Customer Reviews

Get Your Ass In The Water And Swim Like Me: Narrative Poetry From Black Oral Tradition

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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I first learned of this CD after reading a review several years ago in a San Diego alternative paper and just had to hear it myself. What a riot it is!
Those who think that "ho" and other disrespectful terms for women are new expressions in the seamier side of African-American culture are in for a big surprise. Here in these "toasts" are the roots of rap, with all of the macho posturing and blatant misogyny and sexism that goes with it.
If one can say, as the compilers of the CD imply, that saving these toasts for posterity is important, it is important because these toasts betray the knack of their authors for a very clever use of the language. One can disparage the crudity of the toasts, yet admire their construction. One can dislike the "music" of rap, but actually enjoy some of the raps themselves.
Not all of these toasts are sexist. The "Signifying Monkey" tells of an animal in a position of weakness using cunning and sweet talk to turn the tables on his physically more powerful adversary. Get In Out Of The Rain is a hilarious tale of a guy who drops in on a friend to escape the rain only to find himself in a place almost as bad.
My favorites are Pimpin' Sam and The Lame and the Whore. They are ROUGH, yet they are outrageously entertaining.
This is surely not a CD you'll want to buy for your girlfriend, your wife, your mother or your sister. But if you enjoy clever wordplay and can stomach something that is rude, crude, lewd AND hilarious, then this unusual compilation should find a home in your CD collection.

This CD brought back memory of the toasts my dad used to recite. In some cases it provides insight into Black culture of a given time period. It's not for the easily offended, as the lyrics are quite explicit, but you can't beat it for the nostalgia connection.

Some of these are very funny, you have to wade through a lot before the swimming parts IMO.

This CD is the reissue of the LP that accompanied the book (an anthology of Toasts) of the same name by Bruce Jackson. It includes examples of some of the most classic Toasts...

the precursor to today's gangsta (sp???) rap, which is reason alone to buy it. Oh and it's gonna be worth a lot of money someday.