Welcome to Games 27 and 28 of the Ultimate Pop Song Tournament!
These games are CLOSED. (ALL OPEN GAMES)
To see the complete bracket, just go here. For info on how we chose the songs and everything else Tournament-related, go here.
—
It’s time for the stalwarts of gangsta rap to face the ultimate St. Lunatic, while husband and wife face off in battle.
Game 27 (Groove Thang Division)
“Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang” (Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg) v. “Hot in Herre” (Nelly)
—
5. “Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang” (Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg)
Nowadays, people can’t help talking about what a teddy bear the once-dangerous Snoop Dogg has become, but no matter how many headlines he pulled for 1-8-7 raps and imputed misdemeanors, he had a softish underbelly from the get-go. “‘G’ Thang,” at least as much of a signature number as “Who Am I? (What’s My Name),” is nowhere near, say, “Murder Was the Case” in stakes and sonic density. But as pop, it’s a blissed-out fix, if you don’t get stuck on its casual sexism and self-satisfaction. That high, trademark keen of the Chronic soundscape whistles out at the start of “‘G’ Thang” and then the big Dogg comes loping up. Charismatically droopy-eyed, he trades off the lead vocal with partner-producer Dre at odd intervals, sometimes even in the middle of a line, which lends the song a strong air of perfect, buddy-buddy synchronicity, abetted at all times by about eight days’ worth of weed. They pass the song back and forth like Snoop and Dre have no doubt passed much else back and forth, and they hand the nation a bottomless ounce of what they’ve been smoking. –Nick
12. “Hot in Herre” (Nelly)
Nelly is the comic tenor of radio-star MCs, honing a sharper edge than Will Smith but just barely. He wants to be Hard, singin’ ’bout “fuckin’ a model” and all, but he also wants to own the Top 40, a double-goal that I can totally understand. He croons at such a high register and at such hummingbird speed that he feels like the excitable kid at the open mic who’s obviously bound for huge things… but you still might card him at the bar, just to be sure. His relative softness works for him—if it didn’t, imagine how far he’d get in this game with a name like “Nelly”—and “Hot in Herre” manages to toss off some naughty observations and gruff imperatives while preserving the offhanded, good-times charm of someone you’d hire for your teenager’s graduation party. There’s a welcome if oddly fey sense of humor here (Girl, I think my butt gettin’ big!), and “I am… gettin’ so hot… I wanna take my CLOZE off” is a perfect, PG-13 pop hook. The track has the speed, force, and elegant sheen of a DeLorean. –Nick
Â
Game 28 (Groove Thang Division)
“Empire State of Mind” (Jay-Z and Alicia Keys) vs. “Independent Women Part I” (Destiny’s Child)
—
4. “Empire State of Mind” (Jay-Z and Alicia Keys)
Truth: I get a little tired of New Yorkers’ passionate, narcissistic, no-end-in-sight love affair with their city. I’m usually with the rest of the nation—going, “We get it already!”—but Jay-Z’s sidewalk-level cross-section of the Big Apple is so propulsive, so precisely detailed, and so profoundly affectionate that I’ve been known to weep at this starry-eyed anthem, the way other people do at weddings. It helps that Jigga leaves his own borough more than a lot of New Yorkers do. The bass beat and piano-key plonks hit as heavily as August heat in Queens, though at a moment’s notice they turn high and glinting, like the sun off the Chrysler. Jay is generous enough to hand the bridge to Alicia’s low-register reverie, but it’s her howl of love in the chorus that pulls the whole thing sky-high. It’s the best, churchiest pop trick in the book: keep testifying until your happy heart bursts, and until we all fall in love with whatever’s got the witness speaking in tongues. –Nick
13. “Independent Women, Part I” (Destiny’s Child)
If you’re freaking out that Destiny’s Child equate independent womanhood with rockin’ rocks and the cars they dri-vin’, and you wish they’d flow instead about exercising the vote and distributing social justice to others, I am sure there is a poll somewhere else on the Web about Amy Goodman’s 64 most ethically flawless broadcasts. You do you. I’m'a keep doing this, from the first little sandpaper whisper to the hey-girl wassups to Lucy, Cam’ron D, and my girl Drew. Did the Children realize just how far their song would explode beyond the boundaries of the spiffy-enough movie it was born to serve? Did Michelle and Kelly already know Miss B was about to ‘mancipate herself? Does anyone have time to ask, while angel choirs and spoken-word are swirling around that Heir to Donna Summer refrain? If Norma Rae had thought to scratch “Throw Your Hands Up At Me!” on her workfloor sign, we’d all be jamming at Union headquarters to this day. –Nick
13 responses so far ↓
1 SashaPT // Jul 29, 2011 at 6:36 am
My daughter was eight the year “Hot in Herre” came out, and I’d hear some of the less savory characters in her after-school program singing it and be filled with Righteous Indignation… until I actually listened to the whole thing on the radio one afternoon. I was shamefully won over by “I got a friend with a pole in the basement” (“What?!”) | “I’m just Kiddin’ like Jason (“Oh”) … Unless you wanna do it.” It’s so wrong but it feels so right. Plus, Nelly is one of the owners of our hometown NBA team (the hapless Charlotte Bobcats, woot).
2 Nora // Jul 29, 2011 at 9:11 am
I remember MTV playing “G Thang” every hour all summer in (I think) 1993. For a kid in the country, it was pretty monumental to my sense of music. Love Nelly, but the fact that even now my wife and I often say to each other “Never let me slip cause if I slip than I’m slippin” gives Dre the win.
3 Lena // Jul 29, 2011 at 9:41 am
I LOVEEEE Destiny’s Child like crazy, but Empire State of Mind was played at a wedding I went to by a polynesian/island band and it was pretty much one of the best things ever. Guests went wild, band killed it, and it was the highlight of the night. Heck, the year!
4 adam807 // Jul 29, 2011 at 10:24 am
@SashaPT One of my earliest pop culture memories is of “Don’t You Want Me.” I was 5. Either it was on the radio a lot or my day camp counselors played it all the time. But I loved it and sang along to every word. Years later I was slightly mortified. (See also, “She Bop”, age 8.)
5 Maggie // Jul 29, 2011 at 10:40 am
I was resistant to Destiny’s Child when they came out, but Independent Women made me a fan. I like Empire State of Mind, but it just doesn’t make me as happy.
And I voted Hot in Herre for basically the same reason.
6 Emily // Jul 29, 2011 at 10:49 am
“I need you to get up up on the dance floor
Give that man what he askin for”
This is another one that get’s me in trouble on the train. MUST DANCE.
And, although it contains a line that drives me to distraction (Concrete jungle where dreams are made of? Really?), I still love Empire State of Mind”. Because New York IS better. (Sorry, Nick).
7 Emily // Jul 29, 2011 at 10:53 am
Gets. Not get’s. Lord, please make this day end quickly.
8 Jen // Jul 29, 2011 at 11:13 am
Empire State of Mind IS gorgeous, but…too specific? SO despite my hatred for Beyonce, DC got my vote.
9 Erica S. // Jul 29, 2011 at 1:00 pm
I love Beyonce and Destiny’s Child, but “Empire State of Mind” is the better song.
10 Kitty // Jul 29, 2011 at 1:39 pm
The bass hook and drum beat of Nelly’s “Hot in Herre” is so damn ctachy. You just have to dance. I’ve seen 80 yr old Albanian grandmothers gettin’ their groove thing on at weddings to this song. Doesn’t matter how many times I’ve heard it; it is awesome.
Overplayed and over used, “Empire State of Mind” is still so enjoyable to me. I love this song. I don’t live in NYC but this song makes me wish I did. And towards the end when Alicia breaks into the One hand in the air for the big city,
Sstreet lights, big dreams all lookin’ pretty,
No place in the world that could compare,
Put your lighters in the air
Everybody say “yea yeaaa yeah, yeaaa yeahaaa”
I just get very choked up, okay? I’m glad Nick showed me I’m not the only one.
11 Katie // Jul 29, 2011 at 1:49 pm
It was tough, but I had to vote for DC, because everytime someone pops up and says “question?” to me I respond with “tell me what you think about me” in song. And that’s enduring.
12 Dan Turner // Jul 29, 2011 at 2:57 pm
As a devout Kansas City, Missouri-ian (not to brag, amirite?), we hate everything from St. Louis, Nelly and his band-aid included. Dre + Snoop > Nelly. It’s simple arithmetic. Someone made the comment that they’ve seen 80-year-old grandma’s dance to “H.i.H”, but how about the l’il G (I’m guessing about 2.5y.o) in the Dre-video with his baby swagga? That degree of soul stirring is something that Nelly could never create not with a thousand hoochies smoking a thousand blunts wearing two thousand pasties.
And I don’t care about NYC (yeah, I said it). So the Empire State of Mind falls on deaf ears here. Hova’s rap (lyrically and delivery) are tepid at best. Alicia looks like some 1987 bridge & tunnel hood-rat (and not in a good way), and her luke-warm styling is on par with Jiggas (a.k.a. not good). And it all comes together in a muddy mess. The only way you could have chosen a worse Jay-Z song would have been to select his “Hard Knock Life” which is an absolute travesty of songmanship. Soapbox-OFF!
13 Andrew // Jul 29, 2011 at 7:59 pm
Come ON, Snoop and Dre. Geez. Ask Melanie Lynskey.
Leave a Comment