August 24th, 2011 1:00am
Elizabeth, This Is It
SlimKid3's performance on "Otha Fish" is one of the best I've ever heard on a hip-hop record; virtuoso in its technique, original in its style, and overflowing with raw emotion and bitter wit. He delivers all three verses with a cadence that slips gracefully between rapping and singing, the intricate lines twisting and twirling around a fluid beat, but never winding itself too tight. The third verse is perfection, a stream of brilliant lines - "Now, if there ain't no mountain high enough, why ain't you climbin up?," "I slipped and I tripped into a shoe that didn't fit" - that tumble out with increasing urgency. There's something particularly compelling about the way he utters the phrase "Elizabeth, this is it," as though it marks the song's precise breaking point. Through the whole track, he's right on the edge of falling out of love, but with that line, the feelings are turned off like a light switch.
4 Responses.
8/24/11 1:43 am
One of my favorite songs ever and perhaps my favorite rap love song (or lack thereof).
Nice write up, Matthew.
8/24/11 9:42 am
A real crowd pleasing music/comedy album…At least that’s how I remember it…
8/24/11 2:55 pm
Such an underrated group. This album, along with The Goats’ “Tricks of the Shade”, are criminally forgotten bynotes from that era of hip hop.
8/29/11 8:00 pm
What a great song! “There’s othas, you know that there’s othas…”
The instrumental at the end is one of my favorites of all time. Turn up that bass!