Throwback Thursdays

Big budget videos are nothing new to Hip Hop.  In fact, they are so widespread nowadays that folks hardly notice just how many wasteful dollars are put behind these onscreen images of excess.  It's just a given. The custom cars. Helicopters. Yachts. Plush locales, etc.  Don't forget about wardrobe, hair and make-up for the slew of video vixens who decorate the scenery.  All of which costs a pretty penny. But This Bug remembers when it wasn't a given.  I remember when some of the best songs had simple videos that didn't employ all the smoke and mirrors to wow the audience. The music spoke for itself.  And don't talk to me about how it was oh-so-different when it came to bragging on material things. Case and point: Today's Throwback.  In 1989 Special Ed debuted with the album Youngest In Charge. At  just 16 years old, this Brooklynite had a flair for the finer things and the lyricism to match.  His imagination ran wild as he painted a picture of an opulent lifestyle. We knew full and well it was an exaggeration. But so what?  It captured us and it was dope. Period.  You could picture in your mind all the luxuries he rhymed about. Without the benefit of a huge budget, Special Ed had a video that remains a staple; nothing short of a bonafide Hip Hop classic.

Take a good look at the vid.  No lush backdrop of Tahiti. No shiny new cars.  He didn't need anything of that to validate his existence. He's in a junkyard talking about owning 74 Honda scooters, yo.  How fly is that? And peep the Potato Alligator Soufflé. It's a dish of mashed potatoes with a toy dinosaur tail stuck in the middle. Hilarious...and imaginative. This joint came long before the need to impress the masses with mostly unattainable objects that is so rampant in today's music- at least visually anyway. The Roots went on to spoof this sad trend in What They Do years later.  But the Magnificent One made it cool to not have any of these things while articulating what made him so fly. This Bug's favorite line? "I never lost cuz I'm the boss / I never will cuz I'm still / The champion - Chief one won't lose until I choose / which I won't cuz I don't retreat / I run you over like a truck and leave you dead in the street / You're invitin' me, a Titan to a battle, why? I don't need your respect cuz / I Got It Made." 

And just like that- he got mine. Nuff 'respect.