Foreal?

May 4, 2012 5:59 AM

Foreal?
posted by Jesse Hughson (64 comments total)

There may be people around these parts who do not find this to be the BOTW.
posted by allkindsoftime at 6:08 AM on May 4, 2012

Those people should put a lid on it.
posted by SharkParty at 6:09 AM on May 4, 2012 [9 favorites]

Okay that was hilarious, but holy shit these guys have the potential to be some great filmmakers. Those was some surprisingly skillful jump cuts in the beginning and then the video was a four-minute-long take.
posted by griphus at 6:10 AM on May 4, 2012 [7 favorites]

Yeah, I didn't think the subject matter was that funny, but these guys make a good video. Good screen presence, funny delivery, good timing and composition. Could go places.
posted by DU at 6:11 AM on May 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

I was entertained. That delivery is funny. Those guys are very, very good at what they do.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:12 AM on May 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

Like.
posted by 3.2.3 at 6:13 AM on May 4, 2012

I thought that was great.
posted by XMLicious at 6:19 AM on May 4, 2012

Talking with mouth full. Stupid stereotypes of women and men. Flagged as gross.
posted by cilantro at 6:24 AM on May 4, 2012 [4 favorites]

I laughed out loud at 5:15 - 5:20.
posted by Edogy at 6:26 AM on May 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

Talking with mouth full. Stupid stereotypes of women and men. Flagged as gross.

The beginning part is just an intro skit for the actual music video that starts at 1:48. The actual video is pretty fun and clever, so if you don't like the intro you might just want to skip ahead.
posted by burnmp3s at 6:28 AM on May 4, 2012

I did watch the whole thing, the stereotypes did indeed continue to be stupid. And the driver also uncapped and sniffed a pregnancy test. Gross.
posted by cilantro at 6:29 AM on May 4, 2012 [3 favorites]

Though I'm not the target audience for this one I found it to be well done and entertaining. Now, if you'll excuse me, would you mind... the grass, you're stepping on it.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 6:30 AM on May 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

Flagged as gross.

That's a thing?
posted by bondcliff at 6:32 AM on May 4, 2012

Erm... it was a joke? I do find the video gross for many reasons, but I didn't ACTUALLY flag it.
posted by cilantro at 6:34 AM on May 4, 2012

Talking with mouth full. Stupid stereotypes of women and men.

...the driver also uncapped and sniffed a pregnancy test.

Heh heh. I remember about, oh, 20 years ago, I was talking to my buddy Don Byron, a clarinet player who some of you may have heard/heard of. We were talking about some hip hop tune, can't remember the exact one or by whom, but it was, like Asking All Them Questions, sort of... low. Some dumb stereotype or some such, but also, like this one, very funny. And Don said, "you know, some things are just so low, you gotta chuckle."

Totally applies here.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:37 AM on May 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

Good beans.
posted by Glomar response at 6:42 AM on May 4, 2012

Stupid stereotypes of women and men.

The stereotype portrayed of a paranoid, manipulative person in a relationship doesn't seem like a gender-specific thing to me, though a man doing the same thing would be obviously abusive and not displayed in a lighthearted fashion.

That said, they could be sexists and trying to portray all women as this way - I haven't looked at their other stuff yet. I don't think that all women are this way, it's just that exactly one person I dated was just like this, bizarrely and completely different from all the other women I'd dated, and video captures the behavior to a T so it clicks for me.
posted by XMLicious at 6:44 AM on May 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm here to say that Emmanuel (the guy with dreads) has surely got the most expressively comedic facial expressions in all of hip hop. And I'm thinking "why is this guy not HUGE?" And then I'm like "Oh, wait. He IS huge. Like, twenty six million views huge.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:45 AM on May 4, 2012 [3 favorites]

I'm here to say that Emmanuel (the guy with dreads) has surely got the most expressively comedic facial expressions in all of hip hop.

Agreed, I thought he was fantastic. He makes Jim Carrey look like an amateur.
posted by Deathalicious at 6:55 AM on May 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

Emmanuel's comedic skill shines on this one: I'm Broke. Fun. Nee.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:55 AM on May 4, 2012

Freal.
posted by Tube at 6:56 AM on May 4, 2012

The funny part is where they eat Pizza from Pizza Hut!
posted by srboisvert at 6:59 AM on May 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

Too irritating, had to turn it off before the angries overflowed.
posted by hellslinger at 7:09 AM on May 4, 2012

I made it about 20 seconds. Who cares if they are potentially great film makers if the subject is not funny and they're talking around a mouthful of pizza?

Do not want.
posted by Uncle Grumpy at 7:24 AM on May 4, 2012

Man I didn't really think I had that much stronger of a stomach than a lot of MeFi'ers but it's no trouble at all for me to deal with a minute of talking-through-food-in-the-mouth and a second where a dude sniffs a (guess what! probably unused!) pregnancy test.

Anyway I liked it.
posted by six-or-six-thirty at 7:31 AM on May 4, 2012

That was pretty great, and I completely lost it at 5m13s when the dude in the backseat finally popped up.
posted by barnacles at 7:32 AM on May 4, 2012 [5 favorites]

Uncle Grumpy: "I made it about 20 seconds. Who cares if they are potentially great film makers if the subject is not funny and they're talking around a mouthful of pizza?"

Pffft. No wonder you like it. You're askin' all them questions!
posted by barnacles at 7:35 AM on May 4, 2012

Uncle Grumpy: "... and they're talking around a mouthful of pizza?

Though this is as good a place as any to point out: talking with a mouth full of food isn't something that's unique to this YouTube video. If you watch almost any amount of film from about the last 25 years, you'll notice that during most scenes when people are eating -- and especially if the character is working class -- the actors playing those characters will talk and eat with their mouth full. I can't quite decide whether it's because the filmmakers want us to think poorly of the characters because they eat with their mouths open and chomp chomp chomp loudly, or it's because the filmmakers want us to be really aware that the character is eating. All in all, I lean towards the latter.

Once you start seeing it, you'll see it everywhere. It's like the Teal-and-Orange color scheme: everywhere

If you're a director, fucking stop it already, okay? Or maybe it's just something yall do in SoCal. I dunno, but up in Alameda County at least I know it's not any more common than usual. I almost want to start a blog called "MediaWhereCharactersEatLoudlySoTheDirectorCanLazilyEmphasizeThatTheyreEating.tumblr.com", except I know it's not a very good topic to score a book deal.

Oh, and this happens in TV too. Especially too.
posted by barnacles at 7:42 AM on May 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yeah, sexist bullshit isn't redeemed by gurning and decent production, for me.
posted by Decani at 7:45 AM on May 4, 2012

Perhaps these fellas should try posting an AskMe instead...
posted by obscurator at 7:53 AM on May 4, 2012

I'm here to say that Emmanuel (the guy with dreads) has surely got the most expressively comedic facial expressions in all of hip hop.

No kidding; he looks like he's half human, half 90's CGI.
posted by painquale at 7:55 AM on May 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

Singing with mouth full, it is not good.
posted by mippy at 8:04 AM on May 4, 2012

This thread once again proves that some MeFites don't have the greatest sense of humor.
posted by ReeMonster at 8:04 AM on May 4, 2012 [3 favorites]

I hadda laugh.
posted by mule98J at 8:10 AM on May 4, 2012

This thread once again proves that some MeFites don't have the greatest sense of humor.

Yes, forgive me for not being amused by the latest version of the overplayed, offensive stereotype of women (I think, specifically in this case, Black women) as unreasonable, jealous, manipulative, catty, and unintelligent. The video linked by flapjax, in which our hero imitates a woman denigrating another woman's appearance out of jealousy, is truly brilliant and brave.
posted by cilantro at 8:21 AM on May 4, 2012

...aaaand I now have the hook stuck in my head. Flagged.
posted by griphus at 8:32 AM on May 4, 2012

I notice that none of the people who are complaining seem to have actually watched the video. The "overplayed, offensive stereotype of women" is parodied and turned around. It's making fun of the mindset and the stereotype.

And talking with their mouths full?? Forget that! Their pinkies aren't extended!
posted by cmoj at 8:37 AM on May 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

I liked this. But this is my kind of humor.
posted by ColdChef at 8:40 AM on May 4, 2012

I've watched three of their videos in full, thanks. Offensive, lazy, and about as funny as those films where Martin Lawrence wears a fat suit and old lady drag whilst farting.
posted by cilantro at 8:43 AM on May 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

I shouldn't be, but I'm surprised a lot of people don't recognize why this is so popular. The characters they play, the accents, all that stuff is the stereotypical black person. A lot of black people play that character as a joke between friends or relatives, but it is beyond played out as something to seriously do for consumption by the masses.

Glozell (who has been fpp'd before) does the same thing, and gets the same adoring reaction from the masses of people who don't seem to get that it is so funny to them because it is black folks not just residing squarely in the box they've been put in, but jumping up and down in it for the amusement of the folks who love seeing them in that box.

Bugged out eyes, neck snapping, ridiculous accent - all of it. If it looks like something that would air and do well on B.E.T., that disaster of a channel, you know it's problematic.
posted by cashman at 8:52 AM on May 4, 2012 [3 favorites]

Asking seriously - should black people clowning around look exactly like white people clowning around? And when Jon Stewart puts on affectations as he tells Jewish jokes, is that problematic?
posted by XMLicious at 9:16 AM on May 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

I thought that the second guy eating the first guy's pizza was a metaphor for involvement with his partner during a period of separation during a conflict....but then I realized it was just the intro to a funny music video. So I swapped my plate-o-beans for some popcorn an' now I am happier.
posted by wenestvedt at 9:17 AM on May 4, 2012

I prefer Riskay - Smell Yo Dick
posted by naju at 9:21 AM on May 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

Clearly it's a manipulative relationship. Probably abusive. They should read The Gift of Fear, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline, and then DTMFA.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 9:28 AM on May 4, 2012 [3 favorites]

That dude's facial contortions are phenomenal. Makes Jerry Lewis look like a botox victim. Well done.
posted by VicNebulous at 9:49 AM on May 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

Asking seriously - should black people clowning around look exactly like white people clowning around? And when Jon Stewart puts on affectations as he tells Jewish jokes, is that problematic?

If The whole of the Daily Show he was doing that accent - if it was basically The Daily Jewish Affectation Show, do you think it would be a problem? I do. If his whole thing was a schtick, and all he did was make exaggerated faces and accents, and that had been a problematic characterization in the past that had real life results - yes.
posted by cashman at 10:12 AM on May 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

If The whole of the Daily Show he was doing that accent - if it was basically The Daily Jewish Affectation Show, do you think it would be a problem?

In some episodes he does it pretty frequently, and it can be annoying when they're particularly "inside" jokes that require you to know some Yiddish word, but no I don't think it's a problem. If that were all the show was - like, if it was a Jewish Larry the Cable Guy stand-up act or something - it might have less of an audience I should think, but if it was an "insider" view of Jewish cultural tropes rather than an "outsider" one trying to assert stereotypes that seems okay to me.

Of course, not being Jewish myself I'd have to rely on others to make that distinction. I just wouldn't consider this kind of goofing around to be problematic, by default, solely because it's goofing around in a particularly Jewish or other particularly ethnic way.
posted by XMLicious at 11:14 AM on May 4, 2012

The beginning part is just an intro skit for the actual music video that starts at 1:48 . The actual video is pretty fun and clever, so if you don't like the intro you might just want to skip ahead.

Really? I thought the beginning part was just a bizarre commercial for Pizza Hut. But the rest of it was funny. And I will say I strangely enjoyed the bit where the first guy performs cunnelingus on a slice of pizza...groundbreaking.
posted by SixteenTons at 12:04 PM on May 4, 2012

We're at the dawn of a new era of marketing where every product will be advertised by an actor performing cunnilingus on it: pizzalingus, mascaralingus, iPadlingus, Dr.ShoeGuy'smassaginggelinsoleslingus...

By the way, these guys are now outlaws in Germany.
posted by XMLicious at 12:22 PM on May 4, 2012

That's got to be one of the best music videos I've seen. One long take, and pretty clever. Simple with great delivery.
posted by Catblack at 12:23 PM on May 4, 2012

Though this is as good a place as any to point out: talking with a mouth full of food isn't something that's unique to this YouTube video. If you watch almost any amount of film from about the last 25 years, you'll notice that during most scenes when people are eating

Actors filming repeated takes of a scene do not want to eat 20 pounds of whatever food the character is eating. They are likely holding the food in their mouths/cheeks and spitting it out between takes.
posted by dubold at 12:38 PM on May 4, 2012

Also need to point out that eating is a device that actors use for emphasis, focus, and to insert a natural pause. I'm too lazy to look it up but Brad Pitt does this in every movie he's in.

An apple, by the way, is the best food device for what I hope are somewhat obvious reasons (~crunch~ . . . pause), etc.
posted by eggman at 1:22 PM on May 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

This was freaking brilliant. Smart, funny and well made. Hell yeah, it's time for a favorite!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:29 PM on May 4, 2012

Loved it - nicely produced, also.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 4:01 PM on May 4, 2012

funny! great video. gross? balut is gross. this was funny.
posted by facetious at 4:05 PM on May 4, 2012

(being the OP), I actually didn't see the first couple minutes of the video, and didn't know about it until reading all your comments. My sister queued up the video for me and must've skipped the intro already knowing it was tasteless or boring or gross.
Ergo, I watched the video assuming it was a song about a specific situation.

By the way in the above comments I see a lot of:

Making Statements
aaaand
Assuming
...
Some of which I find a lot more offensive than sniffing prop pregnancy tests and sharing pizza.

I think I'll go watch the first 1:48 now and try not to throw up a little bit.
posted by Jesse Hughson at 8:16 PM on May 4, 2012

Okay now I get it. It was better without the intro, and also on a tiny smartphone screen.
posted by Jesse Hughson at 8:29 PM on May 4, 2012

First talking with mouths full, next, driving distracted, dropping consonants, near-rhyming... I fainted, reader. DEAD AWAY. FROM SHOCK.

That was fuckin' funny.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 8:46 PM on May 4, 2012

Haha! OP returns to kinda apologize for the post! That's funny too!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:01 AM on May 5, 2012

Women complaining about men and men complaining about women have been richly mined veins of inspiration probably since the first song ever sung in a cave thousands of years ago. I think this is just some knee-jerk reflex that "hip-hop is misogynistic" so therefore this video is misogynistic. I doubt if a Willie Nelson song or Bon Iver song was posted people would be complaining about misogyny.

Here we have a couple of guys relating their experiences in manipulative and untrusting relationships. That's not misogyny. Misogyny is -I just wanna fuck bitches and then kill them-

This is just traditional mainstream music. There is nothing offensive about it in the slightest.
posted by j03 at 5:35 AM on May 5, 2012

Women complaining about men and men complaining about women have been richly mined veins of inspiration probably since the first song ever sung in a cave thousands of years ago.

Caveman Blues

I brought my gal some sabertooth tiger meat
and she just turned up her nose
said I brought my gal some sabertooth tiger meat
and she just turned up her nose
gave her a brand new piece of fur
she said "I need some better clothes"

got our cave fixed up all nice
she said "this place is just a dump"
got our cave fixed up all nice
she said "this place is just a dump"
I try so hard, you know, to please her
she thinks I'm just a lazy chump
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:41 AM on May 5, 2012

Of course, not being Jewish myself I'd have to rely on others to make that distinction....

Would it hurt to learn a few Yiddish words?
posted by sneebler at 7:35 AM on May 5, 2012

Would it hurt to learn a few Yiddish words?

Everybody knows schmuck and schlemiel and schlep, right?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:53 AM on May 5, 2012

I know a few Yiddish words (though not all the ones I've heard on the Daily Show, and I had to look up schlemiel) but I wouldn't trust that this gives me the insight to always discern when they're being used to convey something Jewish culture genuinely finds funny from when they're being used to portray a problematic caricature of Jews.

I'm just saying that if someone (especially a person of the ethnicity in question) has a reasonable articulation of the distinction between ethnic humor and something that edges into minstrel show territory, I'll tend to rely on that over my own judgement. This is why I asked cashman whether black people clowning around would look like white people clowning around.
posted by XMLicious at 8:26 AM on May 5, 2012