Overthinking a Plate of "Summertime"
August 30, 2018 10:47 AM   Subscribe

Actually, now that I think about it, forget everything I just wrote. “Summertime” is perfect and unassailable. I Know It’s Been 27 Years, but I Have Some Notes on DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince’s “Summertime” by John Gonzalez [SLTR]
posted by chavenet (23 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
The problem I have with this is that - unlike the similar overthinking of "It Was A Good Day" - Summertime never says this is all in one day. Seems more like this is just the kind of stuff one does in the summer.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:03 AM on August 30, 2018 [4 favorites]


Man, I really do not know a better summer song... I honestly wish it were longer.
posted by Twinge at 11:11 AM on August 30, 2018 [3 favorites]


I don't remember this song from when it came out. First I heard of it was from Rolling Stone's Best Summer Songs of All Time (#9), today, about an hour before this was posted.
Nice though.
posted by MtDewd at 11:19 AM on August 30, 2018


unlike the similar overthinking of "It Was A Good Day

Ice Cube certainly has a busy itinerary in this song, I agree, but he may just be good at time management. For example, we don't know if he is receiving a call from a girl he wants to dig out while simultaneously enjoying an (ostensibly) nutritious breakfast prepared with no hog. We see him later calling up his homies to see where they are playing basketball. He plays basketball, then hits the showers-let's assume that's a standard 48 minutes and round up to an hour for time outs, water, and getting beeps from Kim (who can fuck all night).

We also know he has a car (a drop-top with either dropped or non-dropped ass), and we also know he's making pretty good time, thanks to running intersections. He heads over to Short Dog's house to watch TV, which leaves him plenty of time to put a girl's ass to sleep and then watch the Lakers game later.

My only real complaint with the song is that he says "It's ironic,I had the brew, she had the chronic." This isn't irony, it's just fortunate.
posted by mike_honcho at 11:21 AM on August 30, 2018 [10 favorites]


"Summertime" is on MTV Party-to-Go Volume 2, which is one of the greatest albums of all time.

Also the premise of this article is awful.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:22 AM on August 30, 2018 [7 favorites]


Having grown up in Philly (north, not west) I still wish I knew where the Plateau was. Sometimes I'd pretend Fisher Park was "The Plateau".
posted by runcibleshaw at 11:23 AM on August 30, 2018


(It Was A Good Day, previously)
posted by Chrysostom at 11:24 AM on August 30, 2018


"Leanin’ to the side but you can’t speed through / Two miles an hour so everybody sees you" is the perfect encapsulation of car-crazy young men in a city neighborhood.
posted by Iris Gambol at 11:29 AM on August 30, 2018 [1 favorite]


Having grown up in Philly (north, not west) I still wish I knew where the Plateau was.

I had to look this up before, and here you go! A Place Called The Plateau Is Where Everybody Goes
posted by gladly at 11:29 AM on August 30, 2018 [4 favorites]


If he’s at Fairmount Park when he decides to go sneaker shopping, the closest mall would probably be The Gallery at 9th and Market.

Of course he goes to the Gallery Mall--it's the same one he goes to in 'Parents Just Don't Understand.'
posted by box at 11:38 AM on August 30, 2018 [6 favorites]


I had to look this up before, and here you go! A Place Called The Plateau Is Where Everybody Goes

Nice. I've actually been there and I didn't realize it!
posted by runcibleshaw at 11:40 AM on August 30, 2018 [1 favorite]


Here is my current benchmark for overthinking a song
get out of my cab
posted by thelonius at 12:00 PM on August 30, 2018 [3 favorites]


uncleozzy: "Summertime" is on MTV Party-to-Go Volume 2, which is one of the greatest albums of all time.

Whoa, I had never seen that track list before. Yea, verily, that's some good music for a hot day.
posted by wenestvedt at 12:34 PM on August 30, 2018 [2 favorites]


Every few verses is a different day. Also he bought the basketball shoes at 4:00pm for a game that will start at 8:00pm or later.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:42 PM on August 30, 2018


uncleozzy: "Summertime" is on MTV Party-to-Go Volume 2, which is one of the greatest albums of all time.

Whoa, I had never seen that track list before. Yea, verily, that's some good music for a hot day.


"The album was certified gold on August 19, 1992 and platinum on May 25, 1994 by the RIAA."

In other words, if you graduated high school in 1993 and started college the next fall, you are forgiven if this track list feel like every end of year party and every beginning of the year party and all summer parties in between for this time period.

(I realize this might be just me.,)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:12 PM on August 30, 2018 [3 favorites]


You were a freshman when I was a senior, so you heard this coming out of the cars of my peers. (Not my friends, though, who played like Joy Division and Husker Du on the school commute.)
posted by wenestvedt at 4:30 PM on August 30, 2018


As a 12 year old I loved this song and yearned for a summer like this. Didn't get one until I was 16 and had a car and a license. AC was shot so I rode around the entire summer with the windows down, which helped the car not smell like weed and Marlboro Reds.

Of course none of my mixtapes I kept in the Taurus had this song on it, because Fresh Prince was for little kids and parents. Ah, youth, wasted on the young.
posted by infinitewindow at 4:31 PM on August 30, 2018 [2 favorites]


I actually remember the summer this came out. I was visiting family on the east coast who actually had cable so for the first time in my young life I had access to MTV. I distinctly remember this song, Van Halen's FUCK, Slaughter, Bryan Adam's "Everything I Do", Slaughter, etc. This was the first time my musical tastes started to diverge from my dad's.

It's kind of odd that this song has a distinct place in my journey to adulthood, but there it is.

There's also a moment at about 3:15 of the video that I remember being one of the most scandalous things I'd seen on TV to that point, since all I'd ever been exposed to was network TV. It's nothing by today's standards, but for a 12 year old in 1991...it awakened certain feelings.
posted by mikesch at 4:50 PM on August 30, 2018


Joy Division and "Summertime" each have their place.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:20 PM on August 30, 2018 [4 favorites]



Joy Division and "Summertime" each have their place.


Correct. My freshman dorm.
posted by thivaia at 10:12 PM on August 30, 2018 [3 favorites]


Yeah, this article is going for a "Good Day" level of virality, but A) he waxed the car yesterday 2) he wipes the car down with his uncles anem while they are all sitting in the driveway talking about cars and III) he's not necessarily playing basketball today. The real timeline:

Noon - 1: Ridin' around
1 - 2: Plateau
2 - 4: Mall (for sneaks and a short set)
4 - 4:30: Back home to change (waterplug on the way)
4:30 - 6: Family renunion
6 - Whenever: Hangout

That's a nice summer day.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:44 AM on August 31, 2018 [2 favorites]


If we're talking about season-related rap songs of the late 80s/early 90s, Biz Markie's “Spring Again” > Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince's “Summertime”.
posted by acb at 9:53 AM on August 31, 2018


My freshman dorm.

Every freshman dorm.
posted by chavenet at 10:55 AM on September 1, 2018 [1 favorite]


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