Hits 21 - Moments of Truth: This is Family Business

Episode Date: September 26, 2024

Tyler the Creator's later material: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGgcC5xg9YI All I Got Is You / 'Maybe Tomorrow': Jackson 5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PZR7f4-EZE T.R.O.Y / 'Today' - Tom Scott: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYKPc-DooNo To Zion / And the Feeling's Good - Jose Feliciano: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d-Ku-JM68M Family Business / Fonky Thang Diamond Ring - The Dells: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PfkMPho49k

Wham Guru! Hi babe, it's Sharon calling. I'll call you if you tell you don't worry about nothing baby. Keep your head up, come see me soon. No matter where we face, we must face the moment of truth baby. Hi there everybody and welcome back to Moments of Truth. My name is Rob. Thank you so much for choosing to listen to this Hits21 bonus show. If you're completely new to this spin-off or if you're only listening to Moments of Truth and not Hits 21 itself then hi to you as well. I am

really happy to be able to spend this time with you. If you want a full explanation of what this podcast is about head back to the first episode where I go into full detail about what I want to achieve with this show. You can do so by searching for Moments of Truth in the Hits21 podcast feed. But to sum up, Moments of Truth is a podcast about rap music. Specifically, my love for rap music as a white kid from the North West of England and how I think other people like me can fall in love with the genre and how I can help them despite not growing up with

it. I am convinced that rap and hip hop are both things that you can fall in love with the genre and how I can help them despite not growing up with it. I am convinced that rap and hip hop are both things that you can fall in love with at any age and at any point in your life regardless of the background that you are from. So from the streets I grew up on in stopport to the streets of south central Los Angeles and back to Brooklyn and back, stories told by these artists are more relatable to us than we would think. Stories told by these artists are more relatable to us than we would think. These episodes are covering 9 different groups of 5 songs that I love, arranged depending on their subject matter, and how each of them relates to something I've learned because rap artists were there to teach me and tell me about their experiences. As I mentioned in the previous episode, Through Moments of Truth, we'll be exploring pride, optimism, defiance, family, romance, heartbreak, abuse, social decay, violence, gangs, women's rights, existentialism, religion, and so many other subjects and how all of these things are the truth to whoever is living through them. And in this fourth episode, titled This is Family Business, we're going to be taking a look at songs that deal with family.

Mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, cousins, nephews, nieces, and everything else that falls under the family umbrella. But through that, we're also going to look a bit deeper and focus on how families can change, grow apart, stay together, how things like poverty can bring families closer and also cause irreparable damage, but also how families can save people from falling into poverty and crime and all sorts of other things and how families are changed by the passage of time as well. So it's time for some music and I hope you enjoy what I've got for you this week.

Just to advise you, as I have in the previous episodes, and as I always will, the versions of the songs I'm about to play will be completely uncensored. And I think this is important. It's not to make this podcast difficult or confrontational, I don't want to do that, but the word truth is the crucial thing with this podcast I think. And I feel like I'd be diluting the truth of what these artists have to say for themselves if I was to tamper with their expression, in any way. As I've said before, it isn't my truth and it might not be yours either, but it's the truth to somebody and especially the person making this song.

So the first track up this week is from April 2013 and it is the 6th track on the 2nd studio album to be released by this artist and that album is called Wolf. The album reached number 3 on the billboard charts in America and reached the top 20 on the UK album charts as well. At the time this rapper was still a controversial figure in the scene, especially in rap and alternative music. So a song so personal and sensitive came as something as a surprise. Who knew that it would form the template for so much of his future work? This song really gets to the heart of something that's present in a lot of fictional work

we've seen down the years, not just in music but TV and film and everything else. When I listened to this song I am reminded of that famous scene from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, which I'm sure we've all seen even if we've not watched the show, from the season 4 finale I think of that show which was Papa's Got A Brand New Excuses. That episode is where Will's father briefly returns after years of not seeing him and throughout the episode Will and his dad plan a family trip together only for his dad to leave suddenly when something else comes up. Once his dad leaves, Will delivers that famous monologue that defiantly assures

his uncle Phil and those of us watching that he has learnt to be a man despite having no involvement or help from his father. But then that defiant exterior crumbles away and Will starts to cry and he asks Uncle Phil, how come he doesn't want me? I'll once again as I always do recommend that you find the genius lyrics page for this song. I find it's just a faster way to get to the artist's perspective and to feel the deeper meanings that the artist wants to put across, and you'll always find something I haven't mentioned as well. Just a quick mention actually that there are homophobic slurs used quite loudly and aggressively in this song, but given Tyler's journey with his own sexuality, I once again find it important to leave them in here.

This is ANSWER by Tyler the Creator. When I call, I hope you pick up your phone. I'd like to talk to you I hope you answer I hope you answer I hope you answer I hope you answer I hope you answer Cause when I call I hope you pick up your phone

I'd like to talk to you I hope you pick up your phone I'd like to talk to you I hope you answer Hey dad, it's me um Oh, I'm Tyler, I think I be your son, sorry I called you the wrong name, see My brain's splitting, dad isn't your name See, that gets a little more filling Mom was only 20 when you ain't have any fucks to spare

You Nigerian fuck, now I'm stuck with by the thaggots, a little more filling Mama's only twenty when you ain't have any fucks to spare You Nigerian fuck, now I'm stuck with this shitty facial hair Also stuck with a beautiful home with a case of stairs See you not bein' there, fuckin' fire started my damn career But fuck it, I got plenty, you gave me the chance to see A world I wasn't supposed to, I'm stoked that I didn't know ya But sucks you ain't give a fuck and consider a sperm donor now Fuck is in no coma

I'm changing my shit to Haley. I'm just being passive You were fucking faggot nigga gotta show on Monday. Guess you ain't getting no passes nigga But if I ever had the chance to ask this nigga Carla I hope you get sick. I hope you get sick. I hope you get sick. I hope you get sick. I hope you get sick. I hope you get sick.

Cause when I call, when I call baby. I hope you get sick. I hope you get sick. I want to talk to you. Suck my fucking dick and swallow this case of nuts. I'm a selfish fuck and I ain't sharing green as if I'm facing blunts She drinkers out the closet, Hodges and alcoholics It might be bipolar but fuck it, I couldn't call It's supposed to be going till November but quickly came back in August I left you once through September to clearly remember all this

I would like to tell my grandma but she just nostalgic I'll call her number but she won't answer I hope you answer I hope you answer I hope you answer Yeah, yeah, I hope you answer I hope you answer I hope you answer Cause when I call

You pick up your phone I could talk to you I hope you answer You claim to hate my fucking guts But say I'm on an island in Thailand and I was wild and head If I got stranded had to man up and hold my nuts and hope that I could live off salt water and fucking coconuts Don't have got no service this 3G is fucking worthless

Day is getting dark like the area's turning urban You'll be fucking nervous like me inside of a church is but I'ma get in contact with God listen, I hope you answer The last verse is about this girl Okay, thank you to Tyler for that. If you have any thoughts about any of the songs in today's episode, feel free to get in touch on Twitter, we are at Hits21UK, just the same as the main podcast. And feel free to send me an email at hits21podcast.gmail.com. Okay, time for track 2 this week, this next one is from a little further back in time, this is September 1996 we're going to go to, and it was the debut solo single released

by this artist separate from the collective that he was part of. The name of the record it's from is Iron Man, and this song was number 15 in the track list. That album reached number 2 in America, while the song was going to be focusing on hit number 11 on the UK singles chart. This one I won't say too much about, I think I'd rather let the story in the song speak for itself, just know that the artist who wrote it did so as a tribute to his own mother and to reflect on the life he had as a child. And it also has a Mary J Blige feature which

is never a bad thing and a Jackson 5 sample to boot. This is All I Got Is You by Ghostface Killer. I sit and think about all the times we did without dad. What'd it give you, blood? Three months, man. What you doing in here anyway? You oughta be home with your mama. How old are you, boy? Thirteen. Thirteen?

Damn, the bastards must be running out of niggas to arrest. This goes out To all the families that went through the struggle All that I've got is you With no heart It was all from the heart And something only through Yeah

Dwelling in the past flashbacks when I was young Whoever thought I'd have a baby girl and three sons But going through this difficult stage I found it hard to believe While my old Earth had so many seeds But she's her own woman And due to me I respect that I saw a life of what it's really worth And took a step back Family ain't family no more We used to play ball eggs after school Eat grits cause we was poor Fapped the flies for the channel Fixed the hanger on the TV

Rocking each other's pants to school wasn't easy, we survived winters Snoddy nose with no coats We kept it real, but the older brothers still had jokes Sadly, daddy left me at the age of six I didn't know nothing, but mommy neatly packed the shit She cried, and grandma held the family down I guess mommy wasn't strong enough, she just went down Check it, fifteen of us in a three-bedroom apartment

Roaches everywhere, cousins and aunts was there Four in the bed, two at the foot, two at the head I didn't like to sleep with John, Johnny P. the best Seven o'clock, plucking roaches out the cereal box Two share the same spoon, watch a Saturday cartoon Sugar water was her thing, every meal was no thrill In the summer, feelings held us down like steel And there were days I had to go to Texas with a note

Staying Gloria, can I borrow some food? I'm dead broke So embarrassing I couldn't stand a knock and they dull My friends might be laughing, I spent stamps in stores Mommy wears a toilet paper, use the newspaper Look, Miss Rose gave us a couch, she's the neighbor, things was deep My whole youth was sharper than cleats, two brothers with muscular dystrophy Killed me but I remember this Mom's a lick of fingertips To wipe the coal out my eye before school with a spit Caseworker had her running back to face to face I caught a case housing, tried to throw

it side of her place Sometimes I look up at the stars and analyze the sky And ask myself was I meant to be here? Why? Yeah What's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, is you and I'm so thankful I made it through all that I got is you Word up mommy, I love you and I'm so thankful I made it through all that I got is you

It's all you Oh I always said I wouldn't cry when I saw tears in your eyes I understand that daddy's not here now But some way or somehow I will always be around Yeah, all the things that I did from this to that Oh, from drugs to being there Being down and out and I love you all the way Oh Yeah You see you see the universe, it consists of the sun, moon and star. And them planets would exist in my space.

Like man, woman and child. You understand? We got to keep it real. What reality and reality gonna keep it real with us? I remember them good old days. You can see, that's the child I was, what made me the man I am today. See, cause if you forget where you come from,

you're never gonna make it where you're going because you lost the reality of yourself. So take one stroll through your mind and see what you will find and you'll see your whole universe all over again and again and again and again Yeah Welcome back to the show everyone, hope you had a lovely time with that song. If you want to check out the songs in this episode that are being sampled by the artists that we're covering, I will leave a little link to each song in the description and you can find all of them there. For this next song we are going to go back further in time, this time to 1992. The song was released as the first single from this duo's debut album,

titled Mecca and the Soul Brother, and this is track 10 on there. The album only charted at number 43 in America, but became a huge cult classic in later years. The song we're going to be covering reached number 58 on the Billboard charts. Neither the song nor album charted in the UK at all. This song was originally written as a tribute to somebody called Troy Dixon, a friend of the duo who made this song. He sadly lost his life at just 22 years old, but it very quickly becomes an emotional retelling of a whole life and how a young man grows up to become part of a family tree, how a birth is a moment in history

that's worth writing down and worth putting down. The song then develops and becomes a much larger tribute to the members of the families that this duo belong to. I first heard this song when it was used at the top of an episode of the Netflix comedy series Master of None, well, comedy drama series, and it was an episode that focused specifically on parents and how first and second generation immigrants lead their lives in America. It's likely that you'll have heard this song before, but if you haven't, tell me how long that saxophone hook gets stuck in your head for. This is T.R.O.Y. in brackets, They Reminisce Over You by P-Rock and C.L. Smooth.

Taking care of this, so who am I to bicker? Not a bad ticker, but I'm clocking Pop's liver. I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, I reminisce, A toast, but my granddaddy came sober Count all the fingers and the toes Now I suppose you hope the little black boy grows 18 years younger than my mama But I rarely got beatings cause the girl love trauma In single parenthood there I stood By the time she was 21 had another one This one's a girl, let's name a Pam Same father as the first but you don't give a damn

Irresponsible, plain, not thinking Papa said chill but the brother keep winking Still he rolled down, you would tear out your hide On your side while the baby make a slide But mama got wise to the game The youngest of five kids, hun, here it is After ten years without no spouse Mama's getting married in the house

Listen, positive over negative For the woman, a master Mother Queen's rise in the chapter Déjà vu, tell you what I'm gonna do When they reminisce over you, my dog That's how we like to do it in the 90s We brought the sales forward, coming at ya When I take back, I recall a man off the family tree My right hand, Papa Doc, I see

Took me from a boy to a man, so I always had a father When my biological didn't bother, taking care of this So who am I to pick up? Not a bad ticker, but I'm clocking Pop's liver But you can never say that his life is through Five kids at 21, believe he got a right to Here we go, voila, check the scene With the Portuguese lover at the age of 14 The same age, front page, no fuss But I bet you all you know they live longer than us

Never been seen now, that's where you're wrong But give the man a taste and he's gone Notting off sleep to a jazz tune I can hear his head banging on the wall in the next room I get the pillow and hope I don't wake him For this man to cuss here at all in verbatim Tellin' me how to raise my boy unless he's takin' over I said pop, maybe when you're older

We laughed all night about the hookers at the party My old man standing yellin' good God Almighty Use your condom, take sips of the boo When they reminisce over you, for real For real, baby Like that We for real Coming at ya

In 92 Rock and sell smoke Yeah, rock and roll I reminisce so you'll never forget this The the days are way back, so many bear witness to fitness Take the first letter out of each word in this joint, listen close as I prove my point T to the R-O-Y, how did you and I meet? In front of Big Blue fighting in the street But only you saw what took many time to see, I dedicate this to you for believing in me Rain or shine, yes in any weather

My grandma Pam holds the family together My uncle Doc's the greatest, better get the latest If we're talking about a car, Uncle Sterling got the latest I strive to be live cause I got no choice And run my own business like my aunt Joyce So Pete Rock hit me, no respect to When there are reminisce over you Listen, listen, just listen to the funky songs As I got on and asked where this bond I'm not playing, everybody just calling This song is dedicated to the one and only

Never be another, he was my brother Trouble T-Roy, it's like that y'all But it don't stop Rockers just moved from 92 And we out Later Thank you to P-Rock and C.L. Smooth for that one. That's another one I'd like to put there, alongside Ice Cubes it was a good day, and Nas's life's a bitch just in the sense that it's one of

maybe 10 or 20 defining recordings and obvious choices for rap tracks from the 90s. Anyway our next track, our fourth track this week is from August 1998, the album it's taken from reached number 1 in the US and number 2 in the UK. And in 2024 it was named as the greatest album of all time by Apple Music, I won't give you the name just yet because that would give it away super fast, but I don't know if I agree with that decision, but good album all the same. The song that we're going to listen to is track 4 from this album. This song is written from a mother to her son, her first son.

A son that she reveals she wasn't completely certain about having. A son who initially made her fearful of the future, but who has managed to connect so many loose threads in her life. On an album that has a lot of emotional turmoil in its heart, this is one moment of complete clarity, I think. A celebration of new life. And the legendary Carlos Santana appears to help it along. He interpolates his sample from Jose Feliciano's 1974 song, and the feeling's good.

This is To Zion, from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill by Lauryn Hill. The joy of my world is in Zion. One day I'm gonna understand. Zaya. I'm sure what the balance held I touched my belly overwhelmed by what I had been chosen to perform But then an angel came one day, told me to kneel down and pray for unto me a man's child would be born Oh, this crazy circumstance, I knew his life deserved a chance but everybody told me to be smart

Look at your career they said Lauren baby use your head But instead I chose to use my heart The joy of my world is in Zion Now the joy of my world is in Zion How beautiful is nothing more Than to wait at Zion's door I've never been in love like this before Now let me pray to keep you from The peril that will surely come

See life for you, my prince, has just begun And I thank you for choosing me To come through unto life to be A beautiful reflection of His grace See, I know that it gives so great There's only one God I could create And I'm reminded every time I see your face That the joy of my world is in Zion

Now the joy of my world is in Zion. Now the joy of my world is in Zion. Now the joy of my world is in Zion Marchin' Marchin' Marchin' Marchin' We go marchin' marchin' marchin' marchin' Beautiful, beautiful Zion The giant marching, marching, marching The giant marching, marching, marching The giant marching, marching, marching The giant marching, beautiful, beautiful The giant marching, marching, marching The giant marching, marching, marching

The giant marching, marching, marching The giant marching, marching, marching The giant marching, marching, marching my joy, my joy, my joy, my joy I'm a joy, I'm all my life, even higher So we're at the final song of this episode about family. Beautiful, beautiful, diamond-hunting go ahead. This week our episode of course is called This Is Family Business and for our final song we're going to be focusing on the song that gave the episode its name. Now the person who made this song is not an easy person to discuss for a number of reasons. We've actually discussed him when he's come up on Hits 21, on the main show. Find our episodes about him if you want, but just after this episode's finished. The song we're going to discuss is from 2004 and it's track 20 on this artist's debut album titled The College Dropout. The album reached number 2 on the Billboard charts in America and number 12

in the UK album charts. My main reason for including this song despite the current atmosphere around this artist is that I like to remember when there was still warmth and humanity to this person, and warmth and humanity to his music. Because the college dropout is such a labour of love, a real ground up passion project and songs like this are filled with such beautiful autobiographical detail, it was something he was once capable of. And if you think back to Ghostface's All I Got As You from before, you'll notice that at one point in this song the lyrics describe a family sleeping arrangement that

sounds basically identical to the one that Ghostface described. And hey, I remember having to put up with similar sleeping arrangements with my cousins when we stayed at Grandma's as little kids. Something amazing that I learned about this song only recently is that the piano line is not a sample. A guy called Josh Zandman worked on the piano in this and yet it has that warm, smooth, kind of dusty 70s feel to it. How this isn't cribbed or sampled from somewhere I will never know. to it. How this isn't cribbed or sampled from somewhere, I will never know. This is Family Business by Kanye West. Act like you ain't took a bath with your cousins. He made the team this year? They say he went tall enough All the glitter He is my girl Girl is not reality

You know that's what you live That's your new girlfriend This is family business And this is for the family that can't be with us And this is for my cousin lockdown All the answers in us This why I spit it in my song so sweet Like a photo where your granny's picture now that you gone, it hit us Super hard on Thanksgiving and Christmas

This can't be right, yo, you heard the track I did, man This can't be life Somebody please say grace so I can save face And have a reason to cover my face I even made you a plate, soul food Know how a granny do it Monkey bread on the side, know how the family do it When I brought it, why the car had to look off through it As kids we used to laugh Who knew that life would move this fast Who knew I'd have to look at you through a glass And look, you tell me you ain't did it

Then you ain't did it And if you did, then that's family business I don't care about all the diamond rings They don't mean a thing All these fancy things I tell you that all the glitter is my baby I'm all like, I'm all like, I'm all like, I'm all like This is family business And this is for everybody standing with us Come on, let's take a family Grammy picture Abby, remember when they ain't believing me?

Now she like, see, that's my cousin on TV Nah, we gettin' it and we gon' make it And they gon' hate it and I'm his favorite I can't deny it, I'm a straight rider But when we get together, be electric, slide and grandma Get them shook up, oh, no Don't open the photo book up I got a Aunt Ruth that can't remember your name But I bet them Polaroids will send her down memory lane

You know that one auntie, you don't mean to be rude But every holiday nobody eating her food And you don't wanna stay ahead, cause them your worst cousins Gat roaches at the crib like them your first cousins Act like you ain't took a bath with your cousin, fit three in the bed If it's 60, y'all I'm talking about three by the head And three by the leg, but you ain't have to tell my girl I used to pee in the bed

Rain, rain, rain, go away Let the sun come out And all the children sing Rain, rain, rain, go away I come out And all the children say hey I woke up early this morning with a new state of mind A creative way to rhyme without using knives and guns

Keep your nose out the sky, keep your heart to God And keep your face to the rising sun All my niggas from the shies, my family dawg And my niggas ain't my guys, they my family dawg I feel like one day you'll understand me dog You can still love your man and be manly dog You ain't gotta get heated at every housewarming Sitting here grilling people like George Foreman

While Uncle Ray and Aunt Sheila always performing Second she storm out, then he storming Y'all gon' sit down, have a good time this reunion And drink some wine like communion And act like everything fine and if it isn't we ain't letting everybody in our family business All the all the diamond ring diamond ring They don't mean a thing All the all the thang thang

They don't mean a thing All the all the glitter It's not gold Not gold it's not reality All the gold is what you believe that I need is what you need I don't care about They don't mean a thing All these fancy things I tell you that

All that I need is what you need All these things, all these things, all these things All these things, all these things, all these things All these things, all these things, all these things All these things, all these things, all these things All of the money, all of the money, all these things All these things, all these things, all these things And I don't care about it, all these things, all these things Let's get Stevie out of jail And that's it for episode 4 of Moments of Truth, thank you very much for listening.

In episode 5 we will be looking at women, or at least how rap artists look at women, and I'll see you for it.