|
Ridin'
| |
|
Date Aired
|
May 2, 2016
|
|
Running Time
|
14:39
|
|
Previous Review
|
|
|
Next Review
|
TBA
|
|
Website
|
TBA
|
Todd plays "Ridin'" on the piano.
CHAMILLIONAIRE ft. KRAYZIE BONE - RIDIN'
A one-hit wonder retrospective
Todd: Hello, and welcome back to One Hit Wonderland, where we take a look at bands and artists known for only one song. And I said I wanted to get this series out of the '80s and '90s, and I meant it. Last time, I went all the way back to 1965. This time, I'm gonna get as recent a one-hit wonder as I dare.
- Video for "Ridin'"
- Chamillionaire: They see me rollin'
- They hatin
- Patrollin', they tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty
- Tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty
- [Todd dances to it]
- Tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty
- Tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty
- Tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty
Todd: Yes, today, we're going back a mere ten years, which is really not very long ago.
Todd (VO): In fact, I'm risking the real possibility that the artist in question could have another hit any day now. I mean, I didn't think I'd be [brief clip of "I Took a Pill in Ibiza" by...] Mike Posner in 2016, but here we are.
- Chamillionaire: Police think they can see me lean
Todd (VO): The song in question, of course, is "Ridin'" by Chamillionaire with an assist from Krayzie Bone from [promo pic of...] Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, and it blew up in that brief couple years when Houston was the center of the hip hop world.
Todd: The Dirty South was, of course...
- Clips of Jermaine Dupri ft. Ludacris - "Welcome to Atlanta"
Todd (VO): ...big since the start of the millennium, but it mostly centered around Atlanta, occasionally Memphis or New Orleans. But for 2005 to 2006, it all moved to Texas, and everything was about grills and Purple Dragon. [Clip of "Still Tippin'" by all of..] And the hot new names were Slim Thug, Paul Wall, Mike Jones.
- Concert footage of Mike Jones
- Mike Jones: Who?!
Todd: [with a more enthusiastic crowd] Mike Jones
- Mike: Who?!
Todd: I'm not gonna repeat myself.
Todd (VO): But of all those guys, none of them had a bigger hit than this guy, Chamillionaire—a guy who, to this day, has one of the goofiest rap names I've ever heard.
Todd: I need a name that conveys wealth and success, but also that I'm a small lizard. [Pictures of a sharp-dressed lizard...] Richie Reptile... [Michael Douglas as...] Gordon Gekko... I've got it! [...and the album cover of The Sound of Revenge] Chamillionaire! His [screen shot of...] icon was even a lizard. It looks like the logo on a [picture of a neon-green...] t-shirt you'd buy at spring break.
Todd (VO): But the song was not goofy at all; it was hot as hell. More importantly, it inspired the Weird Al parody.
- Clip of Weird Al Yankovic - "White & Nerdy"
- Weird Al: I'm just too white and nerdy
- Think I'm just too white and nerdy
Todd (VO): Not making any assumptions about my audience here, but I'm pretty sure you guys are all...
Todd: ...more familiar with this version. Did you know...
Todd (VO): ...that's Key and Peele at the beginning? Yeah. Okay, I swear I'm not gonna make this whole video about Weird Al.
Although honestly, at the time, I thought this might be one of those songs that got outshone by the Weird Al parody. But no, "Ridin'" has held up. Everyone still loves that song, even though Chamillionaire took his chamillions and largely disappeared. Where is he? Where did he go? Why did he only ever remain a one-hit wonder?
Todd: Maybe...they finally caught him! I mean, that's generally what happens when you go out of your way to taunt the cops! What'd you think was gonna happen?
- Chamillionaire and Krayzie Bone: Ready or not we bust shots off in the air
- Krayzie Bone and Chamillionaire
Before the hit
- Promo pic of Chamillionaire
Todd (VO): Chamillionaire was born Hakeem Seriki in Houston, Texas, making him Houston's [poster of Hakeem Olajuwon] second-favorite Hakeem.
Todd: He also occasionally goes by the name King Koopa.
- Cover of King Koopa mixtape as "True" plays
- Chamillionaire: Here, lizard lizard lizard
- It's the almighty King Koopa
Todd (VO): Which is a way better name than Chamillionaire, and hilarious to boot.
Todd: If only he'd done us all a favor and [brief clip of "Break Up" by...] killed Mario. But more interesting than Cham's roots is the rise of Houston in the hip hop world.
Todd (VO): One thing I distinctly remember about rap in the 2000s is that it was extremely regional. Where you were from kinda dictated the style of hip hop you made, and you repped for your hometown in a way that I don't think really happens anymore. [Single cover of "Again" by...] Fetty Wap doesn't really rep for Jersey, not...
Todd: ...not the way that, ten years ago, [pictures of...] Nelly repped for St. Louis, T.I. was from Atlanta, Twista was from Chicago, and so on.
Todd (VO): The Houston scene had a couple acts that got famous before the mid-2000s, there...Geto Boys and UGK. But it really started blowing up in 2004. Chamillionaire got in the ground floor, having released, like, [cover of Mixtape Messiah] six billion...
Todd: ...mixtapes at that point, and two albums with [album cover of Get Ya Mind Correct] Paul Wall, the [picture of Paul] chubby white guy with the teeth. Remember him?
Todd (VO): Unfortunately, by the time Paul Wall got big, they had fallen out. Actually, all those guys had beef at one point or another, I'm not really clear why. Chamillionaire also started his own label at that point, [logo for...] Chamillitary Entertainment.
Todd: Yes, he had a chamillitary. I kinda wish he'd just continued with that. He could marry [pictures of...] Chamila Kunis, his children could be Chamillennials. Anyway, he got a major label deal and released [cover of The Sound of Revenge] his first album. Here is his first single.
- Video for "Turn It Up" ft. Lil' Flip
- Chamillionaire: Yeah!
- Super producer Scott Storch
Todd (VO): Aw, no, Storch?! I hate that guy!
- Chamillionaire: Give 'em something that's goin' rattle that trunk (that trunk)
- Tip ya cups up until ya get drunk
Todd (VO): Although this beat isn't bad, I guess.
- Chamillionaire: ...ollar beat and let me show you what to do with it
- (Who that is??) That's the illest rapper choppin' and screwin' it
Todd (VO): I mean, it's not bad, but I wouldn't exactly seek it out. I'm sure recruiting Lil' Flip seemed like a good idea, but he was actually on his way out. He had just had this [clip of "Sunshine" ft. Lea] huge crossover hit...
- Lea: ...call you my baby boy
Todd (VO): ...that was unfortunately very, very pop. You never really heard much from him again. Those coattails weren't taking anyone anywhere.
Todd: No, the big hit was to come.
The big hit
- Video for "Ridin'"
Todd: Okay, first off, to be clear...
Todd (VO): ...the name of this song is just "Ridin'." [Single cover of UGK's...] "Ridin' Dirty" was already taken. Anyway.
- Chamillionaire: They see me rollin'
- They hatin
- Patrollin', they tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty
- Tryin'...
Todd (VO): There was one big reason that this song went to #1.
Todd: That chorus.
Todd (VO): That beat is untouchable right there. Certainly would've preferred to hear more beat from these guys [promo pic of Play-N-Skillz] rather than Scott Storch, but they were kinda one-hit wonders themselves, which is disappointing because this track crushes. This song could've been about anything and be huge.
Todd: Well, let's talk about the lyrics. Something I heard a lot of complaints about is that...
- Clip of 50 Cent - "In Da Club"
Todd (VO): ...rap music in the Bush years was too caught up in cash money hos and missed a prime opportunity to say something meaningful. Certainly, there was not much in the way of social commentary coming from Houston, which was primarily known for abusing cough syrup and making music that sounds like it does when you abuse cough syrup. I mean, there was probably a ton of provocative hip hop that I'm not remembering, but...
Todd: ...the way it felt, the sum total of hip hop making a statement in the 2000s was...
- Clip from A Concert for Hurricane Relief
- Kanye West: George Bush doesn't care about black people.
Todd (VO): Which, you know, is...
Todd: ...not gonna go down as one of the great speeches in history.
- Chamillionaire: Laws on patrolling you know they hate me
Todd (VO): But Chamillionaire did something huge by calling out police for profiling and getting the entire country to groove to it.
Todd: I have no idea how he got away with that. Looking back, it's kinda shocking that it wasn't controversial at all.
Transcript in progress