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Length
1:11
The form and fun of this song are based in a long history of “the dozens” in the black community that some scholars have traced all the way back to linguistic games in African tribal culture. It continues today in the “yo mama” jokes told among friends on the playground and in the verbal virtuosity of contemporary rap battles, like the one pictured below from 8 Mile.
Simply defined, “the dozens” is a spoken word game in which two contestants attempt to insult each other in front of an audience. The Pharcyde honors the game here with the imagination of their “yo mama” jokes (“I seen her in the back of Taco Bell with handcuffs”), but also challenge the game itself with the absurdity of many of their insults (“Ya mama got a glass eye with the fish in it”).
The main sample comes from “Season of the Witch” by Bloomfield, Kooper and Stills.
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