A Year of Blind Spots: Street Songs

Joe is working through an arbitrary and unpublished list of albums that he considers "blind spots," i.e. albums that he's never heard but feels like he should.

EDITOR'S NOTE: As Gilson dutifully noted in a comment below, it appears that Rick James was a rapist and sexually abusive. It looks like he lived a troubled life, but obviously his substance abuse troubles excuse nothing. Feel free to read the self-righteousness below, but know now that it was written in ignorance, and that I no longer recommend that you listen to Street Songs.

Street Songs

Rick James

1981

I've never seen the skit. That's probably why I'm here, if I'm being honest. I'm sure I would've come across the name "Rick James" at some point over the last 36 years, but certainly not while I was in high school. But alas, I heard a lot of basic-ass dudes quoting the Chappelle bit, and so I had at least heard of Rick James. Based on that, I knew that he was a musician and I knew that he had a substance abuse problem. I didn't know if he yelled his own name out obnoxiously, and I didn't know if he had done anything to deserve being made fun of. 

I'm not gonna watch the skit so I don't have a right to comment on it, but I'll probably do it anyway. Knowing what we know about Chappelle now, I'm assuming that Rick James was a target because of his androgynous style on the cover of Street Songs. I'm assuming that the skit was meanspirited because Dave Chappelle is a meanspirited guy. I don't see anything else, beyond drug issues (and, like, who can't relate to that?), that would make Rick James a target. But that comedian is a dick. We know this.

I'll acknowledge that maybe in 2004, this was a matter of Chappelle punching up, but their fortunes have reversed, and then some. Chappelle is untouchably rich and has the means to make more standup specials that punch down at target now. Rick James tried to capitalize on his resurgence in popularity after being made a laughingstock on some shitty Comedy Central show, began to tour again, and died shortly thereafter. So if it really is a matter of which direction the joker is punching, then I gotta assume this shit has aged very poorly.

That was all over twenty years ago, and is only related to this album in that it's the reason I'm here. And I guess I can't really complain, as I loved Street Songs, and I'm glad I'm listening, for whatever reason. This is some great '80s funk right here. It kinda reminded me of something the Time would've put together around the same time, to the point that I'm kinda surprised that Rick James doesn't seem to be involved in the Minneapolis Sound with Prince. The songs are similarly upbeat and cocky.

There's "Super Freak," obviously. I guess I didn't really know till recently in life that this was Rick James. That would've been helpful as I was bombarded with Rick James references in high school. I think it's one of those songs that is too well-worn to be considered good at this point, but I'll say that it works a lot better in the context of the album. At least better than, I dunno, a fucking trunk-or-treat thing with a terrible DJ who thinks that this is a Halloween song. But maybe that DJ was a Chappelle Show fan or something.

So you'll recognize that one. You'll also recognize "Give It to Me Baby," maybe not as a song in and of itself, but as the song that Jay-Z quotes in "I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)." And you'll recognize some of the themes from the album—good looking women, rough times in poor areas, police brutality—if you are a fan of this genre or similar genres. There's a nice balance of good-time-party-music and bad-time-party-music on here. "Ghetto Life" is probably the best song in terms of that balance that I've ever heard. It's like James was melding Curtis Mayfield and Morris Day.

I thought this album was fantastic, and kinda hate that this isn't the first thing that people think of when they hear the name Rick James. But it should be.