The Matt Walsh Show - Matt Walsh Rap Battle: Tekashi69 vs NBA Youngboy

Episode Date: December 23, 2021

Matt Walsh reviews Tekashi69 and NBA Youngboy. Who's your favorite? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is a big year in a lot of ways. And one big change for me is that I became, through the course of 2021, something of a musical genius. Well, I didn't become a musical genius. It was more that I, this, I've always been a musical genius. And I, that fact became public knowledge. And, you know, I was judging entries at the American Idol style competition for the Sweet Baby Gang Anthem. We were talking about, you know, I was reviewing BTS, the K-pop band. and we watch a lot of rap videos and that sort of thing.

So I wanted to bless you with a couple songs that I believe are some of the greatest artistic creations going back to Beethoven and before that. I mean, this is music that I think transcends music. And now it really puts itself in competition with and in conversation with the great artists of all time. You know, Michelangelo, Da Vinci, and that sort of thing. So first we have none other than the great Takashi 6-9. Let's watch. I'm very excited today for the chance to listen to and experience a joint from my man, Takashi 6-9. He is, for my money, one of the most transcendent artists in the history of Western civilization.

As a poet, I put him on the level of Ralph Waldo Emerson. As a singer, he's Pavarotti, as a humanitarian, he's Mother Teresa. And to think he achieved all of that despite suffering that horrific accident where he fell into a giant tie-dye machine. He actually, well, he actually looks a little bit like a bowl of fruity pebbles come to life. Or maybe he looks like something out of a Skittles commercial in hell. But I say all of that in a positive way. It's all part of his genius, really. Now, the song we're going to be experiencing today is a classic.

It's an oldie, one of the Takashi 6-9 songs that my dad was listening to back in the day. It's not from Takashi's newest album, which, by the way, is available now for purchase. It's called Tattletale. Tattletail being a little reference to the fact that he's a gang member who's sold out his crew to avoid 40 years in prison. Lots of people think that, you know, he lost street credit for that because he's a snitch and all that. But personally, I think it makes him more relatable because I can tell you I would totally

flip on my crew to avoid 40 years in prison. Wouldn't anyone? If I'm going down, I'm like a whole lot of people with me. If I had a crew, I mean, at all, I would flip on them. This is probably why I don't have one. And I'm never going to get one if I keep talking like this. But if I had a crew, I would dime them out in a second. I would sit down for the interrogation, the detective would come in, and 12 seconds later,

I will have told them everything. I got your back. She did it. What? You b***! It would be that easy. I don't think I've ever had a friendship that I wouldn't ruin to avoid a lifetime in prison. But in any case, that's just the background on the artist.

Now, let's get to the song. This one is from way back in 2017. Like I said, it's an oldie, but certainly a goodie. It's called Kuda. All right, let's give it a listen. So can I just say here, you know, I appreciate this dichotomy. And already we're seeing the nuances of Takashi 6-9. He's got the puppy.

He's being affectionate. In the next moment, though, he's pointing a gun at your face. It's as if to say, yes, I can be sensitive. I can appreciate these more pleasant moments. I can stop to smell the roses, but I can also shoot you in the head for no reason. Now, a therapist might say that that's a symptom of a psychopathic personality disorder. But I say, no, this is just what it means to be human, really. We can all relate to it on some level.

Let's keep listening. Okay, now let's take a second to reflect on these lyrics. I roll up, I'm going to be booted, stupid, and shoot it stupid. Brought a knife, I brought a ruger, stupid. I really do this. If I tote it, then you know I shoot it, and I'm a prove it. Back, back, don't be moving stupid, or I'm going to use it. Now, this is the kind of moment in a Takashi song where I know that he gets

me. He understands where I'm coming from. And I feel a little bit less alone in the universe because so often I walk through life feeling frankly booted. And often my wife will say to me, honey, you're not booted, are you? And then I say, yeah, I am booted. And she'll say, we've talked about this. And I'll say, okay, well, if you don't want me to be booted, then get this sucker up out of my face in that case. So just a normal marital spat that couples have while walking through bedbath and beyond on a Tuesday. Let's get back to the song. Okay, I do have to say just one note here.

Probably you don't want to take a job as a cameraman on a Takashi 6-9 music video because you're going to have a lot of people pointing probably loaded guns right at you. I mean, there are a lot of basic gun safety protocols that are being disregarded here. If you don't know how to handle one of these things, I've got no business carrying one. So that is a concern. I just wonder how many cameramen perished during the making of this video. Everybody is dancing, jumping up and down, drinking God knows what, probably high. And they're literally singing about killing people.

And meanwhile, they all have loaded guns and they're pointing it at the camera that you're holding. I just, it seems like a hazardous combination of factors. I hope they have workmen's comp is really all I'm saying. But you know what? However many cameramen died, they didn't die in vain. They died for the sake of true art. If you feel like you're not getting the respect you deserve in life, well, that might be because you don't have a title in front of your name

that causes people, forces people to respect you. And here's something that you could get. You could get established titles, your very own proclamation like I have, declaring that you are a lord or lady. And you have this, and you will gain the respect you deserve. I guarantee you all you need is those one square foot plot of land in Scotland and established titles as a project based on a historic Scottish custom where landowners

are referred to as lairds or lords and ladies in English. In your title pack, which I hold in my hand here, you'll receive at least one square foot of dedicated land on a private estate and an official certificate with a crest. Your certificate will include a unique plot number with which you can see the exact location of your land. With this certificate, you could officially change your name to lord or lady and you can get it on your credit card, you're playing tickets, so this is like a legal name change. I am legally, officially, Lord Matt Walsh. Lord, bestselling children's author, Matt Walsh. Established Titles is having a great limited time sale. So go to Establishtitles.com slash Matt Walsh to save 10% off today. Remember to use the discount code, Matt Walsh, or just

click the link below. That's Establisheditles.com slash Matt Walsh, or just click the link below. Well, as always, and I've listened to that song so many times. I mean, every day I listen Takashi 6-9, but it gets to me every single time. Truly a work of art and beautiful. Maybe not, maybe, maybe still though, pales a comparison a little bit to this masterpiece by NBA Youngboy. Well, I thought it was time to do another review of a popular rap song, a real banger, you might even say. And this one just dropped. It's, it's that new shit. It's NBA Young Boy Around. I'm not actually sure where the rapper's name begins and ends here. but we'll just call him Young Boy for short in any case.

And I have to say I'm a little worried that he's taken a stage name that sort of puts a time limit on things. He can't be 46 years old and still called Young Boy. It's kind of like I was worried back in the 90s when Lil Wayne first came on the scene that if he has a growth spurt, you'd have to change the name. Fortunately, he never did. So that kind of worked out. Anyway, let's get to the song. This is NBA Young Boy Around, and let's watch it together. Okay, just quickly just got to stop it here.

I have to say, and listen, I fully, fully admit and accept that young boy is way cooler than me. Orders of magnitude, you know. But I just, I wonder about this dance move. He's doing this. What does this mean? This means nothing. And this is a, and there's no way that this is okay. You can't go to the club and do this.

I've never been to a club. But I'm pretty sure if I'm at the club doing this, I'd get shot. That's the assumption I make. And so I'm concerned now. I'm concerned about young boy. He looks like a large flightless bird or an escape mental patient. And I'm concerned that young boy will keep dancing like this and no one will tell him to stop. And so I'm worried about him now.

That's the feeling that I have. But let's get back to the song. Okay, I got to stop. again. I'm sorry to keep focusing on these kinds of details, but if we can look at the freeze frame here, I'm confused a little bit about what's going on here. You've got young boy in his garage with a nice car. Okay, I get that. And if I had a car like that, I'd spend a lot of time in my garage too. No question. And he's in a swing. All right. He put up a swing in his garage. No problem there. It's a little weird, but fine. But what's happening with the couch?

in the back. It looks like an all white couch that someone's scribbled all over. It looks like my couch is at home, honestly. I have four kids, and we actually bought a white couch for some reason, and that's what my kids do to couches. So have my kids been hanging out with young boy? That's what I'm wondering now. If so, that's a problem, because I've told them that they cannot chill in a rapper's crib and smoke blunts until they're at least 12 or 13. That's, that's, I don't know how many times I've given that speech. Anyway, let's get back to, let's really get to the meat of this song. I want to hear what young boy wants to tell me. So I'm going to stop focusing on the frivolous details. Let's listen to the message now.

I go to start these fucking games. Strap inside my jerky. You can when they cashie. I just let the top down show them these messes. I pull up on fritzis and I look like a manny. Don't inside my car got me so dumb that I might need a nanny. This is where a young boy is bringing to the surface many of his deepest fears and hopes, anxieties, exposing his very soul to the world, exposing so many other things, especially with his pants pulled down that far. So listen to what he says here.

A, check out my fashion, strapped inside my jacket. I just said a prayer for bad bad, say, let's go get active. geek in when they cash in, I just let the top down. Show them the shit massive. I pull up fresh as a I look like a manic. Dope inside my coat got me so dumb that I might need a nanny. Let's focus on just those last two lines again. Because he says, I pull up fresh as a s a s a s'

I look like a manic. Dope inside my coat got me so dumb that I might need a nanny. So there's something almost Freudian going on here, I feel like. I can tell that young boy has been studying some of the early 20th century psychoanalysts applying their insights to his own life. Here he is yearning for the maternal. He says, I need a nanny. I need a mother figure, a caretaker.

This world's a great burden for me. I feel out of place, vulnerable. Yeah, at the same time, he realizes that he's fresh. You know, he's even fresh as... And this is his recognition of his own innocence. And this is really fascinating. Young boy here is exploring the great tension of youth. That is, the young will...

cling to their innocence, to their childhood, well, at the same time desiring the very freedom and independence that will lead ultimately to their corruption. And notice the insecurity, too, because he says, dope inside my coat. So what is he saying? He feels like a dope when he wears his coat. Maybe it's a few sizes too big. He doesn't think it looks good, is what he's trying to say. And these are the concerns of youth, childlike concerns. And maybe that's what the swing is all about because the swing and the car. So you see the disparity between the desires of youth for validity and play represented by the swing against the desires of adulthood, materialism, greed, represented by the car. And behind him, yes, behind him is the couch covered in scribbles.

And this represents confusion. It's his internal struggle. The war between the two competing psychological forces is just stunning. I mean, this is absolutely stunning. You know, I don't know why we have to take these two great artists who create musical masterpieces and put them up against each other. I don't know why we can't just enjoy them. But if we have to name a winner, then I think with all due respect to Takashi 69, who is owed nothing but respect, of course, and is not only a great artist, but truly a gentleman and a scholar. But even so, I think NBA young boy is the greatest musical genius of them all, I would say.