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- The Laid Back Neutral MCs
SNL had a sketch in 1997 featuring Tim Meadows and Tracy Morgan called, “The Laid Back Neutral MCs.” It was a play on the aggressive rap of the era, and specifically, the East Coast vs. West Coast beef.
One of my favorite lines, that I’ll regularly say in my head, comes from the beginning of the sketch. It goes like this (but you really have to play it, link below - you need to see how Tracy Morgan delivers the refrain as much as you need to hear it):
(Tracy Morgan) Come on dog - lay down the law, but in a nice way
(Tim Meadows) Yo, check it out ya’ll - I ain’t here to front or diss
(Tracy Morgan) Let’s learn a lesson, from the Swiss
(Tim Meadows) East Coast, West Coast are both really great
(Tracy Morgan) Let’s learn a lesson, from the Swiss
(Tim Meadows) Yeah, I consider myself bi-coastal ya’ll
Content (LinkedIn people, I’m looking at you) is a lot like the Laid Back Neutral MCs. It doesn’t win, and it doesn’t lose. It doesn’t even bother to flex or fight. It’s boring. It’s not art.
Art, however, is a lot like the Mobb Deep beat they use in between the faux tracks in the sketch. It looks to win with the people it wants to win over, it doesn’t mind losing those who don’t get it. It’s all flex and fight, because it knows what it wants to say and who it wants to say it too.
Make art not content. It’s so much more interesting. And, start interjecting your best Tracy Morgan impression of “Let’s learn a lesson, from the Swiss” into more conversations again.
“art” (still one of my favorite groups of the 90s):