Two top 10 intruders in one day!…
[Video][Website]
[7.57]
Kat Stevens: OMIGOD WHY THEY JEANS SO TIGHT?
[9]
Chuck Eddy: Insects chirping like in Warrant’s “In The Sticks”; Tyga ohmygodding like the white girls at the beginning of “Baby Got Back” only not as funny; electrobeats almost minimalist enough to impress a very young Schoolly D; words more charming when pretending to complain about people complaining about their pants than when pretending to be bothered by boyz who like boyz.
[7]
Martin Skidmore: I confess that they are installed as one hit wonders in my mind – in fact “You’re A Jerk” is their second biggest US hit, but you know what I mean. The clicky backing (here with crickety chirps) still appeals, and the rapping is bright enough, but I can’t see them as a particularly exciting act in the long term.
[6]
Matt Cibula: Shamelessly derivative. Adorably, impossibly fresh.
[8]
Alfred Soto: How refreshing: a clicking, buzzing Clipse-worthy backing track wedded to a Fisher-Price subject. Nothing at stake here, just finding a chick worthy of tight jeans. I could hear a whole album of this.
[8]
Dan MacRae: Of course he’s gonna shout out Pharrell, the production is so Neptunes-indebted the video could be comprised of Chad Hugo negotiating a royalty percentage.
[7]
Jonathan Bradley: “Oh my god, why they jeans so tight?” It’s really impressive the extent New Boyz have adopted an understanding of fashion as transgression, and they do it far more successfully than Lady GaGa, for instance, does. “You’ll never see me care about another man’s jeans,” Legacy lectures, responding to supposed implications of homosexuality with an implication of homosexuality. It’s not quite progressive, but there’s a cheeky refusal to engage with hip-hop’s oft-draconian prescriptions for masculinity. (Even while guest Tyga taunts “other niggas Brunos: homies with homos.”) The New Boyz aren’t looking at the haters, they’re looking past them, at the neon-colored sunshine of a Southern California ruled by wit, irreverence, and light-footedness. There are hints of the old trickster archetype, but Legacy and Ben J hardly seem to be concerned with subverting any system—the role the trickster is supposed to play—from within or without. FYI to those bogged down in 20th century hang-ups: the New Boyz don’t give an F word about you.
[8]