‘White Lines’ – Melle Mel, 1983
Or ‘White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It)’ by Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel, to give it its full title. But by all accounts, the Flashmaster had nada to do with this classic early hip-hop cut. In the early ’80s, Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel tried to bring a What’s Goin’ On-type social consciousness to the rap party, which until then was about girls, parties and generally getting down. Lyrics dealing with inner-city violence, crime, unemployment, Reaganomics and the scourge of cocaine (the subject matter of this song) suddenly became de rigeur in rap and hip-hop. Until the Beasties came along, that is.
‘White Lines’ kicks in with one of the funkiest bass lines ever. There is only two notes in it, but it’s driving, insistent force tells you that a message is on the way. The ironic danciness of an anti-cocaine song (”Rang dang diggedy dang di-dang”) makes the message hit home that bit harder. Melle Mel spins lines that show his disgust for the drug, with the payoff: “White lines blow away”.
Once the poppy part of the song is out of the way, it’s time to get down to some serious talk:
“Little Jack Horner sitting on the corner
With no shoes and clothes
This ain’t funny, but he took his money
And sniffed it up his nose”
This was a time before crack cocaine decimated entire neighbourhoods in urban America, and Melle Mel’s lyrics are very prescient. Here’s the video on YouTube – directed by a young Spike Lee and starring a young Larry Fishburne. If you like this also check out the Grandmaster Flash cut ‘The Message’ – pure gold.
