This installment of "Say What, Say What?" is not so much about calling anyone out, so much as it is asking for clarification. Bear with me.
Now, we are all familiar with Black Sheep's surprisingly deep discography and respect their talent and musical innovation. At the very least, anyone who hasn't been living in a cave for the past twenty years is familiar with their biggest hit "The Choice Is Yours (Revisited)."
One of the lines in the song has always eluded my comprehension. Right after "I got brothers on a Jungle, cousins on a Quest" Dres utters a line that confounds me. Every lyrics source online suggests that says "Deaf retarded uncles in the parties where they rest." Okay, it sort of sounds like that's what he's saying ... but if that is the actual lyric, what in the fuck does it even mean? Black Sheep definitely have their share of cryptic or challenging lyrics, but seriously, what's going on here?
Anyone care to shed some light?
-- Thun
" several aunts & uncles in BR is where they rest "
ReplyDeleteSupreme
That's funny as hell because I've been thinking about that shit since the first time I heard the song YEARS ago!!!! Like I said earlier I think it's " several aunts & uncles in BR is where they rest " BR being short for Brooklyn...that's where Dres is from right? I don't know, maybe the nigga Dominican so maybe he's saying in D.R. is where they rest ( Dominican Republic)
ReplyDeleteEither way it makes more sense than " deaf retarded uncles in the parties where they rest" LMFAO!!!!
Supreme
Who the hell has ever referred to the Bronx as B-R? Dres was half Puerto Rican, so maybe P.R.? Or B.R. Is short for Borinquen?
ReplyDeleteIn any event, why the fuck did MTV bleep out part of the line?
http://www.divshare.com/download/8300615-aa1
ReplyDelete^I chopped that lyric piece out of the album mix and slowed it down. I still can't call it, but it should be a lot easier to figure out now.
Check the link.
Slowed down it sounds like, "Dead bent aunts and uncles in PR is where they rest..."
Lol
Yo I'm sitting here falling the fuck out laughing because even after listening to it slowed down I still can't figure that shit out!!!! Yo Verge good job at slowing that shit down but now it sounds like he's saying "...in pourage where they rest " LMAO!!! I know that's not what he's saying but it sounds like it.
ReplyDeleteOk well at least we know he's saying " aunts & uncles "
& Thun I said BR was possibly short for Brooklyn not the Bronx. I'm saying maybe he just said BR instead of Brooklyn because it fit in the bar...Nah mean? You might be right with that PR for Puerto Rico though...
Supreme
This is more facinating than the zapruder film.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Supreme on this one. I always thought it was "several aunts & uncles in ?? is where they rest". Since I was always certain on "several aunts & uncles" I was cool wit that but always lost on were it was they rested. I slowed it down at the crib and still cant figure it out. I'm getting back "in the chow line"
ReplyDeletePeace
Surge
Been loving this album since I had a sweet dub of it on a Maxell cassette. I thought he said something about "...and beat poets where they rest." As if to say he is of the lineage of the great beat poets of the 50s and 60s. Perhaps that's a stretch?
ReplyDeleteI think you're all wrong,
ReplyDeletemaybe its (i've always thought it was) "Damn retarded uncles in PEAS ((play on words (peace)) PORRIDGE may they rest"
its a De La reference, and i thought it was just another nod to the members of the native tongues after he shouted out Tribe and the jb's
MaPa got it, except it's "dead retarded uncles in peas porridge may they rest".
ReplyDeleteI think it's easier to figure out what they're saying on the OG version.
Thun......mtv bleeped it out???? was there a video for this? i never ever seen that......
ReplyDeleteprobably one of my favorite black sheep songs next to Off the Wall....
this shit was on MTV??????
Props to MaPa and Roy for figuring that out. I really was thinking about peace, in, rest being a possible wordplay connection, I just couldn't figure that out.
ReplyDeleteProps.
Anonymous above- They played this video so much on Yo MTV Raps that I was sick of it pretty quickly. Seriously, they played it THAT much. It still may take me a few more years to be able to enjoy this song again, after how played out it was everywhere back then.
So, yeah, they played it on MTV. Not trying to sound like a dickhead.
DAMN!!!!!! After all these years, finally!!! Yeah that Peas Porridge joint from De La's 2nd album.
ReplyDeleteThank you
Supreme
Wow. That's all I gotta say. Good lookin on the investigative reporting. PEAS PORRIDGE
ReplyDelete@troyblog lol... dope! "dead retarded uncles..in peas porridge may they rest" De La ref. "DresBlacksheep"
ReplyDelete-- T.R.O.Y.