Beans N’ Beats: Part 1 - Hip-Hop
In this three-part blog, we will be looking at the classic combination of music and coffee. There are countless mentions of coffee within mainstream music but through this series we will be touching on a handful of our favorites. Let us begin with our youngest genre: hip-hop.
INTERGALACTIC by The Beastie Boys
The Beastie Boys, a hip-hop trio consisting of Ad-Rock, Mike D, and MCA, released their fifth studio album in 1998. Aptly named “Hello Nasty”, the album debuted at the number on spot. The lead single “Intergalactic” received a Grammy for the Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 1999.
The song showcases the ability of Ad-Rock, Mike D, and MCA to pass the mic to each other flawlessly like a relay race. Each take a turn with a four-bar rhyme scheme before the next member jumps in. It is in the fifth verse where Ad-Rock mentions coffee:
“Jazz and AWOL, that’s our team
step inside the party, disrupt the whole scene
When it comes to beats, well, I’m a fiend
I like my sugar with coffee and cream”
Ad-rock flips the common phrase “I like my coffee with cream and sugar”, showing that he is “disrupting the whole scene” as he mentions earlier in the verse.
BLACK COFFEE by Heavy D and The Boyz
As pioneers in hip-hop, Heavy D and The Boyz were the very first group on the Uptown Record Label. The group released four albums between 1987 and 1992. Their fifth and arguably greatest album “Nuttin’ But Love” was released in 1994 with lead singles “Nuttin’ But Love” and “Black Coffee”.
“Black Coffee” is to Heavy D what “Ice Cream” is to Raekwon the Chef and the rest of the Wu-Tang Clan. In “Black Coffee” Heavy D professes how much he likes darker skinned women by comparing them to coffee.
Black coffee, no sugar, no cream
That’s the kind of girl I need down with my team
Heavy D is being very blunt. He likes black women as is, with nothing else added. Heavy D, somewhat graphically, describes why he likes and what he likes to do to black women. I will let you search this song yourself to get the full scope.
COFFEE SHOP by Yung Joc ft Gorilla Zoe
I remember hearing “It’s Going Down” by Yung Joc on the radio for the first time and turning up the volume, almost baffled by what I was hearing. It had a simple beat that had plenty of bounce that was coupled with a catchy hook in Yung Joc’s almost monotone cadence. I think everyone knew the song was going to be a hit. To this day, I can recite the song word for word.
Unfortunately, Yung Joc did not have another hit that met the same fame that “It’s Going Down” had. However, while people were looking elsewhere for music, Joc was still dropping music to bump in your Caddy on twenty-fours. The first single from his second album “Hustenomic$” was a song called “Coffee Shop”.
I could post the lyrics here but the entire song is essentially a metaphor for selling drugs and serving people like a “Coffee Shop”. Look up the song, bump it in your Caddy and turn the volume up.
