Which Song Lyric Most Retardedly Trivializes the Historically Epic Tragedy of a Certain Group of People??

Okay the title of today's post pretty much explains itself. We've got two heavyweight contenders duking it out for the crown:

Kanye West vs. 90's dance/rap group Snap

Below I have included a video of each song and indicated the moment at which the lyric in question takes place. I then serve up some food for thought about the lyric itself before closing out with my verdict. Take this one to the street and subject it to the court of public opinion or bring it up at a party and use it to break the ice. The choice is yours.

Without further ado...


SNAP, from the song: "Rhythm is a Dancer"

@ 2:39 - “I'm serous as cancer when I say rhythm is a dancer”




Who should be offended by this lyric?:

Cancer survivors, People who have lost a loved one to cancer, Lance Armstrong, the guy from the X-files who smokes in the dark, Anyone who bought the yellow bracelet

Why should they be offended?:

Turbo B, the rapper from the group Snap, compares the gravity of his assertion that “rhythm is a dancer” (?) to the life and death struggle being fought by thousands of cancer victims across the globe.Imagine looking an 8 year old who has leukemia in the eye and telling her that her condition is no more serious than rhythm being a dancer. Such is the stupidity of this lyric.

What were they thinking?:

Clearly lacking in inspiration and desperate to complete a rhyming couplet using the word “dancer”, Turbo B pulls at straws and comes up short. While there are not many words that would fit in lieu of 'cancer' given the framework of the phrasing used, the entire lyric could easily have been re-jigged to avoid the situation altogether. Suggestions that immediately come to mind:

“I'm giving you the answer when I say that rhythm is a dancer”

“Rudolph, Dasher and Prancer all know that rhythm is a dancer”

“When I ride the bus I use a transfer cause they say that rhythm is a dancer”

There. I made those up in about 30 seconds. Literally. Did it just now as I was typing without even stopping to think. Sure, none of them are really good but the fucking song talks about rhythm being a dancer. I don't think its the kind of lyrical tour de force where one holds out for le mot juste.


Possible hidden genius in the lyric (ed. - this is where I try to defend the artist):

As tragic as cancer is, can you imagine a world without music? In a lot of ways music is absolutely necessary for us to be able to deal with the human condition, yet it is trivialized and insulted on a day to day basis by top 40 radio and popular culture who use it as a means to industry . Perhaps Snap is not saying that cancer is trivial, but instead: for all its gravity it could never be as 'serious' as the bleak prospect of a world without real music.



KANYE WEST, from the song: "Flashing Lights"

@ 1:23 – 1:31- “...Till I got flashed by the Paparazzi. Damn, these niggas got me; I hate these niggas more than the Nazi's”




Who should be offended:

Both the Jews AND Nazis

Why should they be offended?:

Jews should be offended for the obvious reason; namely that 4 million of them were gassed to death in an act of genocide, and yet, in Kanye's eyes, this cannot compare to the heinous inconvenience he faces when having his picture taken by the Paparazzi. The Nazi's should be equally offended by this lyric because their bid to be the most hated villains in history gets completely shat on by West who downplays them as being less evil than these sorry losers.

What were they thinking?:

I will agree with West in saying that the Paparazzi occupy the lowest social echelon imaginable alongside scalpers and tow truck drivers. It is easy to despise them. Combining this fact with the Buddhist teaching of relative suffering and Kanye's rampaging ego, one begins to understand how West might come to view a sea of flashing light bulbs as his own personal holocaust.

Possible hidden genius:

Perhaps, just perhaps... after seeing Schindler's List or the Pianist on the History channel for the 10,000th time West has decided to make a post modern statement with this lyric. Perhaps he is saying that Hollywood has over-saturated the mainstream media with images of Jewish suffering to the point where, for him, they have lost their impact. He then chides the Paparazzi, a part of the same media machine responsible for jading his sensitivity to Jewish tragedy, as being worse than the Nazi's, effectively making a social commentary that works on multiple levels of philosophical interpretation.



So which is worse?

My Verdict:

To me this thing is a dead heat. Cancer vs. Holocaust; who among us can make such a call? I think the only way to settle this is by using raw volume as the determinant of who has been more greatly offended. So basically: are there more Jews or cancer victims in the world?? Can someone at Google earn their fucking pay and get back to me on this please?
Either way those have to be some of the shittiest lyrics ever scripted.

Discuss amongst yourselves.