Monday, July 10, 2006

Del tha Funkee Homosapien - "MIstadobalina"

This is a funky song that was kind of a precursor to the "new West Coast" movement of the early 1990s. This album, I Wish My Brother George Was Here, is one of my favorites. It was brand new for its time; funky hip-hop with a weird bohemian edge. But not fake, Digable Planets-style bohemian, just an offbeat sensibility. If I could only find it on disc... sigh.

This song always intrigued me. It could mean one of two things. One, it could be an admonishment of a type of person who is a poseur, someone who jumped on the hip-hop bandwagon when it became popular. Del mentions people who used to mock him before, and now want to hang out with him. Hmmm...

But my theory has always been that the song -- and the namesake, Bob Dobalina -- represents the white man, who used to hate rap music, and now latches onto it since it is popular and can make money. Not only does the video (with suited-up caucasian businessmen) seem to support this, but a few select lyrics do as well. He speaks of serpents and snakes, which could be a veiled reference to the "white devil." (In fact, I remember reading an interview once where Del's cousin Ice Cube said about whites, and I'm paraphrasing, "All white people are snakes. Now, not all snakes are poisonous, but they are all snakes." Amen, Cube!)




Ooooo, ooooo, mistadobalina
You thought ya could manipulate
You thought you could fool me
Ooooo, ooooo, mistadobalina
Teach would have put me on a stump and then he schooled me
Friends can be fraudulent
Just you wait and see
First he was my moneygrip
Then he stole my honeydip
Mistadobalina is a serpent
Don't you agree
The little two-tima
Resembles aunt jemima
With jeans and a dirty white hoodie
Seems like he wouldn't be a snake
Or would he?

1 comment:

satan on a stick said...

It's about corporate control and theft of all independent grass roots movements and art forms. Hip Hop being one of those movements.