A Tasty Musical Snack
Probably you’ve already seen this. Kids in a Minneapolis YMCA summer youth program created a terrific rap song called “Hot Cheetos & Takis.” With an assist from some adult producers, they released a video of the tune, which in the last week has gone viral:
You can read the back story to the video here and here. Rolling Stone magazine declared the song “the summer’s final truly great jam.”
I like the tune quite a bit. Whereas grown-up rappers focus on grown-up desires (wealth, drugs, sex), the kids rhyme about what kids really desire: snacks. It occurred to me today that another reason for liking the song is that it provides a perfect marriage of content and form–the content of the song is its form. The lyrics are all about the joys of tasty snack foods, while the song itself is the musical equivalent of an after-school snack: tangy, a little spicy, not too heavy. And the song has one great advantage over its namesakes: it doesn’t turn your fingers red (though the kids actually seem to like that aftereffect from eating red hot Cheetos).
I have to confess I’ve never eaten Takis. I’d never even heard of them before watching the video. I’ve learned since that it’s a brand of corn chips. I have no idea what they taste like, but they sure sound good.
