I like “Swagger Like Us.” Sort of. It’s goals are minimal: Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, T.I. and Kanye trade bars about their mutual awesomeness over a sampled hook courtesy of M.I.A’s “Paper Planes.” The sort of manufactured “posse cut” that’s been in vogue for the past few years, with little connection between any of the artist’s involved other than their massive popularity and inflated senses of self. Yet it works, not through any inherent creativity or effort, but due to the simple arithmetic that paring three talented rappers (and one self-proclaimed Louis XVI-caliber “King”) to a good beat invariably makes for a decent song.
So yes,”Swagger Like Us,” is partially a success. It’ll inevitably be a radio staple from now until Thanksgiving, ensuring T.I.’s continued placement within rap’s elite, despite a career strategy predicated on having a surfeit of swagger so as to mask aggressively mediocre lyrics and bland, proficient raps. Which is, ultimately, the thing that bothers me most about the song and by proxy, the muddled drift of hip-hop in the 00s. The idea that “swagger,” a non-musical quality, somehow became a substitute for aptitude or new ideas. This isn’t a beauty pageant. Last time, I checked rapper’s weren’t getting graded on their congeniality. * After all, these guys are professional musicians and presumably performers, confidence isn’t just expected, it’s required. **
T.I & Co. squandered the opportunity to make a classic record, all because they felt the urge to trumpet their inherent security, a move that ironically reeks of frightening insecurity. Were we not living in this alternate, Biff Tannen-run 2008, all four of these dudes would’ve gone into the studio together, with enough blunts for a Broadus family BBQ, conceived a concept (maybe), and gone into the booth, one by one, to desperately try to outdo each other. Instead, we get a played-out topic, (e-) mailed in rhymes and Jay-Z’s disturbing revelations about his thwarted ambition to wear skinny jeans.
Skinny Jeans…No ..Foppish Burberry Scarves…Come to Papi
I’m not saying this song needed to be the new “Live at the BBQ” or “Flava in Ya’ Ear” remix. But even held up to “John Blaze” or “Banned From TV,” “Swagger like Us” seems laughable. Kanye leads off spewing auto-tune gibberish about how his swagger is 100,000 trillion. I’m not sure what the fuck that’s supposed to mean, nor what unit of measurement swagger is measured in. Hectacres? The Kelvin Scale? Pastel Hermes sweaters? Then The Great Rapsby proceeds to tell us that he’s Christopher Columbus and we’re Pilgrims. Which is ridiculous. I mean sure, I’ve been known to wear bonnets, kill turkeys and associate with wise compatriots named Squanto, but in the end, I’m just not sober enough to be a Pilgrim.
Then after a Kanye rip of an old Jay-Z line and the trenchant tidbit that he’s both “the shit and the urine,” Jigga steps up to let us know of his denim trials and travails. The verse is pure paint-by-numbers Sean Carter, force-feeding us the obvious. We learn that a) he likes Range Rovers b) Yankees hats and c) that we can’t pay to learn his swag. An admission certain to kill his fledgling mail-order Swag Academy. In fact, it’s Lil Wayne who delivers the song’s best verse, despite dropping no memorable lines and bragging that he has a “swagger dagger.” First music critic to call this an “Arthurian metaphor” wins a stuffed Birdman doll. As for T.I., he’s typically bland. He lives “revolutionary,” he’s nothing less than “legendary,” his “flow is colder than February” and naturally, he has “extraordinary swag.” The guy might be adequate on the mic but he’s just gangster milquetoast, filled with toothless, tepid punchlines and the dim-witted idea that “swag” can substitute for skill.
And yet still, “Swagger Like Us” remains pretty decent and one of the year’s more listenable radio singles. But listening to it, it’s impossible not to question why it didn’t turn out better and why the Internet age has led so many rappers to treat their art with an increasing disposability. To say nothing of that increasingly absurd notion that swag is some kind of rarefied commodity that somehow makes people more creative, clever and better at rapping. Then again, I hear it makes you look fantastic in a pair of skinny jeans.
* Just vice-presidents.
**Lest you wind up on Anticon.
Download:
MP3: T.I. ft. Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, & Kanye West-”Swagger Like Us”
MP3: Noreaga ft. Cam’ron, Big Pun, Nature & The Lox-”Banned From T.V.”
MP3: Fat Joe ft. Raekwon, Nas, Jadakiss, Big Pun-”John Blaze”
Video: “John Blaze” (Complete with Rae in Snoopy Sweater)
Video: “Banned From TV”
38 comments
chris says:
September 3, 2008 at 6:19 am (UTC -7)
um i think you should give T.I some more listens before you dismiss his lyrics as ‘mediocre’ go back and listen to trap muzik and im serious, and actually listen. ‘swag can substitute for skill’ dude, he DEFINENTLY has skill.
Shorty says:
September 3, 2008 at 7:49 am (UTC -7)
Nice job as always Jeff…I’ll be linking to this later this week…For whatever reason, I really like this song…I realize I’m in the minority on this one (My brother is not a fan and he’s Weezy’s #1 fan), but somehow it just works for me…I love the hook, that’s probably the biggest plus…I readily admit that Jay mailed it in on this one, although how often do we get vintage Hova lyrics anymore? He’s the Brett Favre of Hip-Hop at this point…Overall, gr8 Job homey…keep it up…
douglas martin says:
September 3, 2008 at 8:00 am (UTC -7)
“even if i stuttered, i would still sh-sh-shit on you” > the entirety of “swagger like us.”
p.s. don’t knock skinny jeans until you try them, weiss (hardy har).
p.p.s. i spent a summer in new york, and came back as the only kid in my school rocking iceberg. you can’t tell me those snoopy sweaters weren’t hot. i had a short-sleeved donald duck joint.
DocZeus says:
September 3, 2008 at 8:00 am (UTC -7)
I always preferred T.I. to the rest of the so-called royalty of new school emcees. Mostly because he’s gotten the closest to dropping an actual classic album.
DocZeus says:
September 3, 2008 at 8:01 am (UTC -7)
“Mostly because he’s gotten the closest to dropping an actual classic album”
Not including Kanye. Cuz he actually has classics.
douglas martin says:
September 3, 2008 at 8:02 am (UTC -7)
zeus, i co-sign.
Disco Vietnam says:
September 3, 2008 at 8:19 am (UTC -7)
I hear what you’re saying Jeff but I still think you’re being a little unfair to T.I. by holding him to old standards and values. You’re half right: these guys are professional musicians and performers, but that means skill is what’s expected; swagger is what separates them. Swagger is how you can tell these four skilled rappers apart from one another. Swagger is what invites girls to like hip-hop. TI excels in that and I don’t think there’s anything cliche about how he’s been able to toe the line between those two audiences.
When you have that much style it can be its own substance. All four of these guys prove that though maybe not on this song.
Passion of the Weiss says:
September 3, 2008 at 9:46 am (UTC -7)
Barry, swagger is a nebulous, played-out word that effectively means nothing. Style can never substitute for substance, it’s nice sure, but in and of itself it’s a worthless concept that has nothing to do with the actual music.
And you and I both know that girls liked hip-hop well before the concept of swagger entered the terminology. Just not 13-year old white girls who constitute one of the new music industries’ most coveted demographics.
drew says:
September 3, 2008 at 10:06 am (UTC -7)
agreed. It doesn’t seem possible that these giants could have gotten together, heard that track, and thought “yes, that is as good as its gonna get.” Its a repetitive slightly annoying beat with decent verses, but nothing that warrants the behemoth of swagger that these guys flaunt like a disgusting blinged out necklace. I prefer the Cobra Krames re-edit, to be honest. At least that gets me movin.
Zilla Rocca says:
September 3, 2008 at 10:26 am (UTC -7)
This is the first time I’ve ever heard, and midway through Wayne’s verse, I decided I’d be perfectly fine never hearing it again.
I’m a huge Kanye and Jay fan, and to put it simply, they really, overwhelmingly suck cow chode. Not ONE memorable line between them? Really? You’re right–Wayne shines the brightest with a verse that is only slightly putrid. And TI is whatever on this joint.
This fits my definition from the old Beat Generation post about an “event” song that is uneventful.
Co-sign Douglas’ assessment of Pun’s “shit on you” lyric > this entire song. I’ll go one step further and say Nature’s verse on “Banned from TV” > this snoozefest.
Zilla Rocca says:
September 3, 2008 at 10:28 am (UTC -7)
PS…
what does it say that Fat Joe and Ski, and Nore and Swizz Beatz, constructed a better posse cut than Kanye/Jay/Wayne/TI?
Wynn says:
September 3, 2008 at 11:52 am (UTC -7)
who thinks we should submit that picture of Jay and Beyonce’ to Hot Chicks with Douchebags? Any takers?
quan says:
September 3, 2008 at 12:26 pm (UTC -7)
Agreed. “Swagger” seems to refer to the ability to convince people that you are the best rapper alive without actually exhibiting any reasons why you are the best rapper alive.
And about faulty posse cuts, yeah, it seems like rappers are afraid of inadvertently starting beef with each other a la Canibus and LL on “4,3,2,1″. Like they’re scared to death of their “best rapper alive” proclamations being tested by someone who might actually be the best rapper alive.
Deen says:
September 3, 2008 at 1:25 pm (UTC -7)
Swag = Steez?
Anyone willing to translate backwards?
DocZeus says:
September 3, 2008 at 1:28 pm (UTC -7)
““even if i stuttered, i would still sh-sh-shit on you” > the entirety of “swagger like us.””
That’s not necessarily fair.
That line >>> 99% of most rapper’s career.
Dart_Adams says:
September 3, 2008 at 1:59 pm (UTC -7)
Oh no…not Anticon. To quote Thirstin Howl The 3rd they have “better manners than ALL of the Huxtables”.
No one in the bloggerverse has swagger like us…whatever the hell that means.
One.
Tray says:
September 3, 2008 at 2:48 pm (UTC -7)
I think you have this backwards. Swagger is real. These guys are just lacking in it. Yeah, Jay’s gone downhill lyrically, but he also lost his swagger. Compare the sheer cockiness of his verse on Diamonds, the last great thing he did, to Jockin Jay-Z. There he believes what he’s saying; now it’s just posing. Those two lines on Diamonds where he just rattles off the names of all the mediocrities on Roc-A-Fella (“Teiarra Marie, Peedi, Foxy”) are more engrossing than anything he’s done in a long time.
douglas martin says:
September 3, 2008 at 2:58 pm (UTC -7)
i wanted to point out that i do disagree about t.i. not particularly on this verse (we’ve all decided all verses are pretty “meh”), but in my opinion, dude has the quiet confidence and workmanlike skill of a vol. 1: in my lifetime-era jay-z. and although tip sort of skipped reasonable doubt to get there, i don’t think he’s bland at all. he just gets his point across without absolutely dazzling everyone.
however, that was a VERY good point about how posse cuts in 2008 never find rappers desperately trying to outdo each other. i agree with quan’s statement about these guys being afraid to challenge someone who might actually be better than them.
what’s it going to take to get back to the days of, “fuck. his verse was hot. i need to write my verse over”?
Deen says:
September 3, 2008 at 3:20 pm (UTC -7)
Now it’s more like “Fuck. His verse was decent. I need to use Auto-tune on mine.”
Passion of the Weiss says:
September 3, 2008 at 3:29 pm (UTC -7)
That’s hilarious.
Tal says:
September 3, 2008 at 3:35 pm (UTC -7)
I went to the trouble of looking up “swagger” in the dictionary, and according to Merriam-Webster, the definition reads as such:
swag·ger Listen to the pronunciation of 1swagger
Pronunciation:
\ˈswa-gər\
Function:
verb
Inflected Form(s):
swag·gered; swag·ger·ing Listen to the pronunciation of swaggering \-g(ə-)riŋ\
Etymology:
probably from 1swag + -er (as in chatter)
Date:
circa 1596
intransitive verb 1: to conduct oneself in an arrogant or superciliously pompous manner; especially : to walk with an air of overbearing self-confidence 2: boast, brag transitive verb: to force by argument or threat : bully
Now, while most rappers are actually using this in the right context, they conflate self-confidence and arrogance. In other words, they believe the two qualities are inextricable from one another, to the point that it feels like most rappers suffer from a lack of humility, in which case they try to prove their self-awareness by doing these very overtly self-conscious tracks like, oh, “Everything I Am,” which Kanye is a savvy enough performer to make work.
So, Jeff’s right in that the “swagger” that rappers emphasize so greatly is by and large at the expense of and insulting to its audience. It’s condescending.
Tray says:
September 3, 2008 at 4:20 pm (UTC -7)
I mean, Rakim, Kane, and Slick Rick lacked humility, but I wouldn’t say they suffered from said lack.
I should add that I didn’t mean to imply that Peedi’s a mediocrity.
Daniel says:
September 3, 2008 at 5:40 pm (UTC -7)
While the phoned in verses are disappointing, what bothers me even more is that Kanye samples “Paper Planes” without the “Straight to Hell” sample. That sample is really the only reason that song is good at all (see: rest of Kala). It’s like finding a way to sample Wu-Tang’s “I Can’t Go To Sleep” without the “Walk On By” sample.
Trey Stone says:
September 3, 2008 at 10:09 pm (UTC -7)
i just think of swagger as personality, presence. which are definitely important. if you don’t have an interesting, adaptable style and play off your beats in the right way you’re not as great of a rapper as you can be. it’s why i prefer Jay-Z to Nas and T.I. to Game.
the best emcees have both, but i rank style above lyrics just because you can be the lyricalest of lyrical dudes out there, but if you have a boring flow you might as well write a book or something. and it adds to the feel of the track cuz it sucks when you have a dope beat and the emcee doesn’t know how to come at it right
Zilla Rocca says:
September 4, 2008 at 7:09 am (UTC -7)
On more thing…since we’re on a 1998 posse cut kick, Sauce Money’s verse on “Reservoir Dogs” > this song
Blablabla says:
September 4, 2008 at 7:57 am (UTC -7)
Stop calling it hip hop.
This is the epitome of rap music right here.
Who’s hotter than M.I.A.?
What four rappers are more prominent than this bunch?
This braggadocios flex is a face-value, mail-it-in recording and nothing more. It’s as if the four them collectively decided that none of them will even attempt to be lyrical – because they don’t have to. They all realize that they could say literally anything on this track and it would still be an instant classic. Even on the beat, Kanye barely edited the sample. I mean, he must’ve used the exact same formula for this as he did Jockin’ Jay-Z.
Please don’t ruin the sanctity of my music by calling this hip hop.
Deen says:
September 4, 2008 at 10:14 am (UTC -7)
Swagger comes in more than one form.
There’s something to be said for being an enigmatic genius that doesn’t feel the need to bludgeon listeners’ eardrums with repeated proclamations of how great one is. I wouldn’t expect any stans of the 4 rappers on this track to understand that. Blunt force works best for them…
Trey Stone says:
September 4, 2008 at 1:52 pm (UTC -7)
lol@”sanctity of my music”
and i think Wayne matches the enigma description pretty well. in any case i don’t really have a problem with shit-talking when you can back it up, which all four of these guys can
Renato Pagnani says:
September 4, 2008 at 5:17 pm (UTC -7)
All I want to add is: Jay-Z is looking pretty gangster in that suit and scarf combo.
Deen says:
September 4, 2008 at 5:33 pm (UTC -7)
There’s nothing mysterious about being a gravel-throat drug addict. I recognize the talent though.
Trey Stone says:
September 4, 2008 at 6:21 pm (UTC -7)
i mean, i could do the same thing and over-simplify with just about any emcee like you just did, but it wouldn’t make it accurate.
Reader, Meet Lazy Author | floodwatchmusic.com - Punching the Sky Since 2006 says:
September 4, 2008 at 7:38 pm (UTC -7)
[...] usual, Jeff “Passion of the” Weiss hits the nail on the head with the near-painful “Swagger Like Us” debacle. Is this [...]
THHEE says:
September 5, 2008 at 5:22 am (UTC -7)
Two Words- Great Post
shabooty says:
September 8, 2008 at 1:16 pm (UTC -7)
i laugh because it seems like you put more work into this post, than they did on the song.
Carlos says:
September 10, 2008 at 11:27 am (UTC -7)
I guess they decided it wasn’t worth spending more than a few minutes on this track when all they had to do was stamp their names on it and send it off to the radio stations.
Chris says:
November 17, 2008 at 9:22 pm (UTC -7)
It was pretty bad I liked Jay-zs verses but no to lil wayne and Kanye West.Lil Waynes was terrible it made me laugh and Kanye just all around sucks.Lil Waynes got to be the most overrated overhyped mc since 50 Cent and his get rich or die tryin.T.Is was alright.All they really did was just talk about how much cooler they are than everyone else.Kanye has about as much swagger as Dan Rather so why hes on a song about having swagger.
This was the worst song I’ve heard since the last soulja boy song released as a single.
Chris says:
November 17, 2008 at 9:28 pm (UTC -7)
Lil Wayne is very hit and miss with his verses just the inconsistency kills him with me I cant get into it.I had to go into his stuff with an open mind and I only thought of it as average.
And Kanye is a damn joke anyway.I admit to having bought like 30 copies of graduation just to make sure he beat fiddy and force him to stop rapping.And even though he won fiddy didnt retire.
Chris says:
November 17, 2008 at 9:39 pm (UTC -7)
“I think you have this backwards. Swagger is real. These guys are just lacking in it. Yeah, Jay’s gone downhill lyrically, but he also lost his swagger. Compare the sheer cockiness of his verse on Diamonds, the last great thing he did, to Jockin Jay-Z. There he believes what he’s saying; now it’s just posing. Those two lines on Diamonds where he just rattles off the names of all the mediocrities on Roc-A-Fella (”Teiarra Marie, Peedi, Foxy”) are more engrossing than anything he’s done in a long time.”
I agree swagger can be good.Just look at Method Man I dont think you’ll ever confuse him with a lyricist like nas or gza but he makes it work.The thing with meth is that he doesnt talk it he just comes off as cool.T.I and especially kanye and lil wayne sound like those fat girls at school who wear tight clothes and obviously tryin to come off like there hot and talk about how hot they are but end up getting laughed at.Thats lil wayne and Kanye and there are local newsanchors with more swagger than lil wayne and kanye.
Im not even gonna comment on sellout jay-z.