The white boys are at it AGAIN! Not only are 3OH!3 and The Lonely Island some of my favorite white boys in the rap game, but their specific style of humor in their lyrics always caught me with visceral enjoyment while listening. Of course The Lonely Island, due to their long and wildly successful run on Saturday Night Live, had a reason for the humor. 3OH!3, in my opinion, are just out there doing it for the love of the game. Both groups have the skill of committing to the bit, making great beats and hooks, and making sure you have a smile on your face when you listen. In these two songs, I found relation in their verses of just being silly dudes.
“Incredible Thoughts” – The Lonely Island
For a bit of backstory, this particular track by The Lonely Island comes off of the Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, their 2016 feature film. Without spoiling too much, the lead character, Conner4Real (portrayed by Andy Samberg), is a former rap group member who went solo. In reuniting with his childhood best friends, he brings them back on stage at The Poppy Awards (a fictional version of The Grammys) they release a whole new song called “Incredible Thoughts.” It’s exactly what you would expect, a song full of the most ridiculous thoughts that the three members of The Style Boyz could think of as they reunited to perform on this massive stage to a crowd happy to see them back together along with a few actually famous features.
A snow white dove in the pitch black night
A raindrop falls from tremendous heights
A wave crashes off a cliff in Scotland
A child bites an apple, but the core is rotten
TV is free, but what is the cost?
These are a few of my incredible thoughts
“I Can Do Anything” – 3OH!3
3OH!3, kings of Boulder, Colorado are, in an adjacent fashion, no stranger to being off-the-wall in their lyrics and overall presentation. I wrote about their “Spin That Wheel” gimmick for their annual 3OH!3 day show in Denver earlier this year. Nathaniel Motte, the taller of the two, has actually collaborated with The Lonely Island, producing a track for their short film released in 2019, “The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience.” I truly adore this duo for their music — I am emotionally moved by a song literally called “Skid Marks,” because even though it’s literally a toilet humor song, it cuts deep. But for “I Can Do Anything,” I found the same play that The Lonely Island used in listing some generally ridiculous things.
We can do an album
Or we can do it viral
Spread it like an STD
You got back in high school
I could run for president
Or just run the block
I could be a stoner or
Shit I forgot
I could be an athlete
I could be a New York cabbie
I could be your boyfriend
In the backseat
No matter if the comedy is intentional, or just hilarious by association, when the rhymes make you laugh to yourself — it’s a good track.