Thirty-Eight Seconds of Andre 3k

Outkast – Aquemini – “Y’All Scared” – Andre’s Verse Yo, paragraph indent, I make intense sense Niggas on that Gil Scott dope (hint hint). At age fifteen they start smokin Billy Clint'; Now he's twenty-one and wants to know where the time went. Hey hey hey what's the haps? Well see your time elapsed. Have you ever thought of the meaning of the word trapped? Baboon on your back, but what's sad is that crack Was introduced to hispanic communities and blacks But then it spread to white and got everyone's undivided attention Cause your daughter’s on it and you can't hide it. Maybe your son tried it, rehab too crowded; You scared, she scared, they scared, I said They scared, they scared to talk about it Bout it bout it bout it bout it bout it *fades* If you scared, say you scaredAndre begins after 1:38 of a lackluster rap song and performs a verse that simply flew over most listeners’ ears; it is the quintessential performance to demonstrate his stage stealing abilities. The opening “paragraph indent” is an instant way to set the following lines up as something different than the preceding lines. “I make intense sense” is a use of slang to inform the listener his verse will be exploring a topic with indisputable logic. Andre grabs one’s attention and alerts him to look for an argument with this opening line, which allows the line, “Niggas on that Gill Scott dope (hint hint),” to impart its intended meaning to the attentive listener. The word “dope” in urban slang has traditionally primarily meant heroin – and subsequently caused this verse to be misunderstood by many. “Dope” is taking the place of the last name of “Gil Scott” which is Heron, thus many attempted to combine the meaning of “dope” and its replacement of Heron to state the line meant “Niggas on that Heroin.” This interpretation falls apart upon the most cursory inspection as it makes no sense in context. However, “dope” also has two other common definitions in urban slang. Those not familiar with slang often assume it means marijuana and subsequently use it to mean marijuana; while this meaning is still generally regarded as incorrect, its prevalence warrants mention. It is also used as an adjective meaning extremely cool or good (which is likely what lead to the incorrect use of the term to mean marijuana, as referring one might refer to very good weed as being “dope”). Here Andre uses it to state that he and his friends believe Gill Scott Heron was cool. Gill Scott Heron is today known as the godfather of Hip-Hop and he infused his music with political messages that criticized Black Revolutionary hypocrisy, pointed out white middle class America’s ignorance to the situation of inner-city communities, urged the inner city to work to improve its condition and in his latest recordings directly addressed upcoming rap stars to plead with them to work for improvement of the life of others in the inner city instead of perpetuating or glorifying the lifestyle. Outkast, the duo of which Andre is one half, often addressed these same issues and the “(hint hint)” informs the listener to keep Gill Scott Heron’s messages in mind. “At age fifteen they start smoking Billy Clint’” is an image of an inner city youth beginning to smoke marijuana (“Billy Clint’” meaning Bill Clinton, who said: “When I was in England, I experimented with marijuana a time or two, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t inhale and never tried it again”). Andre then jumps the age to twenty-one to illustrate that despite Gill Scott Heron’s admonitions those in the inner city are still not working to escape and improve the inner city. The youth here entered High School at 15 where he may have escaped through academics or athletics (or other methods) but instead smoked weed and has found himself 21 and still caught in the inner city (“Hey hey hey what’s the haps? Well see your time elapsed”). “Have you ever thought of the meaning of the word trapped” requires slang knowledge once again – the trap or trapping refers to both the inner city and the drug game; Andre is pointing out the inner city/drug game is an actual trap and now that our character has failed to escape in the 15 to 21 year old time period he now must depend on someone else to free him. This issue troubles the 21 year old (“Baboon on your back” replacing the idiom "monkey on your back," which refers to having something constantly trouble one) but he is powerless. Andre then moves on to a new point of Gil Scott Heron’s but this time expands upon it. Heron believed curing the middle class of their ignorance would incite a response and solution of the issues in the inner city. Andre takes his audience beyond inner city blacks by including “Hispanic communities” when discussing the crack epidemic. He specifically states “it got everyone’s undivided attention” after it “spread to white” however, it is unlikely this is a race criticism as Andre never expresses racial statements in this way in other material. It is more likely “white” simple works better than “middle-class.” More important is the fact that the “crack” didn’t get “undivided attention” until it reached outside of inner city communities, as this illustrates the middle class is still ignorant about the inner city. Andre expands upon Heron’s points here as well by noting the middle class did not know how to respond to the epidemic and was simply “scared to talk about it.” Andre changes the song’s refrain’s meaning by starting this repetition of “scared” early. When the listener reaches “if you scared, say you scared,” it becomes an admonition to acknowledge problems. Andre expands Heron’s message to every race, illustrates the continuing problem, and then points out and corrects the message’s error. It is not merely enough to be aware of a problem – one must actually acknowledge and discuss the problem. Being scared of the crack epidemic solves nothing, so “if you scared, say you scared.” Only then can the problems be solved. In thirty-eight seconds, Andre takes a simple rap song and packs in a fully realized political message.