I'd never actually heard or seen the lyrics; this made me seek it out. (Read the lyrics - that was fucking enough for me.)

I find it harder and harder to give passes these days, particularly if an artist in question has never tried to make amends. And it's nearly impossible to unlearn something like this. And what makes it all the harder to defend is the whole song comes off as really fucking mean-spirited and negative - and so much of Tribe's appeal is that they were the opposite of that. Yes, attitudes have changed a lot in a very short time --- but you have to go out of your way to write lyrics like this, and to make them so repulsive, so vile.

Imagine the thought process: "Hey, what's the best use of our time today? What's the best use of our skill, our artistry, our spirit? How can we make the world a better place through our art? Oh, I know..." And imagine describing the song concept to the features. Like, you have to explain, out loud, the idea for the song, and then not realize how awful and inhumane it is. The amount of intent to do that... it's baffling and deeply troubling.

I'd be lying if I said I'll never play them again. But when/if I reach for them, lord knows a little voice in the back of my head will remind me of this --- and at that point, knowing that the returns of joy earned by listening will be greatly diminished, I wouldn't be surprised to move on to something before ever pressing play.

-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~