskrillz, good call on deltron3030.
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Just me, or does the death of the album have a far bigger impact than just "no skits on R&B albums"?
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That part on The Love Below where Andre 3000 prays to God for a women that "doesn't even have to have a big ol' ass, just something well proportionate to her body..." cracks me up every single time.
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Jason, I second "Prince Among Thieves" particularly Chris Rock as a crack addict.
"I'll suck your dick for a hit. Yeah yeah, I hung out with these crack bitches so much I studied their technique."
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THANK GOD. MOST of those skits sucked. NWA had some of the best, but since then it just seems like lame filler.
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Just recently (finally) got Built To Spills 'Nothing Wrong with Love' -- hidden track 13 is a hilarious skit of "Built To Spill's next album preview".
excerpt lyrics (roughly):
"A man needs lovin', a woman needs a man to love. I'm gonna hold on to you, my midnight star. Cause baby you know I'm a rebel. I'm a rambler" (guitar solo)
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oh god, those terrible skits... how did that whole trend start, anyway? one of the worst would have to be the first track on "the writing's on the wall", by denstiny's child. it's a take-off on "the godfather"... it's really BAD!!
on "word of mouf", by ludacris, there's a fake infomercial for a ludacris tribute cd by white people. that's probably the funniest one i've heard. and it's not even that funny.
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"Dating Game" on Handsome Boy Modeling School's White People album. I don't think they are particularly hiphop but the skit pokes fun at hip-hop icons.
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What about one hit wonder Dionne Farris' "The Audition" featuring David Alan Grier? BEST SKIT EVER. Find it somehow.
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The "Black 'N' Decker" skit on Ice-T's "Iceberg/Freedom Of Speech...Just Watch What You Say" album warped my 8th grade mind. That shit is so disturbing, I can still hear the drill sound effects.
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Yeah... there has NEVER EVER EVER been one entertaining hip hop album skit in the history of all things music. The skits just dilute the album and create a reason to hit the fast forward button.
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Now if we can just find the device to kill the rest of the tracks on Hip-Hop and Rap albums, we'll be golden.
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I just wish that damn iPod Shuffle commercial hadn't used and subsequently mangled my favorite Caesars song. Ah, well. At least I'll have "Kick you Out" to comfort me, until BMW or someone else bastardizes that, too.
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De La Soul is Dead, for sure.
OOOHHH! Bodyslam him, Jeff!
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kanya west's skit are hilarious because the voiceover sounds just like motivational speaker Tony Robbins....but they are genres other hip-hop.
My XTC "O&L" CD has short interludes between songs. I got an iPod 20GB, but if I purchase the shuffle then I would have to eliminate anything a minute but then I might Can's "Pnoom" which is on Delay 1968.
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let's not get ahead of ourselves. are we forgetting
"YOU FUCKING DIE!"
de la soul's and kmd's are the only worthy hip hop skits anyway.
"I would like a bottle of wine."
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My favorite skit alltime is the Outkast one on Aquemini where they're buying weed ona screened porch in East Point. The sounnd is so good the humidity actually rises when this track is on.
Oh yeah, Big Up to Mike Chops!
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that built to spill "preview" is hilarious. my boyfriend and i sing them to each other retardedly.
must find david allen grier/dionne farris interlude now.
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skits are the spice of cd's. fugees skit is my all time favorite. so what if your perception of it is racist? ITS COMEDY.
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looks like a lesbo in a bikini bottom
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@ rcubed
and racist! :D go run to your freedom of expression now, i've no time to waste.
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