YOUR MOTHER'S GOT A PENIS!

January 6, 2005 11:15 AM

Goldie Lookin' Chain Not useful to Brits or American hipsters, but most of us might remain ignorant of this fantastic act. The GLC are a hiphop collective from Newport, Wales. Playing up their welsh ethnicity and offering selections like Your Mother's Got A Penis, they're definitely a novelty act. But they use great beats and hilarious themes, and most reviews have been positive. The Guardian, citing the anti-chav parody nature of the act, pans them partially for being classist.

But I find it hard to dislike a group that can release a single about a cyborg sent on a mission the corner store to buy ten cigarettes. Some of the material is NSFW. Some videos are available at the main link.
posted by Mayor Curley (27 comments total)

I know that GLC is old news to a bunch of you, but some of us don't live in the right places and aren't cool.
posted by Mayor Curley at 11:19 AM on January 6, 2005

Superb group.

Have they attacked anywhere outside the UK, or are theymaking it on the net?
posted by twine42 at 11:22 AM on January 6, 2005

I've never heard of them, but I dig "Half Man Half Machine" so far.

Thanks, Mayor Curley.
posted by cmonkey at 11:22 AM on January 6, 2005

My favourite member is 'Two hats', cause he wears to hats. I don't why that never ceases to be funny to me.

I also dig that one member can't pronounce his 'R's, so he raps "Guns don't kill people, wappers do"
posted by isthisthingon at 11:45 AM on January 6, 2005

"You knows I loves you baby" is fantastic -

"I'm for real - it ain't no quirk
My love is lurking the way a rapist would lurk
In a bush, or a car park in town
I bought you this necklace
It cost me 12 pounds
From Argos, Elizabeth Duke
Maybe you're the skywalker to my luke
The Darth to the Vader
Flip Over the Crossfader
I'll serenade you with a bag of space raiders
Or walkers or smiths or maybe even quavers
'Cos my love for you is like drugs for ravers
With glowsticks and funny hats on
I loves you more than I loves my bong"

For bonus points go to Argos where you can find the delightful Elizabeth Duke jewellery range where you can use "chav" in the search engine to find a lovely Goldie Looking Chain.

Cha-ching!
posted by longbaugh at 11:45 AM on January 6, 2005

Ahhh, Two hats obviously wears two hats, not to hats.
posted by isthisthingon at 11:47 AM on January 6, 2005

To hats!

*drinks*
posted by soyjoy at 11:51 AM on January 6, 2005

Hey Mayor Curley, you're not allowed to knock your bad formatting, damnit, that makes it alot less fun to mock.

Hey, who let all the air out of my righteous bad formatting fury? Damn!
posted by fenriq at 11:58 AM on January 6, 2005

The album is superb, not my usual cup of tea, but still cool. Sampling Clapton's Behind The Mask on Your Mother's... is genius, as is the use of the Dallas theme on The Manifesto. My current favourite is Self Suicide (slightly NSFW) - bad taste, but appeals to my sense of humour.

I saw them on Channel 4's Popworld (site doesn't work on Moz/FF) doing You Knows I Loves You and was bemused to find that, as the programme is shown at 9.20am on Sunday mornings, they bleeped the word 'bollocks' but deemed the phrase 'my love is waiting like a rapist would lurk in a bush' as completely acceptable.
posted by TheDonF at 12:06 PM on January 6, 2005

Thank you
posted by jeffmik at 12:18 PM on January 6, 2005

They look interesting, but I can't find any audio links. I'll wait 'til I get home and have more time.
posted by Juicylicious at 12:26 PM on January 6, 2005

safe as fuck, man!
posted by triv at 3:02 PM on January 6, 2005

I find it a bit funny that the Guardian, which is after all the mouthpiece of the British chattering classes, is assaulting a group for being classist. Faux-shock never goes over well.

I mean, the chav cat is out of the bag, it's out there it's mainstream, hell, I even got a chav-themed email from Lastminute.Com today. Doesn't mean I'd say chav in front of a Burberry clad blingster, mind. Innit.
posted by LondonYank at 3:07 PM on January 6, 2005

Brilliant. The wife got me an iTMS gift certificate for xmas. The fact that I'll be buying this will bother her to no end.

And the fact that they namecheck one of my favourite bands, Super Furry Animals, is icing on the cake.
posted by hamfisted at 3:13 PM on January 6, 2005

GLC are a half-assed professional effort in comparison to both Cassette Boy (part of the Spymania crew; check this page to read all about their pet fish, Hardcore; out of date now, but download their Christmas album here) and MC Pitman, or, for that matter, DJ Rubbish. All of whom have elements in common with GLC, but never kid themselves into thinking that they're a proper band, which is the reason that GLC fall down. That said, the fact that they have a member called Adam Hussein gets them extra credit.
posted by Len at 4:05 PM on January 6, 2005

Chill out, tossers, you've got hands like a fuckin' hobbit, ya freak [mp3]
posted by Len at 4:11 PM on January 6, 2005

Pitman is a god amongst men. More rappers should bring a thermos of tea onstage with them.
posted by flashboy at 5:49 PM on January 6, 2005

Ah Pitman! That's the other Welsh rapper I was trying to think of, Mayor. I'd like his label (assuming it exists) to get him on tour with Ja Rule or some other crap US rapper. And then film a tour doc.
posted by yerfatma at 6:38 PM on January 6, 2005

My pal met them in a bar not long ago, and says they are top. Either they are chavs (neds as we Scots called em years before the English dreamt up a term) or are continually in character. I reckon they're just bams out for a laugh.

You knows it, clart.
posted by bonaldi at 7:09 PM on January 6, 2005

Pitman's from Yorkshire, not Wales. Just to clarify that. It's very important to some people...
posted by flashboy at 7:16 PM on January 6, 2005

Didn't Pitman just "retire" after he put out his 2nd album? I seem to recall reading something about it in TimeOut...
posted by LondonYank at 2:47 AM on January 7, 2005

But I find it hard to dislike a group that can release a single about a cyborg sent on a mission the corner store to buy ten cigarettes.

I find it fucking easy - sorry, but I just don't get 'em - I know they are very 'cool' at the moment, but it doesn't excuse the fact that they are shit.

Like Morris Minor and the Majors for 2004.

Utter shite.
posted by mattr at 2:59 AM on January 7, 2005

Since when was Coalville in Yorkshire?
posted by ninebelow at 4:15 AM on January 7, 2005

Fairly sure I read him saying in an interview that he's not actually from Coalville, he just works there sometimes. And I have a proudly patriotic Yorkshireman flatmate who claims Pitman as one of his own. But maybe I'm wrong. It's all Welsh to me, anyhow.
posted by flashboy at 4:39 AM on January 7, 2005

Your pop at The Graun ("citing the anti-chav parody nature of the act, pans them partially for being classist") isn't supported by the review you linked, which uses neither word ("chav" or "classist"). The comment about listener "prejudices" in its last sentence refers to "dismissive contempt for hip-hop", not classism. To me it reads like they're panning GLC for being unfunny and musically uninspired, not un-PC.
posted by rory at 6:24 AM on January 7, 2005

rory, you're right. I got it confused with a review that I had opened in another tab that I meant to include. So the "classist" charge is not from the Guardian. Sorry about that.
posted by Mayor Curley at 7:30 AM on January 7, 2005

Safe as f*ck, clart.
Newport reprazent.
posted by bhell13 at 9:52 AM on January 8, 2005