This Is Why I'm Hot
It is no secret that I have very eclectic tastes in music; my favorite musicians are Tupac, Beethoven, Subliminal, G-Unit and I am becoming fond of Amy Winehouse for she reminds me Dylan Thomas and Charles Bukowski, and not just for her love of alcohol. I have always defended rap/ hip-hop music when it has been called “non-art”, “the death of art” or anything negative like that. I have been critical of what I call “rap culture” or “the philosophy of mainstream rap.” Regardless, that is another post. But from listening to a very popular song, “This is Why I’m Hot” by Mims, I was taken aback and I must admit that this is a warning sign of the death of English. This is not to say that Ebonics is itself a language, it is a manner of speaking ENGLISH. But I digress. The reason for writing this is that the chorus of the song has no meaning linguistically. Whenever I listen to it I hear Wittgenstein turning in his grave. Granted I am not too well read in Wittgenstein, but he dealt with meaning in language.
Here is the chorus of “This is Why I’m Hot”
This is why I'm hotThis is why I'm hot
I'm hot cause I'm fly
You ain't cause you're not (Mims)
This is why
This is why
This is why I'm hot
As it stands, the word ‘hot’ deals with heat. My favorite dictionary site lists twenty-two meanings for the word, and most of them deal with a positive, fast, heated entity. It is obvious that in conversation ‘hot’ has seemingly limitless uses, to describe abstract things such as physical appeal, something popular and something new, to name a few. However, it is not clear what the word ‘hot’ means in this context. Luckily, Mims goes on to describe why he is hot, and an unnamed individual is not. So for now allow us to assign ‘hot’ with the letter x. Mims is x, or so he claims.
Mims says that he is x because he is ‘fly.’ Again, ‘fly’ as an adjective has no definitive meaning. In American (used almost exclusively by adolescents and young adults in such a manner) ‘fly’ is again a positive adjective and even has a connotation of being fashionable. However, not once in the song does Mims mention anything about his style of dress. He namedrops with famous geographic locations in the US, his car collection, his rapping skills and his way with women, but not anything that would constitute being ‘fly.’ So let us affix the variable y to fly. Mims says he is x because he is y, but it is very unclear as to what x and y constitute.
Alas Mims does give a counterexample, and discusses an individual who is not x or y! Yet his justification for this mystery individual not being x is because he is not y. So M (Mims) = x = y, and Other Individual (B) ≠ x ≠ y. So why is Mims ‘hot’ and what is ‘fly?’
Towards the end of the song, Mims states
I keep it so mean the way you see me leanAnd when say I'm hot my n*** this is what I mean
No Mims, you do not tell us what you mean. You have given specific examples of what you are, but is that the criteria for being ‘fly’, and in all cases if I am ‘fly’ am I also ‘hot.’ What if I am hot, but not because I am ‘fly’ because I am ‘dope?’ Are all ‘fly’ people hot, and are all ‘hot’ people fly? Again, the versatility of ‘hot’ makes this even more difficult. Jessica Simpson is hot, but I wouldn’t consider her ‘fly.’
Clearly, Mims does not fully explain why he is hot, and the nature of being fly. Linguistically, the chorus of his song has no meaning, and it is not catchy. I am a huge fan of rap music, but overall this song is literally meaningless.
Here is the chorus of “This is Why I’m Hot”
This is why I'm hotThis is why I'm hot
I'm hot cause I'm fly
You ain't cause you're not (Mims)
This is why
This is why
This is why I'm hot
As it stands, the word ‘hot’ deals with heat. My favorite dictionary site lists twenty-two meanings for the word, and most of them deal with a positive, fast, heated entity. It is obvious that in conversation ‘hot’ has seemingly limitless uses, to describe abstract things such as physical appeal, something popular and something new, to name a few. However, it is not clear what the word ‘hot’ means in this context. Luckily, Mims goes on to describe why he is hot, and an unnamed individual is not. So for now allow us to assign ‘hot’ with the letter x. Mims is x, or so he claims.
Mims says that he is x because he is ‘fly.’ Again, ‘fly’ as an adjective has no definitive meaning. In American (used almost exclusively by adolescents and young adults in such a manner) ‘fly’ is again a positive adjective and even has a connotation of being fashionable. However, not once in the song does Mims mention anything about his style of dress. He namedrops with famous geographic locations in the US, his car collection, his rapping skills and his way with women, but not anything that would constitute being ‘fly.’ So let us affix the variable y to fly. Mims says he is x because he is y, but it is very unclear as to what x and y constitute.
Alas Mims does give a counterexample, and discusses an individual who is not x or y! Yet his justification for this mystery individual not being x is because he is not y. So M (Mims) = x = y, and Other Individual (B) ≠ x ≠ y. So why is Mims ‘hot’ and what is ‘fly?’
Towards the end of the song, Mims states
I keep it so mean the way you see me leanAnd when say I'm hot my n*** this is what I mean
No Mims, you do not tell us what you mean. You have given specific examples of what you are, but is that the criteria for being ‘fly’, and in all cases if I am ‘fly’ am I also ‘hot.’ What if I am hot, but not because I am ‘fly’ because I am ‘dope?’ Are all ‘fly’ people hot, and are all ‘hot’ people fly? Again, the versatility of ‘hot’ makes this even more difficult. Jessica Simpson is hot, but I wouldn’t consider her ‘fly.’
Clearly, Mims does not fully explain why he is hot, and the nature of being fly. Linguistically, the chorus of his song has no meaning, and it is not catchy. I am a huge fan of rap music, but overall this song is literally meaningless.
posted by Brian Hillman at 9:08 PM
2 comments
