See, this is exactly the type of discussion I was trying to avoid.

>"finding beauty" in the hood is
>just the hook.

Since it's in the hook, in felt it was intended to encompass the whole song. If that is not the case, you need to take that up with Common, not me. Still, using the phrase "in the hood" was simply my way of categorizing what I feel is the viewpoint of this and some songs I say are similar. He doesn't say "hood" but that can be thought of as another word for ghetto. I did not mean it in the sense of "Boyz in the Hood," like I thought the song was about gangland stuff. But, rather, I feel the verses go through several scenarios that people who can be said to be from the hood (or from the ghetto, or from any disadvantaged situation) may go through or may be familiar with.

You say I need to listen to the whole song, and that's what I did - all day long today, so I could give a decent critique of it. It had been a while since I listened to it.

I think you know I listened to it, too, because you decided to relate everyone of my points about the verses to the whole "hood" interpretation. And like I said, I interpreted the hood thing as relating to any disadvantaged situation.

But let's do this again.

>com is speaking to a
>woman about relationship advice, and
>he doesn't even say whether
>she's in the hood or
>the suburbs (such a woman
>could be anywhere).

Yes, she could be anywhere, but the song is called "Geto Heaven," not "Suburban Heaven." He's telling her that she shouldn't let a man define her, and she should leave a man that's abusing her. She shouldn't worry about finding a good man; when she gets right with herself then a man will come. And she will get herself together by keeping her head up (to borrow a hook from Tupac) and finding strength in God.

>>More specifically in Common's song, he
>>has a verse about how
>>life in the music game
>>is hard,
>
>which has nothing to do with
>the hood.

No, not the hood, specifically, but he's once again talking about someone (himself) getting through a tough situation. He talks about how all the distractions he has to deal with can be distractions, temptations luring him from this path he has set himself on. He stays focused, in part, through his faith.

>he talks
>>about "blunted eyes of
>>youth search for a God"
>
>said blunted eyes could just as
>well be in white teenage
>suburban faces as in black
>inner city or suburban faces.

Yeah, white folks got problems too. Somehow, I don't think that's who he was talking about, but there's nothing exclusive in that phrase. More on this later.

>>and how he wants folks
>>to say "his life, it
>>meant more".
>
>which also is not explicitly connected
>to the hood.

No, not explicitly, but this whole verse is about how he's trying to succeed by overcoming the usual traps and roadblocks that trip up young people trying to rise up from the ghetto. He sees people all around him who try to do the right thing ("search for God") but can't seem to make it (in part because of their "blunted eyes"). Com wants to take these people with him and succeed for, or, on behalf of all of them. He knows they are all looking to him so in the very least he wants to represent correctly so that when he's gone, they can point to him as someone who did well and did it the right way. In this way, the people back in the hood - if I can throw that word back into the mix - will say that his life meant more.

>no idea why you think this
>song is a remake of
>too short's "money in the
>ghetto" (or similar tunes). it
>is far from that simple.

Don't even know that song, sorry. But the fact that you can mention it leads me to believe you at least know what type of song I'm talking about. Just because "Geto Heaven" is more complex, more lyrical, more creative - just flat out better than all the songs in its genre, doesn't remove it from that genre.

> He may twist
>>it with better metaphors and
>>make it sound better than
>>most, but are you really
>>going to tell me you've
>>never heard anyone talk about
>>similar things in their songs?
>
>uh, that is the definition of
>songwriting.

No, it's not. And what does the definition of songwriting have to do with anything? A good writer can take a clichéd subject and make it sound fresh. Still, it's a fresh take on a clichéd subject. The more clichéd the subject, the fresher the take on it has to be for it to stand out. I think "Geto Heaven" is fresh but not fresh enough to make me forget the many times I've heard songs about keeping your head up through tough situations, or keeping your head while all around you are losing theirs, or however you want to spin it - it's still saying life is hard but you can make it if you stay focused and find strength in God. This isn't a bad message, and there are lots of people who need to hear it. I'm just not one of them.

>literature has been around
>thousands of years. usually the
>only originally in writing is
>in how you flip it...

True, and my point is he didn't flip it in an original enough way to make me forget that it wasn't original. Human beings ran out of tuly unique situations so long ago that is even says in the Bible, "there's nothing new under the sun." Centuries later, there still isn't. But that's no excuse. The trick is making the old seem new. Common's song didn't seem new to me. But it did to you and apparently to a lot of other people.

>I mean, you could argue that
>"The Matrix" is like "Star
>Wars", based on the similar
>handling of mentor/mentee relationships and
>use of Zen philosophy, but
>those two movies are still
>markedly different.

I could argue that The Matrix was one of the most vacuous and trite - dangerously so - pieces of hogwash masquerading as "deep" to ever be churned out of a morally bankrupt studio system. But I know you don't want to hear that either. I will say that it's different enough from Star Wars to stand out. But you still call them both science fiction. ("The Matrix" is also infinitely inferior to "Star Wars." Once again, it's just my opinion, but one held by a lot of people who actually know how to write a screenplay.)

And regarding my opening statement, I don't mind talking about this. I actually encourage more people to listen and watch more critically and to share educated opinions (like yours) instead of just opinions. I just didn't think this thread was the place for it. I know it's about an Okayartist, but this is a subject for The Lesson. But whatever. I'm game.

RED
(giving you true film criticism since 1992)