GOIN' CRAZY OVER THE SNOWMAN
the hottest logo since the yellow smiley face
Hey, we like Young Jeezy too but as Gawker points out, the NY Times loves him so much they've already dedicated two separate articles to discussing his snowman logo. (And they say Southern artists don't always play big in NYC). Out here in Cali, I haven't seen folks rocking this on the regular yet but I can only assume NYC is flooded with bootleg tees sporting Jeezy's ice-grilled, armless Frosty...enough so that, as the foremost publication for the cultural elite (and I don't mean this in a bad way), the Times feels like it's their duty to translate what's going on for all the Upper East Siders and Wall Streeters.
Mind you...there's nothing wrong with that and it can make for a decent read on a Thursday morning or what not but in Kelefa Sanneh's article from yesterday, I wonder if it's really necessary to break it down under the auspices of "cracking the code" (as the article was entitled). Provided, I don't expect anyone who doesn't know Jeezy to be able to make the following connections: thugged-out snowman = allusion to drug dealing, but it takes all about five seconds to know what Jeezy is talking about when he boasts that he's the snowman. It's not like you need a PhD in Clipseology to get cocaine references (note: Tony Yayo's last name is not actually "Yayo" either and Scarface is not named after Seal) and more to the point, Sanneh is suggesting that the snowman - and other metaphors - are a way of insinuating taboo comments into mainstream media.
I might have bought that, say, 20 years ago. In Tricia Rose's Black Noise she talks about hip-hop's "hidden transcripts," i.e. ways in which hip-hop hides meanings and alternative commentary between the lines, but in 2005, rappers pretty much get to say what they want. I mean, when "Wait" has a radio edit (mind-boggling) and "Grindin'" is a huge hit (note: the Clipse were not talking about making hamburgers), we're sort of past the "hidden transcript" and more at the level of "pretty clear statements." Sure, slang is a way of saying things in a coded manner but it's not so much code for the sake of obfuscation but coding as a way to be clever and stylish. I guess the Clipse, for example, could have cut a song called "Dealin'" but frankly, it just doesn't sound as good.
By the way: I don't know if they're allowing school kids to rock the snowman logo but apparently, in Indiana, you can't wear a tribute to "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott.
<< Home