Why I Love Hip-Hop

Well, obviously, first because it's poetry and I love poetry and people who are good at playing with words.

Like the Ludacris riff below in Lovers and Friends, where he rhymes "comfortable" with "Huxtable" is just too great. The problem is, you need to HEAR his delivery of the words to really enjoy it.

The way he plays with words in his mouth, the pacing, the careful setting down of one word next to the other, the sexiness of his tone -- unbelieveable. If he can rap like that, he's got to be some amazing baller. And the way he downshifts into the rhythm of the words "I know you like it like that" -- the whole beat changes and if you could write it out in musical notation -- well, you never could, it's exquisite the way he does it. His natural playful style -- really fine.

Also, it's very interesting how Usher, the good-boy-sensitive-tenor who shines on the bright side, moves over and lets Ludacris be his dark-side-bad-boy and growl the sexiest rhymes from the other side of town between Usher's verses. Ludacris seems to be Usher's alter ego on the song. And Lil Jon adds a whole other style -- raw and grunty -- with a signature pounding beat all his own. The song is great because of these three very different styles.

And then of course, Ludacris keeps calling Usher something like "Ersher" making fun of him a bit and nobody makes fun of Usher who's so white hot cool now, so that's great too.

Why else do I love Hip-Hop ... because it's risky and dirty and smart and irreverent and alive. Don't even get me started on Snoop. I am crazy for Snoop. I'll write about Drop It Like It's Hot soon.

Ludacris is about to be gigantic. In his "Get Back" video with those hilarious giant arms they've fitted him with, he punchs out buildings and mailboxes while dancing with a back-filled back-up big butt team of down and dirty girls I just can't get enough of.

Another reason I love Hip-Hop ... it's obvious, isn't it? It's like blogging in a lotta ways.