Word: sombjaf
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What must have started as an appeal to street-wise pacifists, SOMBJAF thrives as hipper-than-thou funkadelia and constitutes the wittiest attack on U.S. arms policy since Tom Lehrer. A solid achievement when you recall that, at high voltages, Clinton has been known to inflict minor seismic damage. An amazing achievement considering how top-heavy the record might have sounded due to its immense cast of extras--30 background singers, 10 keyboard players and an array of drum-related, beat-box soloists...
Which is not to say it's short on poetry itself. Clinton has a sloganeer's knack for engineering mischievous, provocative lyrics. His songs intersperse sexual double entendres with street-talk to round out an informed polemic. The "message" of SOMBJAF--unlike that of Grandmaster Flash--transcends the ghetto cliches that make rap so egregious. We're talkin' the redefinition of urban sophistication...
...Double Oh-Oh," SOMBJAF's first and most danceable cut, starts Clinton's assault. A metallic beat carves its way through a dense vocal arrangement as singers trade licks on the subject of spies and sperms. By the end, there are two clear meanings to a wailing momma's screams: "Who. Is. For my coun-try? Who. Is. For me?" Love and patriotism, yoked together via the healing power of funk, have been bizarrely fused. At least, that's my guess...
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