Totally Serious Music Review #4: Dynamite Hack’s “Boyz N The Hood”

It may be a surprise to some of you, but Dynamite Hack’s “Boyz N The Hood” is actually a remake of an Easy E song. There, we can see why what seems like an acoustic folk song is truly a strong paean to race relationships in America. Just like Easy E of the NWA included funk riffs and a strong beat to give the original an urban flavor, Dynamite Hack included some stereotypically suburban white flavor in the form of an acoustic guitar and a part that is sung to the tune of the Beatle’s “Blackbird”.

What what’s the underlying message? Simply, there is no real difference between whites and blacks. As humorous as the song is, is it impossible to imagine a white person “Cruisin’ down the street in [his] ’64” and letting “the Alpines play”? I assure you that if you head to the rugged outskirts of Baltimore, Flint, or Bakersfield that this is not a ridiculous sight at all. If you need further proof, look up Kevin Federline and see what he’s up to these days. The “white” music, in fact, serves as ironic contrast: we’re conditioned by nature to believe that all white people are well-off and in the upper middle class, and the strong violently reminds us that this is not true at all. There are rich whites, middle-class whites, and poor whites … a class stratification that holds true no matter what race.

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