Why my blog is named what my blog is named

Almost every day, small children approach me on the street corners and ask me "Mr. Sumner... why did you name your blog (which is the finest written piece of nonsense I've ever read in my short 13 years of life) "Ya'll don't wanna hear me. Ya Just wanna dance." I'm certain that many of you have also wondered that same thing, so I decided to take a few moments and explain why. Even if you didn't want to know, I feel that I need to explain myself... because the title really doesn't make sense unless I explain.

You should probably know by now that I won't explain it well. I tend to get so wrapped up in trying to be clever and make you laugh that my point doesn't always make itself clear. But I also feel that the best part of any story is the journey to the end, so I'm certain you'll forgive me if I ramble of go off on side tangents as this progresses. So, that being said: if my reasoning still doesn't make sense after you've finished reading, feel free to write your congressman or local decency squad and petition to have this abomination of quasi-literature taken down from the web once and for all.

That being said... here we go!

I went through a period in my early 20s when I loved Outkast. For those of you not down with the rap, OutKast is an American hip hop duo based in East Point, Georgia, consisting of Atlanta native André "André 3000" Benjamin (formerly known as Dré) andSavannah, Georgia born Antwan "Big Boi" Patton. They had a string of hits from approximately 1998 until around 2004, and I pretty much loved everyone of them.

Mind you... at the time I styled myself some sort of punk rocker who only liked to listen to Fugazi & Operation Ivy, and the Dead Kennedy's (despite the fact that the Dead Kennedy's are quite possibly the worst band of all times). For some reason, kids growing up in south Georgia are only allowed to like one kind of music. You either like the "rock", the "rap", the "country", or the "pop"... and if anyone in your circle of friends finds out that you are listening to something outside of what you normally listen too... they will drag you out into the street and hang you by your ankles for the dogs to eat.

So I had to hide my secret shame. Luckily, Napster was king at the time, so I could hide my shame by downloading all the music that I loved but didn't ant to be seen buying at my local record shop. I've since realized that you should like the things you like, and not let anyone else judge you because of it, so I buy the music I like... and I let other people buy the music they like. But I secretly judge them for having crappy taste in music.

Note: Illegally downloading music is wrong. I was just a stupid kid back then who wanted to have his cake and eat it too. I've realized that now and have gotten rid of all my illegally downloaded gains and replaced them with their legally downloaded counterparts. Please don't sue me music industry. I don't need that kind of grief in my life right now.

Anyway... back in 2004 Andre 3000 released "Hey Ya" on the Love Below half of the double album titled Speakerboxx/The Love Below. At the time, I think the boys were having some creative differences, but they didn't want to break up per se. To compromise, they each decided to record their own individual solo albums and package them together as a double album.

Speakerboxxx is pretty much a by the numbers rap album. It's not bad, but there aren't many tracks that folks still remember. The Love Below, on the other hand was probably one of the better albums of the decade. It's this really bizarre, out there album that I can't really call "rap", because Andre sings more than he raps on the album. I've always thought that The Love Below is the kind of album that Prince would've made if prince had been a prominent musician in the early 2000's. Depending on your tastes, that means that this album is the greatest thing ever... or the worst.

The frist singeel from The Love Below was a song called Hey Ya, and it is absolutely perfect. If you don't remember the song (or have been living under a rock since the Y2K scare happened), here the video from the song:

I love this song, because there are so many layers to the song, and the video that went along

with it. At first glance, it appears that It's just another feel good summer hit about shaking "it"

like a polaroid picture and finding what's cooler than being cold (the answer is ice cold in case

you were wondering). And the video is novel in that Andre 300 plays every member of the band

However, after you listen to the song a second time, or possibly a third time... the song is

actually a critique of modern relationships.

The first line of the song is

My baby don't mess around, because she loves me so and this I know for sure / but does she

really wanna, but can't stand to see me walk out the door?

This sentiment is quickly punctuated by

Thank god for Mom and Dad for sticking true together, because we don't know how.

Throughout the songs there are several references to the fact that as a society we seem to have

come to view the institution as marriage as this thing that we enter into too easily. As a result,

Andre is saying that people often find themselves stuck in a cold, loveless, marriage... or divorced

and unhappy because we as people don't no how to commit, or because we rush too quickly

into things before we fully comprehend what we are getting into.

I understand if you think that this seems a bit maudlin, and I don't agree with it either. I've seen

countless people in healthy marriages, and am glad too say that I am in one as well... but you

do have to admit that the song does kind of have a point.

That being said. About the 4 minute mark in the song, Andre says "Ya'll don't wanna hear me. Ya

just wanna dance. Which to me, kind of sums up the whole song. It's almost as if he knew that

people would get too caught up in the catchiness of the song and the cleverness of the video to

actually listen to what the song is about, so he told everybody that it's ok... you don't have to

listen... but I wish you would.

That's kind of how I feel about this blog (and myself) sometimes. On the surface, you've got this

kind of random person who likes to do goofy things, but if you read a little deeper into the things

I say you might see a little bit more.

Was this post too weird?

Ya'll stay classy, wherever ya'll is.

Blakely A-dam Sumner