Wanna Be a Hype Man

I've been living in a haze of electronic fuzz/ wall of sound/toilet-flushing dance music of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis productions recently...do scuse. But oh is it a fun place to be.

It started when I downloaded the video of J Jackson's "Alright," (that's the version with Heavy D), which has always been I think maybe my favorite-ist video, and not just as a musical hag who appreciates her paying homage to the Nicholas Brothers and stuff. I love the Lockers-ish choreography so much...it's so percussive, so expressive, so fuckin cool. Sharp as creases on a pair of trousers. Makes me a lil insane tryin to express why I like it so much, but it's been a short hop from there back to the original video for "Control," which reminded me how much Mpls there was in her early stuff, how much neater it all was then, than the super-duper in-your-pores ruthless male-gaze closeup pop stardom like JLopez. I mean...she had a band. Jerome's in that video. I forgot that. Lookin ahead-of-his-time cool. Workin that fucking hilarious abridged shit that he does--I dunno what to call it. Like...here's my mini version of the the running man, if I could be bothered. I couldn't be as cool as he on my coolest day drinking a cold beverage with extra shots of cool.

It's another short hop to this video of The Time doing "Jerk Out" on SNL, that is soooo tasty. Jesse J, JJ & TL, Morris & Jerome. Just so nasty and smooth and cool. I heard stories when I was college in MN about the Time. You heard a lot of apocryphal, but still slightly authentic stories about Minneapolis music there the 80s..."I heard Husker Du at the basement of that frat party"....Replacements tales...blah blah. I heard a few whispered stories about how the Time (a Prince project, note) battled Prince once at a high-school prom or something and just blew him away that always kinda gave them this Air. (Yes, okay, I didn't know about the ending of Jay & Silent Bob until recently. Maybe I will see that movie someday.)

The point is...I love Jerome Benton. Always have, never has gone away. (He is so cool in that performance, so clever...it's all so cool. I love the intro, the key change, the splits, the bass.). I've been trying to make my head wobble like that for 20 years--that beautiful loose-limbed grace I wish I hadda little of. Wore out my cassette of Ice Cream Castles (fav song? always "My Drawers"). Made my friend Holly do little one-finger low-fives with me. Trying vainly to do the one-foot slide that I just can't do. I have a co-worker named Jerome who lets me say his name like Morris does, I can't help it ("JaROME!") The obsession hasn't ever waned, tis still a revelation.

So, anyhow, next time Rhythm Nation 1814 wobbles onto your radio...don't be scared. Yes, I know I'm a dork, btw. What can I say, I love hype men, I like a world where they exist. I like James Brown, I like the Time, I like PE.