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April 23, 2007 6:33 PM

A graphical dissertationof Mims' "This Is Why I'm Hot". Consider the reasoning, first, of just "I'm hot 'cause I'm fly": Mims is hot because he's fly. But it raises the question: Does being hot guarantee one's being fly? "You ain't 'cause you not" would seem to clear that up: It would appear that fly and hot are interchangable. If you are one, you are both; if you aren't at least one, you are neither.
posted by four panels (33 comments total)

Ironically, he looks cold.

Good stuff.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 6:47 PM on April 23, 2007

LOLEBONICS

That said, Venn diagrams are hot like Venn diagrams.
posted by DU at 6:51 PM on April 23, 2007

I keep singing this song when the electricians are in the houses I'm working on.

Sure enough, every 15 minutes, it comes on.
posted by Balisong at 6:54 PM on April 23, 2007

I'm hot 'cause I'm fly,
You 'aint 'cause you're not.
This is why,
This is why'
This is why I'm hot.

Catchy as all hell.
Not really inspired lyrics.
posted by Balisong at 6:57 PM on April 23, 2007

An actual dissertation on Avril Lavigne's Sk8er Boi.
posted by cillit bang at 7:01 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Abstract please?
Don't want to go blind.
posted by Dizzy at 7:06 PM on April 23, 2007

OK, so I just listened to the song. Actually, just about 10 seconds of it. That is one dumbass song and it fully deserves the [NOT RACIST] savaging this article gives it.

Also, "Mims" is a stupid name for a rapper. But I'm probably biased, since a) I'm aware of the ultra-nerd Forrest Mims and b) my tiny, white, fuss-budgety mother-in-law is nicknamed "Mim".
posted by DU at 7:07 PM on April 23, 2007

OK, I know this is my third post to this thread, but I'm flagging it as Uberlame post 'cause I'm not.
posted by Balisong at 7:09 PM on April 23, 2007

god bless people with tenure.

our lives are much richer because of them
posted by timsteil at 7:11 PM on April 23, 2007

HI I'M THE VILLAGE VOICE AND I COULD OVERTHINK A PLATE OF BEANS.
posted by rkent at 7:23 PM on April 23, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

The whole article is good, but the last sentence is where he tells you the whole point (why the song is hot):

"Mere mortals are hot like other people or things; having ascended to a higher plane, Mims is hot like Mims. It doesn't get hotter than that."

i enjoyed this article as much as i like this song because, i could somehow feel that the point of the song was about being transcendent, that feeling amused me, but i couldn't articulate it. so thanks for posting this.
posted by amethysts at 7:46 PM on April 23, 2007

“‘I'm hot 'cause I'm fly’: Mims is hot because he's fly. But it raises the question: Does being hot guarantee one's being fly?”

If because means something like “is the causal result of” then being fly is not just a necessary cause, but is a sufficient cause of the state of being hot. In this case, being hot guarantees being fly.

“‘You ain't 'cause you not’ would seem to clear that up: It would appear that fly and hot are interchangeable. If you are one, you are both; if you aren't at least one, you are neither.”

Similarly, using this working definition of because, and assuming the parallelism of the verse intends the full formulation “You are not hot because you are not fly”, then being not fly is sufficient cause for being not hot. Therefore being fly is both a necessary and a sufficient cause of being hot. You cannot be hot without being fly. You also cannot be fly without being hot because being fly alone is sufficient cause for being hot. As the author says: if you are one, you are both. Being hot is therefore sufficient cause to be fly. You cannot be one without the other.

All of this strict parsing, with or without diagrammatical aid, is contrary to the native language parsing of the verse which does not imply that “fly and hot are interchangeable”. Fly and hot are clearly distinct—though related—concepts. Mims’s verse has much less meaning if it’s a tautology built around the equivalence of hot and fly. The problem, then, is this strict interpretation of the word because as implying sufficient cause.

In common native use, because can imply either a sufficiently or a necessary causal relationship. In this verse, Mims intends I'm hot 'cause I'm fly to describe a necessary casual relationship but not a sufficient causal relationship of flyness to hotness. Specifically, Mims is berating the flyless as being not hot because they lack this necessary quality—though they may have other qualities which are necessary to hotness.

The moral of this story is that analytical philosophy which parses common language usage is a lame attempt to be clever when it is as fluent in common usage as the flyless are hot. An alternate moral is that the Village Voice are a bunch of wankers.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 7:49 PM on April 23, 2007 [2 favorites has favorites]

What?
posted by Dizzy at 7:54 PM on April 23, 2007

Methinks the author owes a shoutout to Indexed. (Previously mentioned here and here.)
posted by twsf at 7:59 PM on April 23, 2007

...it raises the question: Does being hot guarantee one's being fly? "You ain't 'cause you not" would seem to clear that up: It would appear that fly and hot are interchangable. If you are one, you are both; if you aren't at least one, you are neither.

It all depends. Where is he in regards to the forces of Cumulative Advantage?
posted by ericb at 8:10 PM on April 23, 2007

“What?”

Exactly.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 8:13 PM on April 23, 2007

Mims is hot because he's fly...

It depends on what the meaning of the word is is.
posted by mmrtnt at 8:38 PM on April 23, 2007

Ethereal Bligh, you sound like my Introduction to Logic lecturer <3
posted by a. at 9:38 PM on April 23, 2007

Christ. I thought Forrest Mims had a singing career.
posted by unmake at 9:40 PM on April 23, 2007

DU, reread the article. It's not at all "savaging" the song.

And 'Mims' is the last name of the rapper, Sean Mims.
posted by Espy Gillespie at 9:50 PM on April 23, 2007

The best thing about this song is that it spawned an hilarious Duke diss during the NCAA Tournament.
posted by kosem at 10:04 PM on April 23, 2007

I'd like to think he's named after South Mimms motorway service area.
posted by cillit bang at 10:35 PM on April 23, 2007

My parody so far:


This is why I'm hot (x3)

I have cubic zirconia in my rotten brown teeth
when they crumble out I'll shit grit for a week

This is why I'm hot (x3)

I have 18 kids by as many baby mamas
I can't bother to pay for their pajamas

This is why I'm hot (x3)

I never use a rubber when I shoot my jizz
I have tertiary syphilis
posted by brujita at 10:39 PM on April 23, 2007 [2 favorites has favorites]

Like DU and unmake, I was disappointed that this was not about Forrest Mims III. Who would be hot because he was not adequately heatsinked and his R_θ was too large.
posted by hattifattener at 10:49 PM on April 23, 2007

Too bad Steve Allen isn't around to give us HIS take.
posted by keys at 11:43 PM on April 23, 2007

I did read the article. It's an hilarious sendup of what seemed like (I only listened to a snippet) a vapid, self-aggrandizing song. And "it's my real name" isn't much of a defense of a lame rapper handle.
posted by DU at 4:21 AM on April 24, 2007

I'm just saying, the rhyming of jizz and syphilis is actually pretty inspired. Nice work, brujita.
posted by hank_14 at 6:12 AM on April 24, 2007

And "it's my real name" isn't much of a defense of a lame rapper handle.

He also says it stands for "Music is My Savior."

I only know this because I saw his video and thought he was wearing a shirt featuring the mascot of the local minor league hockey team. I was wrong.
posted by drezdn at 6:21 AM on April 24, 2007

Mims is a lame handle. It sounds like somebody's British auntie.
posted by jonmc at 6:26 AM on April 24, 2007

You're all just mad cause he's stylin on you.
posted by SweetJesus at 9:27 AM on April 24, 2007

There is a spreadsheet linked in this blog post which may supplement your enjoyment of the song. I thought it was funny.
posted by peep at 10:01 AM on April 24, 2007

Slight nitpick with the article, and in defense of Mims: he does change the beat when he talks about the Bay.
posted by rush at 10:39 AM on April 24, 2007

First of all, no one calls it "Frisco" except rhyme-starved rappers, and the only worthwhile MCs living anywhere near Sacramento are in prison.

Yeah, y'all keep thinking that.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 1:53 PM on April 24, 2007