Du-du-du-du, du-du

Three reasons why I'm posting the I Got It Made video this morning :

Special Ed - I Got It Made



1. It's a top three favourite Special Ed song alongside Taxing and the Primo remix of Freaky Flow, though the order varies according to mood. I Got It Made is a weird song because came out in 1989 amidst singles like Fight The Power, Straight Out Of Compton, Portrait Of A Masterpiece, Me, Myself, And I, and Shadrach which were all collages of multiple samples and scratches, and it sounds so basic and lo-fi in comparison with drums like an ice cream tub being flicked by an index finger and nothing more that that du-du-du-du, du-du from I Don't Know What It Is But It Sure Is Funky by Ripple for adornment, but it still, as they say, goes hard.

2. Although Zhigge may have officially repped for the 'LO Lifes on record before anybody else and Grand Puba helped popularize it, POLO was a fascination for Brooklyn before any other bourough of NYC caught onto it and this was the first rap video to feature a heap of classic 'LO gear, with some absolutely orgasmic jackets on show. Not sure that Ed's proud "never boostin', never shopliftin'" claim and the 'LO Life ethos were quite coalescing at this point, though.

3. There was a Mannie Fresh piece in The Source a few years back (one of the things I miss most about the closure of Borders in the UK is the sitting down with magazines I'd never want to spend money on but still like to have a good rummage through) where he talked about his favourite rap songs and this was one of them. An initially suprising choice, perhaps, but Ed's ostentatious boasts about having 74 Honda scooters, procuring land in the West Indies plus an island of his own, and owning a dog with a solid gold bone here were the missing link between Dr Jeckyll & Mr Hyde and Big Tymers as far as flossed out Ted Dibiase-rap goes.

Mannie Fresh - Real Big