This is one of my songs of the summer – Krept & Konan’s ‘Freak of the Week (feat. Jeremih)’:
The line “You last ten seconds, man, you’re a Snapchat…” got me thinking about the best tech references in hip hop.
It’s not a new topic by any means but rap music keeps moving forward and we’ve jumped from Biggie bigging up pagers and shouting out Sega to Skepta dropping bars about mobile OS multi-tasking (seriously).
With that in mind, I asked my colleagues and The Next Web’s Twitter followers for their favorite examples of tech name checks. Here they are with credit to the folk who flagged them up and explanations from Genius.
Warning
From this point on, the text and songs contain strong language, depictions of violence and a vicious flow.
Busta Rhymes gets Lloyd Banks spitting about the SNES
@brokenbottleboy 'your shit ain't never gonna pop like 10 gold chains, that's why your bitch blowin on me like Nintendo games' – lloyd banks
— matt northam ™ (@mattnortham) July 29, 2015
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That’s why your bitch blowin’ on me like Nintendo games
― Busta Rhymes (Ft. Fabolous & Lloyd Banks) – Fall Back
Biggie’s classic Super Nintendo/Sega Genesis reference
@brokenbottleboy B.I.G: "Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis…"
— KDP (@invervegas) July 29, 2015
Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis<br> When I was dead broke, man I couldn’t picture this
― The Notorious B.I.G. – Juicy
Nicki Minaj dismissing competitors like irritating Vine loops
@brokenbottleboy 'your time is ticking you bitches will be around shorter than Vine vids' http://t.co/ttl7hFBLAs
— Keira Gilleechi (@gilleechi) July 29, 2015
Your time is ticking, you bitches will be around shorter than Vine vids
― Nicki Minaj (Ft. Meek Mill) – Big Daddy
Method Man is old school with his fax machine mind
@brokenbottleboy method man "I'm on point, like a fax machine you get the message" http://t.co/WjkoWatOiB
— Stevie G (@StevieGrainger) July 29, 2015
I’m on point, like a fax machine you get the message
― Method Man (Ft. RZA & Y-Kim) – What the Blood Clot!?!
Going even more old school with LL Cool J
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yASHRetvQXg
@brokenbottleboy @thenextweb "I'm what's known as a true dynamiter,
I write rhymes fast without a typewriter" That's old school tech!— Danny Wilkins (@dannyjwilkins) July 29, 2015
Dynamiter
― LL Cool J – 1-900-LL Cool J
Eminem’s idea of mobile computing is predictably extreme
@brokenbottleboy "for me to rap like a computer must be in my genes
I got a laptop in my back pocket”@Eminem— Avner Meyrav (@Avner82) July 29, 2015
But for me to rap like a computer must be in my genes<br> I got a laptop in my back pocket
― Eminem – Rap God
And Busta and Em have their say about ‘internet bloggers’, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter…
A recommendation from my colleague Ben Woods
See how they Twitter, Facebook and Instagramming a email<br> Talking,
― Busta Rhymes (Ft. Eminem) – Calm Down
And here’s Skepta representing London and…um…iOS
I just double tap<br> Switch apps, ain’t nobody got time for that
― Skepta – Back Then
Last one – for now – Kanye still bigging up BlackBerry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPyKAmKxOAw
Damn your lips very soft<br>As I turn my Blackberry off<br>And I turn your bathwater on<br>And you turn off your iPhone
― Kanye West (Ft. Assassin & Justin Vernon) – I’m In It
Update, August 3, 2015:
Bugzy Malone is all about that Twitter verified status
That’s no secret, everybody on Twitter knows that<br>When will I get a blue tick?
― Bugzy Malone – Ready To Blow
…while Das Racist wonder if they’ll get Twitter obituaries
Tweet about it ― Das Racist (Ft. Anand Wilder) – Middle Of The Cake
See also references in this one to Rap Genius, Google and Urban Dictionary.
Meanwhile Jay Z was still talking pagers in 2000
I’m too cold, Motorola, two way page me, c’mon
― Jay Z (Ft. Juice & Pharrell Williams) – I Just Wanna Love U (Give it 2 Me)
I’m going to keep updating this list – it’s obviously not designed to be comprehensive, though – so send me your favorite hip hop tech references either via the comments or on Twitter to @TheNextWeb or @brokenbottleboy.
Still bored? Try this: 13 historical Lolcats you catch watch on YouTube (with shareable GIFs) Feat image credit: Champstiles
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