So, thanks to CJStarchild (that's his Twitter handle); I've been introduced to the term "dirty mack". He got it from sportswriter Bomani Jones. Basically, a dirty mack (in this context) is a singer who moves in on another man's girl in a song.
Now R&B is too wide a genre of music to do this with, so I've decided to make a "fun, but not definitive or exhaustive" ranking of dirty macks in hip hop. This'll probably just be a top ten - okay, I made it five...and I already know who #1 has to be without thinking about it much. A man's ranking will depend mainly on the dirtiness of the macking in the song and how big the song got. I'll list some other notable efforts before getting to the top 5 - and I think the top 5 is pretty unquestionable.
Ja Rule (Thug Lovin)
This fool even got Bobby Brown to sing the hook. The song was awful, but it was funny. The video was hilarious. Neither of these guys was much of a mack anymore, which just added to the comedy.
Field Mob (Sick Of Being Lonely)
This one wasn't so bad because the girl was...well...sick of being lonely. She was visibly tired of her man messing up. I have to put part of the blame on her man, so this song is almost acceptable.
69 Boyz (Catch 22)
Thrill knew he was facing a moral dilemma, and his doubts push the song down. It's also not that bad because the girl's man - who he was cool with - told him he was going to get with someone else that night. This effort gets extra credit for directly referencing Bobby Womack.
Ludacris (I Know You Got A Man)
So we weren't listening to him as much by the time he, Flo Rida, and Ester Dean dropped this one...but this still counts - especially since Ester is dirty macking herself in the chorus.
Jay-Z (She's Coming Home With Me)
It's funny how he didn't rap with the female-getting flow early in his career, but then came to express his macking side when he got some money. This effort with R Kelly was pretty much his only foray into the dirty side.
Doug E. Fresh (Cut That Zero)
Probably the first ever dirty macking song in hip hop. The thing is, it was so upbeat that the macking wasn't as evident as it was in some of the other songs on here.
Lil Wayne (Earthquake)
Most people forget Weezy F. Baby had a dirty macking song, and also forget that this was it. That's probably because people up north didn't pay attention to him like that until the album after the one this was on.
Mobb Deep (Hey Luv)
They would be higher, but I don't know how many women would really take the macking efforts of these two seriously. I mean, it's Mobb Deep. They're not exactly on magazine covers like some of the other guys on this list...and calling the woman a [female dog] in the first verse doesn't help.
5. T.I. (Why You Wanna, Stand Up Guy)
This dude was saying everything he could to get the girl away from her dude. Even went so far as to suggest that his advances were working with the wetness line at the end of the second verse of Why.
4. Nelly (Dilemma)
He got the chick to cosign? Come on, man. Dirty macking is bad enough on its own, but when you put your success in the song too and have a girl like Kelly Rowland signing off...that's just terrible.
3. The Notorious BIG (One More Chance remix, Big Poppa, I Got A Story To Tell, etc)
BIG didn't really dirty mack all that much, but his true dirty mack offerings were easily the biggest hits on this list so he gets to be this high up. Of course he also gets extra credit for the story he told.
2. Positive K (I Got A Man)
I wish someone would try to tell me this song isn't dirty macking at its finest. As a matter of fact, this song is the quintessential dirty macking song in hip hop. So, why's Pos K #2? Well, you'll see.
1. LL Cool J (Hey Lover, Loungin' remix, etc)
Now, Hey Lover wasn't that bad. He talked about dirty macking from a "wish I could" aspect. Approached it in a real smooth way and all that. The gloves came off when he did the Loungin remix. Hey Lover, he had more than a crush. Loungin, he'd do what he had to do. Wouldn't be so bad if the songs didn't come out within a year of each other.
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I'm pretty sure I forgot some songs, but like I said...this was for fun.
Your list here brought back some serious childhood crushes for me. Man, Great list. I'm lovin' it. Took my like 30 minutes to read it though. Kept playing the songs I couldn't remember that well. It was a really fun post. Inspired me to lighten it up on my blog. Good lookin' out, great read and tons of fun living this blog post from beginning to end.
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