I’m going to have to issue a respectful but firm "Hell no!" to my man Dave Greenwald’s recent call for a "Moratorium on Hip-Hop Christmas Songs." Sure, the Gap ad that inspired his post is pretty wack on the merits. I don’t think anyone needed to hear Flo Rida, Trey Songz, and least of all Rainn Wilson yammering about jingle bells. But does that mean happy-holidays rap is "always a bad idea," as Dave argues? Surely not. Sometimes it can be an idea so wrong, it’s right — so incongruous, so unnecessary, that it’s a miracle of sorts unto itself.
Just look at the contributions Harlem hustler Jim Jones has made to the form. He dropped the wonderfully WTF-worthy A Dipset Xmas in ’06. And this season he’s following it up with a project titled Jim Jones & Skull Gang Present A Tribute to Bad Santa Starring Mike Epps. Now, Bad Santa, while an excellent film on all counts, came out five years ago. And Mike Epps wasn’t even in that movie! Meanwhile, are the song samples Jones is streaming online actually "good"? Absolutely not. (Sample lyric: "How can I be without money on Christmas Eve?/Cause I’m thinkin’ of robbin’ you…") All of which makes this a kitsch masterwork in the making. Someone actually went to the trouble of following through on this strange, strange concept. Just let that sink in for a minute. It’s like the Star Wars Holiday Special of rap mixtapes! Seriously, Jim Jones might have just stumbled upon the ideal Chanukah present for someone like me.
In closing: Dude, "Christmas in Hollis"! Any genre that includes that stone-cold classic (after the jump) can’t be all bad. Can it?
More on Yuletide rap:
Hey, what ever happened to that Ludacrismas album I was promised?
Biz Markie shouted out Xmas favorites from Kurtis Blow, the Treacherous 3, and more
EW gave 1998′s Jermaine Dupri Presents 12 Soulful Nights of Christmas a C+
My holidays would definitely not be as festive without “What You Want For Christmas” by Quad City DJ’s & the 69 Boyz:
“Five months free rent,” indeed.
I’m gonna jack Santa. Yo.
I stand corrected!
That GAP ad isn’t half as bad as you made it out to be. And yes “Christmas in Hollis” is great, but many forget about “Santa Baby” by Rev Run, Diddy, Ma$e, Snoop, Salt & Pepa, Onyx, and Keith Murray. That track is amazing. You can hear it here.
http://www.imeem.com/24th/music/HVFF6FER/santa_baby/
Don’t forget about Christmas Rappin’ by Kurtis Blow from 1980. That came 7 years before 1987′s Christmas in Hollis from Run-DMC. He clashes Twas the Night Before Christmas and his rhymes into his street beats. But he keeps the Christmas spirit and themes alive just like the Christmas singing classics. Run-DMC’s song is still a favorite as the duo raps about spending Christmas in Hollis, Queens with their family. Sting of The Police even said that it was one of his favorite Christmas songs. I would love to see an all-rap Christmas album with the top stars and their memories and thoughts of Christmas. It would show that they’re not one-dimensional, that they’re all into the spirit of Christmas. I think that rappers need to make Christmas records like the pop and R&B stars do.
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