Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Hillary Clinton: Swagger Jacker Extraordinaire

Hillary Clinton has become the Jay-Z of presidential nominees.

First, let me clear something up about that statement since my disdain for Hillary should be well-known to anybody who peruses this blog. I'm a Jigga fan. I love his flow, his wordplay and generally how he comports himself on a CD. Jay-Z is an amazing artist in his own right and that can never be taken away from him.

However, Jay does have a problem with using other people's lyrics in his raps. Whether it be some well-known Biggie or some fairly obscure Bun-B, Jay-Z has a habit of conspicuously adding the words of others to his songs.

Which brings us to Hillary.

Hillary has apparently noted the response Obama's motto of "Yes we can" has gotten from crowds, and has decided to adopt her own catchphrase. And no, it's not "Hope is cheap and so are interns."

Instead, Hillary is now telling voters, "Yes we will."
That's right, check out the video on this link.

That is some heavy duty swagger jacking.

I mean, wow. If Barack is being called out for borrowing a few lines from his buddy Deval Patrick, then I think Hillary needs to get put on BLAST.

Besides the obvious lack of creativity, co-opting someone's motto like that just takes a lot of effing nerve. As my mother and father would say, "somebody is smelling their drawers."

A friend of mine pointed out that when she first heard about Hillary's biting, she thought it was just a funny aside. But, the more she thought about it, the more egregious the swagger jacking became. What she started to realize was is that this is not an isolated, kooky incident.

I mean, think about where you've heard this scenario before: A brother or sister works hard to craft an original expression of emotion that appeals to people, and then watches as a crafty white person steals it and tries to make it their own.

Little Richard knows something about that, and so does Jackie Wilson. W.C. Handy probably could have written a book about it. Hell, even the Five Heartbeats had to deal with that fake-ass Beach Boys group on their first album cover on their way to the top.

This is some historically-based shit right here.

And this ain't even the first time Hillary has done this crap. When Obama got props for going hard on the whole change platform, Hillary stopped trumpeting her experience and started talking about change. When Barack started slinging that good hope, Hillary tried to move in on his corner with her own inferior brand of hope laced with "realism." This is really a pattern for her.

But, people do say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so maybe Obama can take solace in that.

Shiiiiiiiiiiit, you think that pays Little Richard's bills?


(And I know I shouldn't post this, but I'm linking to it anyway. I blame it on Ink. Hilarious.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very well said!

I just discovered your site through a link at Jack & Jill Politics and I think you are a great writer! Keep it up!

Big Man said...

Thanks for the comment, I appreciate it.

Anonymous said...

Even funnier (sadder?) than the fact that she swagger jacked is her delivery. I mean, wtf? Seriously, somebody has gotta tell Hill that in order to properly swagger jack, you've gotta have some swagger.

vicdamonejr said...

my dude RBL,

This is what it is: people (including Hillary) underestimated the power of that speech in New Hampshire, the Yes We Can speech.

But when it will.i.am flipped it, waxed it and put it to video, I think it had a profound effect on this race. People could hear this man's elegance in tune, the words of the speech started to stick.

Everyone knows about "Yes We Can," white, black, republican, democrat, hispanic, young and old. And if you have an ear, you almost have to be touched by the words, because they say nothing against anyone, but only some about the potential progress of our nation.

Everyone underestimated the power in the message. And now, SwagJack (Hillary) is try to play catch up a little too late.

There's little you can say about being real after someone's soul has been touched by a man's words, and those words have given hope to the masses.

It'll be interesting to see what happens on March 4th.




Raving Black Lunatic