R Kelly & Ja Rule, "Been Around the World"

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I love the whole Chocolate Factory album, even the ridiculous "women, you are the greatest" frontloaded tracks, but this one's especially awesome - it does the R Kelly trick of using absurdly pedestrian rhymes that sometimes aren't even trying to sound "composed" ("I've been around the world and back, like 'what up'/east side to west side tourin' like 'what up'") to an incredibly persuasive effect: you feel like you're listening to a guy speak from the heart. With a wonderfully smooth beat and gorgeous production, I mean jazz-cafe frilly with just a little hint of hip-hop (courtesy of Ja Rule, whose verse is actually pretty great), I cannot get enough of this increasingly moving song.

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 11 August 2003 19:48 (twenty-two years ago)

funniest rhyme: "though some may hate/still, I appreciate"

example of what's moving about it: "Yeah, I know I need a hug, but y'all need a hug, too/'cause God gon' judge me the same day He judge you"

the same day - damn I love R Kelly

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 11 August 2003 19:50 (twenty-two years ago)

should be a single, probably won't be. Ja Rule's ad-libbed "hate on me" following the "some may hate" line toward the end is so awesome

I promise that there will not be 97 more posts by me in praise of this wondeful song

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 11 August 2003 19:56 (twenty-two years ago)

three months pass...

Should I put Chocolate Factory on my christmas list?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Sunday, 7 December 2003 22:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah I can't decide whether to get Chocolate Facotry or The R. In R&B vol.1 , esp. cuz I'm getting rid of my copies of the self-titled and Tp-2.com after I copy all my fave tracks. I'm definitely keeping the 2CD R. though.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 8 December 2003 00:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Where's Sterling when you need him?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Monday, 8 December 2003 04:38 (twenty-two years ago)

it does the R Kelly trick of using absurdly pedestrian rhymes that sometimes aren't even trying to sound "composed"

Oh man, though, the title track is best for those:

"If I were to write a book/about the way you make me feel/it'd be called A Strong Black Man/and that's for real"

― Colin Beckett (Colin Beckett), Monday, 8 December 2003 04:40 (twenty-two years ago)

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