Why I Love Super Bass

"This one is for the boys with the boomin' system,
Top down, AC, with the coolin' system
When he come up in the club, he be blazin' up
Stacks on deck like he savin' up
And he ill, he real, he might got a deal
He pop bottles, and he got the right kind of build
He cold, he dope, he might sell coke
He always in the air, but he never fly coach
He a muthafuckin' trip, trip, sailor of the ship, ship
When he make it drip, drip kiss him on the lip, lip
That's the kind of dude I was lookin' fo'
And yes, you'll get slapped if you're lookin', ho
I said, "Excuse me, you're a hell of a guy
I mean my, my, my, my, you're like pelican fly
I mean, you're so shy, and I'm loving your tie
You're like slicker than the guy with the thing on his eye, oh!"

Yes, I did, yes, I did
Somebody please tell him who the eff I is
I am Nicki Minaj, I mack them dudes up
Back coupes up, and chuck the deuce up

Boy, you got my heart beat running away.
Beating like a drum and its coming your way.
Can't you hear that boom-ba-doom-boom-boom-ba-doom-boom-bass.
(He got that super bass!)
Boom-ba-doom-boom-boom-ba-doom-boom-bass.
(Yeah that's that super bass!)
Boom. Base. Boom. Base. Boom. Base. Yeah. Base.
Boom. Base. Boom. Base. Boom. Base. Yeah. Base.
Boom-ba-doom-boom-boom-ba-doom-boom-bass.
(He got that super bass!)
Boom-boom-ba-doom-boom-boom-ba-doom-boom-bass.
(Yeah that's that super bass!)"

Super Bass is the best Pop song of the last decade. I mean, it's not even close. Sorry Lady Gaga, but it's true. It is also on a very short list for best Rap song, and best song over all. Nicki Minaj is someone who interests me for many reasons - her effervescent style, her lyrical ability, her unashamed love for a good hook - but the biggest one is this song. Just look at the video and try not to smile. It is everything that is good about Nicki Minaj wrapped up in one joyous, explosive thing. She has a powerful sensuality that translates directly to the brain. She is a powerful woman who owns her sexuality. Take a look at the Anaconda video if you don't believe me. Something that is tacky and offensive when it is pushed on women, is something laudable and inspiring when it comes from within.

Nicki has crazy good charisma. She might just be the best rapper alive, and is someone who understands that wordplay will only get you so far. What you need is to connect with the audience through their hearts. Her best work is that which appeals to the beauty of the physical, to the downtrodden and the lonely. Super Bass is a rallying cry for all lonely hearts who feel just as strongly as more successful lovers. Everyone deserves love. Through this song, they can feel that love as powerfully as if it just walked in the room. 

Some words need to be spent on the chorus because HOLY FUCKING CHRIST is it powerful! It knocks you down, floors you and walks on your back and neck with supremely good sounds. BOOM. It hits you like a bag of rocks, right in the chest. The beating heart is the bass. I don't think I've ever heard or seen anything that expresses so purely what I feel about the interconnected nature of love and music. To love is first to love music, for it is what unifies us and brings us together. I don't think I can pay it a higher complement than to say that a whole lot of babies have been made to this song. I mean the video has been played over 679 MILLION times! The chorus brings tears to my eyes, every damn time. Don't worry, it's coming. There is something altogether holy about it. Salvation can come through music, and this has saved more than its fair share of souls.

The production, good God, the production! The plinky plinky backing track, the gorgeous sound on "bass" and the way the chorus just blows in from left field and hits you over the head and leaves you lying. It's going along good and you're thinking "Hey, this is a good song!" and then the chorus takes you, raises your body up through the ceiling and everything you see is perfection. The emotion pushed through this three minute and twenty second long song is a damn marvel to hear.

There are some songs that you just have to share with people you love. You send it on to someone you care about and hope, HOPE that they feel the same way. As John Cusack says in High Fidelity, "what really matters is what you like, not what you are like... Books, records, films - these things matter. Call me shallow but it's the fucking truth." It's a love letter, really. It's something that says to people in your life, this is what moves me and makes me want to move. To dance with someone special to this song, that would be truly special. BOOM BOOM BOOM YEAH THAT'S THAT SUPER BASS!

I am not a genre snob, or one of those weird insecure men, so forgive me if I don't see the problem in admitting that Super Bass by Nicki Minaj is one of my favourite songs. I love its sensuality, its joy, its boundless energy. It is one of the greatest songs of the last ten years or more. Nothing moves like it. Nothing calls out to humans of any colour or creed like it. Nothing dominates your ears and brain like it. Listen to it and save your own life.