Chamillionaire – Good Morning
Xzibit’s stand-in gets Lucky (because Lucky is the name of the character voiced on popular sitcom King of the Hill by Tom Petty who is sampled here do you see)…
[Website]
[5.29]
Ian Mathers: The whole ‘hater’ thing still strikes me as protesting too much; it may be true that “when you getting big cash stacks all the haters hate that ‘cus they hate to see you be successful” but that probably has to do more with their opinion of you than a general resentment of success. By which I mean “aww, you’re just a hater” isn’t much of a defence, or anything other than a trivial statement, and the fact that the subtext is always “any criticism you have is invalid, because you’re just a hater” bugs the hell out of me. Which is why “Good Morning” is such a nice change of pace; over some sunny Tom Petty guitar chords Chamillionaire does go through the usual anti-hater paces, but at least: a) he admits that he’s petty enough to hate anyone more successful than he is; b) his reaction is less “I don’t have to listen to you” and more kill-em-with-kindness; and c) that Tom Petty sample really is pretty.
[6]
Michaelangelo Matos: Believe me, hating on this has nothing to do with my shoes and everything to do with sampling fucking Tom Petty.
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Chuck Eddy: Wonder if notorious rap-hater Tom Petty will feel differently once he starts cashing royalty checks for this…Well, actually, he’ll probably feel the same as when Chamillionaire cashes checks for Weird Al’s “White And Nerdy,” right? And if you hate them for it, you’re just jealous of their retirement accounts. Still, where Petty’s 1987 rap move “Jammin’ Me” was at least an 8, this hit’s nicely relaxed but just too vapid to excuse.
[5]
John Seroff: If you had to discuss “Good Morning”, the smart move would be to avoid discussing the constant ‘Free Fallin’ refrain; it’s so immediately self-evident that it hardly bears scrutiny. Unfortunately, there’s almost nothing else to talk about. Musically, there’s only one idea at play here, and it’s a pretty bad one; nothing about Tom Petty’s megahit suggested it demanded the “I’ll Be Missing You” treatment. Cham’s flow is, as usual, respectable if not outstanding; the continuing tautology of hating on those strawman haters is as bluntly witless as ever and the Maino bite makes me wince a little. Icky.
[3]
Erick Bieritz: Rappers have certainly juxtaposed hater missives with upbeat tracks before (e.g., Trick Daddy’s “I’m A Thug”), but Chamillionaire launches “Good Morning” into its own cereal commercial stratosphere. The day-glo blast is dizzying and nausea-inducing, but not entirely unpleasant.
[6]
Anthony Miccio: Hater-hate is usually a sign of creative bankruptcy, but rather than reaffirm his credibility with pro forma hardness, Chamillionaire audaciously brandishes a Tom Petty sample even The Black Eyed Peas might consider gauche. And since his defensive prattle relies less on bombast and the cult of personality than recent TI, it makes for better, battier bubblegum.
[7]
Hillary Brown: Man, who ecstasied up Chamillionaire’s coffee? This could practically be on Sesame Street, but that’s not a bad thing. It’s a little corny, too, but couldn’t rap use a bit more of the Tom Petty chilled out happy philosophy?
[7]
I side with Chamillionaire on the “haters” issue; contra Ian, I think “general resentment of success” is VERY prevalent, especially in the UK, and that many people will seize upon the smallest and vaguest of excuses to indulge in it.
Also, one never really gets the “hater” thing…until one has them oneself.
This song is total ass though.
Also, one never really gets the “hater” thing…until one has them oneself.
BARF
Fair enough, things may be different in the UK than in Canada, but whether or not they exist, it doesn’t change the fact that “I don’t have to listen to you, you’re a HATER!” is a bullshit counter-argument pretty much every time it’s used, which is kind of my point.
It’s not though! Most haters don’t have a point to make. “Jealousy is a deep illness,” as a wise woman once said (Ms Dynamite IIRC).
you know who else I think doesn’t have a point to make? Jews.
they’re the worst sort of haters. I think Chamillionaire and lex are both taking the right tact here for us to stop all these hating jews.
Haters that don’t have a point to make usually don’t need to be argued against, and aren’t – they’re just ignored. That argument when I’ve seen it is usually used against someone who doesn’t like something, no matter how nuanced or reasonable their argument (or, sometimes, just their explanation) is. You’ve seen it in the comments here, for example – often the ‘haters’ thing boils down to just another variation on the old “if you can’t say something nice…” thing, which you KNOW is bullshit, lex.
Hating feels SO good though: like sit-ups.
I don’t know how many of you have listened to Cham’s old mixtape stuff, but he was really, really good until his first album happened, one of those rappers who’s really good at exclusively rapping about how much jewelry and cars with TVs in them they own, and then he started putting out albums and became kind of blase and moralizing and dull. Definitely one of the sadder rapper career arcs in recent history.