« 29 October 2002 - 12:02 am | Main | 31 October 2002 - 12:10 am »

maybe youve already heard, seeing as the track is so hot and all, but I just thought Id share. see, I was listening to the Q95-5 (blazin' hip-hop and r&b) this morning on the way to class, and I happened to hear the new nelly song. I had heard the song before, actually, but what surprised me is that the dj refered to it as the number one song. I dont know if he meant number one song in the nation or simply the most requested song in st louis, but regardless, it would appear the song is quite popular. why is this such a shock? afterall, with previous hits like "number one," and "hot in herre [sic]," it should come as no surprise that nelly and the st lunatics would have done it again. I suppose Ill elaborate.

the track is called "air force ones" (pronounced "err force," by the way), and it is entirely dedicated to nelly and his crew's affinity for that particular style of nike shoe. in the song nelly and each of the st lunatics go on to describe their tendency to purchase mulitple pairs in various obscure colors and, of course, to discard of said shoes once they have been worn. each also shares his individual shoe size and exactly which colors and styles of air force ones he prefers (for the friends and family of the st lunatics, this should definitely make holiday gift buying easier this year). additionally, each rapper shares his own personal shoe-related antecodes. for instance, nelly briefly recounts a time when someone touched his air force ones (this person is now dead), and murphy tells the story of the helpful if not star-struck service he received on his latest trip to foot locker.

all in all, aside from even further bluring the line between popular culture and advertising and taking us one step closer to the souless, ad-saturated dystopian future that awaits us all, its actually an okay song. I definitely didnt think it deserved heavy rotation when I first heard it, but then again, when I first heard "hot in herre" I thought it was a joke. I thought the song was so bad I was actually embarrassed for nelly. apparently I needed to put more faith in the neptunes. and Ive learned my lesson. if you need me, Ill be at footlocker.

Posted by on 29 October 2002 at 10:59 AM

i think "air" and "err" are pronounced the same.

Posted by ben on 31 October 2002 - 10:25 AM

I actually saw them perform that song live on Amatuer Night at the Apollo, a few weeks back. I thought they were making some reference to the President's plane (Air Force One), something like they were livin so large that they could fly that shit. I didn't really pay attention to the rest of the lyrics, so I really had no idea.

Then I was listening to Power 106 (Blazin Hip-Hop and R&B for Cali) on the way home tonight, and that song was number 2 tonight. And tonight, it all came to me and made sense. They were talking about the shoes. Tonight I even realized that they're saying "Gimme two purrs, I need two purrs, so I can get to stompin in my urr fowce ones."

Now what's funny is I remember when those shoes were in. I did a search for them right now (that's how I got here, btw), and I can't believe how expensive people are selling them for. $105 and up. See how songs are good for the economy? I bet you all kindsa people are eating it up, too. Next thing you know, people will get shot for them like when Nike Air Jordans were all the hype.

Well I made quite a comment for a first-time visitor. Enjoy your day.

Posted by rumbanik on 14 November 2002 - 10:01 PM