Two things comes up in pretty much every review of Fish Tank, a British film about a troubled fifteen year old girl into “urban dance” and nothing much else (that is, until her mom’s new boyfriend shows up): The apparently stellar performance from “non-actor” Kate Jarvis and the use of Nas’ “Life’s a Bitch” in a poignant scene between mom and daughter.
Whenever rap finds its way into a movie and it’s not as either source music or for a cheap laugh, it’s something of note, but what’s so cool about Fish Tank is how its given a bunch of film critics the chance to riff on the Nas classic. It’s a crucial part of the movie, so it’s sent critics previously unaware of the song to IMDB to figure out what it is and for most, a chance to throw in a sliver of rap criticism into their movie review. Unfortunately, most are misreading the song. Dana Stevens of Slate called it “unremittingly depressing”–AZ’s hook maybe, the song itself, not so much.
The biggest offender though, is Armond White, who lines-up the perceived phoniness of Fish Tank with Nas’ own “baby brother impudence”. Like most of White’s writing in um, the past ten years, his point is brave and valid (let’s reconsider Nas’ talents), he’s just building it all on a base that’s flimsy at best. Stevens’ descriptions and the many like it can be partially excused by the simplicity word counts often demand, but White’s just completely wrong.
The best explanation of the song, in connection with Fish Tank at least, comes from, of all places, Thinking Faith (the online journal for British Jesuits). Aaron Kilkenny-Fletcher begins his review with a quote from AZ’s verse and quotes the hook later, but is quick to explain that, “Life’s a Bitch” is, “in spite of [the hook], a song of hope and of escape.” Exactly.
“Life’s a Bitch” though, isn’t even that hard to “get” which makes all the misreading all the more frustrating. If there’s a common strain in the “Nas kinda sucks” revisionism that’s been wandering around in the past bunch of years, it’s fueled by the relative simplicity–and therefore, perceived insincerity–of his work. That doesn’t make Nas a bad rapper or Illmatic any less of a classic, but there’s a “teachability” to Nas’ work, that you know, would lend it to short-hand poignance in art films or a pretty mindless book if you peeped that Dyson disaster Born to Use Mics.
There’s still plenty of room for complexity in something teachable, and a lot of the power of “Life’s a Bitch” comes out of its adherence to structure. Really, “Life’s a Bitch” hinges on structure. It’s a song built on pieces that complement and contradict one another. AZ’s verse and hook are apparently all that many people hear–really, just the hook–and it’s easy to see the song as “cynical” or “unremittingly depressing” through that lunkheaded lens, but that ignores the shifting context of that hook, Nas’ entire verse, and the joyful coda that is Olu Dara’s horn solo.
Really though, AZ’s verse isn’t even conventionally “depressing”, it’s beyond “fuck the world” and all that. His verse is not only a celebration of making money, but a quick mini-history lesson on why that’s all he believes in (“we were beginners in the hood as Five Percenters/But something must’ve got in us ’cause all of us turned to sinners”) and a clear acknowledgment that indeed, it’s a fruitless exercise: “As long as we leavin’ thievin’ we’ll be leavin’ with some kind of dough”. The depressing part isn’t that he desires money but that he knows exactly why he does what he does and has no interest in doing different.
AZ’s verse and hook though, are viewed as the contrast or set-up to Nas’ significantly more “hopeful” verse, but that’s too simple too. There’s the same amount of vibrancy and intelligence at work in AZ’s verse as Nas’, it’s just being employed for a different end. Both verses sound good and are perfectly put together pieces of rapping. They are equally persuasive in terms style–they sound awesome but Nas’ verse could not exist without AZ’s–this is literally true if you read the XXL making of piece–because it’s through AZ’s acknowledgement of just how fucked things are, that Nas can come to his 20th birthday epiphany. That oft-quoted, “That buck that bought a bottle could’ve struck the lotto” comes from a guy who’s spent a lot of bucks on bottles, you know?
When the hook returns after Nas’ verse–again, all about structure here and how structure highlights meaning–it’s nearly “ironic” because Nas has just rejected it or at least, found a way to not believe that “life’s a bitch and then you die”. This is the inverse of most songwriting wherein the “happy” chorus is undermined by the verses or a sad chorus is sung happily–there’s a real give and take going on here. Then it’s punctuated by Olu Dara’s horn solo which is happy, but hardly glorious.
And “hardly glorious” is precisely the kind of minor victory joy director Andrea Arnold’s at least trying to employ in Fish Tank: That good-bad, good enough, tension of the song transported into her film. Not sure where it falls in the white people/black music poignance meter–The Big Chill and Motown as a “1″, Schooly D in the Bad Lieutenant as a “10″–but there’s an attempt to wisely engage with the song’s tensions, which is more than what a lot of critics are doing.
further reading/viewing:
-”Automatic Pity for the People” by Armond White of New York Press
-Fish Tank by Dana Stevens for Slate
-Fish Tank by Aaron Kilkenny-Fletcher for Thinking Faith
-XXL’s Making of Illmatic
-”Deconstructing Illmatic” by Dan Love for Oh Word
Are You A Serious Comic Book Reader?
Did you ever see that abortion of a film called 'The Wackness'? I almost finished it but the cringe-inducing scene when Ben Kingsley is quoting 'The What' while doing that gun pointing motion with his hand made me almost unplug my dvd player and go outside. Almost.
Also, welcome back from your absence.
dronkmunk
19 Jan 10 at 11:15 pm
didnt you write a whole essay about the wackness?
earleybird
20 Jan 10 at 4:36 am
Most critics who don't follow the music always miss the point, and this is another example. As you put it, 'Life's A Bitch' really isn't as depressing as its title and hook would suggest. And with you breaking the song down in the way you have, it makes that ewven more obvious that the point of it was completely missed by the critics- who, in fairness, have probably never heard it before.
Sidenote- I still don't know how to feel about 'The Wackness'… it's definitely, ahem, wack in many ways. Still, I can appreciate the attempt to feature music of that time period in the way they did.
-D!
danjlovesthe90s
21 Jan 10 at 7:53 am
I liked this article and the point you made. People really don't listen to what the lyrics and the lyrcists are truly saying. They assume too much. It is this rampant misunderstanding of Hip Hop music why it is so important that we include this genre, this art form as a part of African American Studies in higher education. My name is Charles G. Smith III, I am a grad student at Buffalo State College's English dept and I will be presenting my paper on the society that bred hip hop at the Northeastern MLA conference in Montreal Quebec this April. Visit nemla.com, come support that cause. We will be offering close readings of lyrics, for example my essay will examine the lyrics of Nas, Eminem and Tupac under the above mentioned topic. Keep a look out for nyckelcity.com as well. Peace yall.
Charles G. Smith III
25 Jan 10 at 1:48 am
Wow, even grad students are internet spammers these days. Fuck your MLA conference buddy, the internet is full of close readings like this…
brandon
25 Jan 10 at 1:54 am
Wow Brandon, you're a bit of an idiot aren't you? Move on fool, move on. Every Brandon, I have ever met was a damn fool. Good job living up to your name.
Charles G. Smith III
26 Jan 10 at 4:06 am
Charles-
Okay? You sure were into my post before I called you out on your shit. Seriously, don't come around and pimp your smart guy rap close-readings like you're actively interested in anything going on here or anywhere else….if you read this blog, you'd have known that this is the response you'd get for pushing your shit. Fuck outta here…
brandon
26 Jan 10 at 6:34 pm
Look fool, yeah I liked the article. And so what if I mentioned an international scholarly conference at which I am attending? Because of that you come at me like that? I was pleasantly surprised to discover this site and had a nice experience until you opened your "mouth". I've been in the rap biz since I was 16 working with Wu, Cold Chillin records, Warner Bros and more. So sorry I wanted to promote Hip Hop validity in this world and in academe. Sorry that I was trying to let people know that there are those trying to bring Hip Hop's message tot he forefront. But you really don't have to act like a punk about it. I hate it when people try to act tough online.
Charles G. Smith III
26 Jan 10 at 8:29 pm
By the way, no the Internet is not full of close readings like these.
Charles G. Smith III
26 Jan 10 at 8:31 pm
30+ still trying to prove you're smart with degrees and presentations?
CMON SON!
merkyl
27 Jan 10 at 1:49 am
I think it's funny. I am a new reader here, I found this site through XXL's list and liked what I read. But because I mentioned a conference, trying to real Hip Hop heads to support the movement to trat the music and culture with the respect it deserves, I get two people acting the fool about it. Odd ain't it? We don't get paid for these conferences, we do it for the love. I didn't ask for money only for your support. To get yall to come out but I forgot about the crabs out there. I see that only Mr. Soderberg is the only person whose voice is allowed to be heard. Well this site will now melt back into obscurity, where I found it.
Charles
27 Jan 10 at 3:16 am
Charles-
It's just in poor taste to come off advertising what you're doing. People will clown you for that.
brandon
27 Jan 10 at 3:20 am
merkyl: don't be jealous since I can get my degrees while you want to play Xbox and whatnot.
I lived the real life and turned it around, are you stuck in yours?
Charles
27 Jan 10 at 3:24 am
Charles-
Fall back, really. Ingratiate yourself into conversation here, or just go away. You look real silly at this point.
Whatever merkyl's doing, he/she isn't rapid-responding to comments on a rap blog.
brandon
27 Jan 10 at 3:37 am
Yall niggas up look the fucking fool not Charles. This site has lost it’s flava and I won’t be coming back. All he did was try to enlighten ppl to shit going on. If rap was actually becoming important to academia, then they would discuss it more in classes not just Romeo and Juliet and whatnot. Yall act like bitches up here instead of brothas so fuck yall.
Ace Capone
30 Jul 10 at 7:07 pm
Nice write up Brandon. All I will say is armond has written about hip hop intelligently since the 80s so I don’t think he heard “lifes a bitch” the first time on this movie. I have seen him reference Nas before and basically he is not a fan. He would not have come to that conclusion unless he has listened closely to song and album. He just don’t buy the Nas hype and all art is open to interpretation and he interpretes the song as cynical.
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Roy
21 Jul 12 at 1:20 pm