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Ride!
by adam at 10:34 PM on July 08, 2004
Thanks to our beloved leader mg, I may have finally found someone to get my beloved MG sorted out. I started tearing the thing apart, but the call of full-time employment lured me away from my parents' garage before I could finish it. I bring this up because when I got the email from mg about the MG I was watching MTV's Pimp My Ride, and I was wishing that I could've called the pros in to hook me up - except I'm about 6 years too old, and I don't live in SoCal.
Xzibit takes some poor schmo's busted, rusted auto and gives it a makeover of questionable taste. That's pretty cool. But there's an evil version of this show: Rides with Funkmaster Flex. Flex takes a busted, rusted car from one of his MULTIMILLIONAIRE FRIENDS, and makes it over for free. What's the target demographic here? Are there people in this world who would be happy if, let's say, Michael Eisner won the lottery? And would even Eisner be enough of a jerk to make a show about it?
I think this must have something to do with modern hip-hop culture, but I can't imagine what the deal is here. Lil Flip makes a hit song in which he talks about nothing but how rich he is, and poor people everywhere eat it up. If only he could've included a shot of himself hiring a crew to paint Mariah Carey's house gratis in his video, Flip might've equalled Flex's crassness. But let's not give up hope for next time!
comments (6)
It kind of reminds me of Bruce Springsteen continuing to adopt that working class everyman personna long after he'd banked his first million. Disgusting, really, but people lapped it up for a time. Where is he now?
by anna at July 9, 2004 7:37 AM
Springsteen is selling out a week of dates at Madison Square Garden, with tickets at a minimum of $40 dollars, thats where he is.
What also annoys me now, after being at home with baby girl and sitting through day time talk shows the past couple weeks, is the show's host giving gifts to the movie star guests, and the audience cooing like they'd just gotten the prize.
by mg at July 9, 2004 8:05 AM
Can't someone continue to identify with their past regardless of if they become rich? I think it's weird too, but it's not like you have a million bucks and suddenly your entire first few decades are erased.
Why poor people want to listen to rich people talk about how rich they are is beyond me... except that (maybe? I don't know this rapper) he used to be in the same boat and it's vicarious appreciation of what he's achieved...
by Linz at July 9, 2004 9:11 AM
Well, I will concede that songs about how hard it is to get and hold onto good domestic help or maintain yachts don't have much mass appeal. Then again, how do you account for the loudmouth rappers sounding off about all their bling-bling and cars?
by anna at July 9, 2004 6:44 PM
I can't. What I do know is that this sets a very interesting example in places like my old Brooklyn neighborhood, where grown men buy Jaguars but still live with their moms.
by Adam at July 9, 2004 7:27 PM
What a coincidinc, I too have an MGB ('69). It was in pretty good shape until I neglected it. I didn't need a car when I lived in Berkeley so it sat. Now it also sits in temperature controlled indoor storage. I used to think about resotring it all the time. Fortunately it always start right up. Now I'm so overwhelmed with employment, restoring it seems far far away. Thinking about the oil and fluids probably corodes my thoughts as much as they do the machine.
by chris at July 12, 2004 11:37 AM