Cursing aspirations
Wednesday, September 14th, 2005
For years, Will Smith [1] has told the story of how he came to avoid cursing on his records. My mind blurs into hyperbole, but it seems that I hear this story at least twice every time Smith has a movie or album coming out. Granny Smith shamed little Willie into verbal cleanliness one day after hearing a dirty rap he had written to impress his friends. She said that Will didn’t need to curse to show how good he was. Naturally, other rappers [2] took offense to hearing this story from the squeaky clean Fresh Prince, at least after the fifth time, since the anecdote is still retold over and over in the media.
I looked back through my blog posts and noticed my predilection for f-bombs and “as shit” metaphors. Thanks to the accessibility provided by Google, I always write with the assumption that everyone I know might read what I write, even my own grandma, my son when he is older, or people who know me in other ways than the blog persona. I actually looked at cleaning up some of the old posts, but it just doesn’t sound as good without those little bitty bad words. The truth us that in real life I often swear when trying to make a point.
I aspire to curse like the HBO network. There has always been a fundamental coolness about HBO [3] because people are free to cuss at will. Torrents of foul language only happen occasionally, but the thirteen-year-old in all of us [4] thinks the ever-present possibility is cool as shit.
[1] Mad props to The Fresh Prince, though, one of two emcees who first really opened my eyes to hip hop. The other was Ice Cube, whose lyrical contribution to N.W.A. was the part of the group that I dug the most. You also had Eazy’s voice, Dre’s production, Ren’s persona and flow, Yella’s, um, ah… and don’t forget that Arabian Prince was actually considered to be in the group when “Straight Outta Compton” dropped.
[2] Eminem’s “Real Slim Shady” punchline, “Will Smith don’t gotta cuss in his raps to sell his records / Well I do, so fuck him and fuck you too!” hit on this topic. His “diss” seems funnier once you know the story. Even Will Smith must have laughed — he has to be more sick of the story of his self-righteous grandma than anyone.
[3] Speaking of HBO, I should not really be worried about my son someday reading a few swear words in a blog post when there are British lads out there whose friends will inevitably get hold of the episodes of “The Sex Inpectors” featuring their parents. “That’s your mom???”
[4] What do I know, today’s jaded-ass thirteen-year-olds probably think basic “fuck” and “shit” swearing is really cool… for a first grader!
September 21st, 2005 08:41
Check out this sidebar on “swearing through the ages” from the New York Times. This fucking article has it all, even “swearing” chimpanzes and gutter-mouthed sorority girls, the only group of women who cuss more than men. Really interesting.
July 22nd, 2006 15:12
Oh,what a beautiful blog! I like it very much! I’m agreeable to your point of view!
my name is 整形 I hope to make fiends with you !
December 27th, 2007 16:04
When your friends begin to flatter you on how young you look, it’s a sure sign you’re getting old.