If I had to choose a favorite part of the song �If you Must,� by Del Tha Funkee Homosapien�and I clearly do not�it would be the line, �This fool�s breath I mean, so bad it�ll melt your ice-cream.� The song itself serves more as a public service announcement for cleanliness than anything else, which is such a wonderful thing in the rap world, where most lyricists rely on the strongholds of self-aggrandizement and sexual promiscuity. Although, with the recent exaltation of cleanliness from both this song and Outkast�s �So Fresh and So Clean,� one is left to assume that hygiene may be a new direction for rap music Del begins by stating, simply, that if you want to be part of the Homosapien crew, then you had better keep yourself clean. Then he recounts some horror stories about those who did not heed this advice. His struggle to give a stick of gum to a man with bad breath is really a parable for the basic apathy humanity has towards freshness. Finally, after Del�s battle within, he hands the man a stick of gum, only to have the man turn it down. The man, in his own way, was proud of his brown teeth and �head to toe B.O.� This sense of pride, however, is not conducive to a flourishing relationship with Del. Del�s a man with morals, principles, unparalleled bedrock foundations for hygiene. However, his chorus seems either self-evident or circular. �You gotta wash your ass, if you must. You gotta wash your hair, if you must,� laments this funkee, funkee homosapien. �Gotta,� in this case, and �must,� essentially mean the same thing. He�s basically implying that you only have to wash your hair if you have to wash your hair. This simply does not need to be said. This circular logic, however, is possibly the only drawback to an otherwise brilliant musical piece. Del struggles. He has a mission. He wants things a certain way, a way they might not ever be. But he expresses this unrelenting wish for humanity in his art, his passion. So please, if you want to run with the Funkee Homosapien crew, wash yourself. |