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Rating: It happened that one day the Ohio Players began assertively manifesting themselves around me.
Relying on my admittedly mediocre knowledge of George Clinton's opus magna, I started realizing one evening that I recognized much of the samples in the gangsta music playing in my friend's car, a fitting soundtrack for trips through troubled neighborhoods. "But do you know the Ohio Players? Dr. Dre often used their samples," he said to me. When I got home, I discovered that practically every rapper had used the Players for their beats, from NWA, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Notorious B.I.G. to De La Soul, Public Enemy, Xzibit, and Carmen Electra. (Yes, Carmen Electra made an album, but luckily that's another story).
From then on, the Ohio Players began appearing to me practically everywhere. My brother kept watching that stupid show where Chef Gordon butchered foolish Yankee cooks: I later learned that the program's theme was "Fire" by the OP. Watching a clip from the Beavis & Butt-Head movie, I saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers perform a song I didn't know: it was "Love Rollercoaster" by the Ohio Players. I was listening to my beloved Screaming Life/Fopp by Soundgarden and noticed that "Fopp", present in two versions, was a cover of the OP. I tried searching Ohio Players on Google and came across a series of cover arts, each more suggestive than the last, for albums with titles more explicit one after another. At this point, I feared the Ohio Players would start appearing to me in dreams like Mohammed appeared to Laurence Olivier in the film Khartoum: to exorcise this obsession, I started listening to them intensively, heedless of the upcoming final exams.
It was worth it, indeed: the Ohio Players, already formed in the late '50s, began climbing the charts at the end of the '60s to achieve great success in the '70s, playing some great funk. Funk in its most sly, commercial, danceable, and pimpish sense, but always good music. Fire, from 1974, is one of their most successful albums. The album opens with the eponymous "Fire", one of the hits of 1974, staying in the top ten for five weeks and unmistakable in its heavy guitar riff, introducing a clear fire theme that would be picked up in "Smoke", the Parliament-like "Runnin' from the Devil", and "What the Hell", aggressive and obsessive, with all the instruments performing wonderfully. This fire theme is intertwined with classic romantic ballads, as in the cinematic "Together", the sugary "It's all Over", and the well-executed "I Want to be Free", seven sweet minutes of ballad unfolding among synths, female choirs, incisive bass lines, and notable drum rolls.
A good example of the more mainstream '70s funk, then, with powerful and incisive tracks and romantic ballads that do not overdo it in TV-show romance, as happens in other OP discography episodes, decidedly diabetes-risking.An album probably too catchy for many listeners today, but also a very atmospheric album. If I haven't yet used it as a background for my (rare) carnal encounters, it's only because I fear the Ohio Players would once again appear in vision at the least opportune moment, with their afro hair, glittery red uniforms, and, worst of all, the bald woman in S&M attire on the Rattlesnake cover. Look at the full image to understand.
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Fire (04:36)
Hey, now, huh-huh
Hey, hey, hey, no, (ow, now)
Hey, now, huh-huh
Hey, hey, hey, no
Fire (uh) (uh)
Fire (it's all about)(uh, uh)
Fire (woo, woo, woo)
Fire
The way you walk and talk really sets me off
To a full alarm, child, yes, it does, uh
The way you squeeze and tease, knocks to me my knees
‘Cause I'm smokin', baby, baby
The way you swerve and curve, really wrecks my nerves
And I'm so excited, child (yeah), woo, woo
The way you push, push let's me know that you're good
(you're gonna get your wish) Oh, yeah
Fire (what I said, child, ow)
Fire (uh-huh)
Got me burnin', burnin', burnin'
Got me burnin', burnin', burnin' (yeah)
Got me burnin', burnin', burnin' (yeah)
Woo...hoo...hoo...baby
Start burnin, burnin' baby
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Burnin, burnin' baby
Oh, baby
When you shake what you got, and girl, you've got a lot
You're really somethin', child, yes, you are
When you're hot you're hot, you really shoot your shot
You're dyn-o-mite, child, yeah
Well, I can tell by your game, you're gonna start a flame
Love, baby, baby
I'm not gon' choke from the smoke, got me tightenin' up my stroke
Do you feel it, girl, yeah
Got me burnin', burnin', burnin'...
04 I Want to be Free (06:54)
You think Oakland California is a city of punks
It only takes a second, to pop the trunk
And just like that you know it's real
You're in the right damn town to get killed
It's all about the game, and nothin else
You come out here, you better watch yourself
Cause you can wear what you want, even blue or red
But cross the wrong brothers, and end up dead
You catch a body full of bullets, and get blasted
Tryin to be a gangsta but you just ain't lastin
This little town is gettin wild as hell
Check the penetentiaries and all the jails
If they could lock us all up that would be just fine
Got my partners from Oakland doin serious time
You can't argue with the truth it's hard to be black
But it's a mindgame, and you gotta deal with that
I wake up everyday and I just can't wait
To make mo money, cause back in the days
when I rapped, I did the same damn thing I do now
Grab the microphone, and show you how
But I was broke, the only thing I had was game
I started makin money and knew things would change
Bought a Benz, thought it might earn respect
But the OPD, found it hard to accept
I got jacked by the Task and jacked by the Vice
Face down on the ground keep my hands in sight
Put the handcuffs on backseat I'm in it
Illegal search for about thirty minutes
Askin me, where's the dope
Where's my gun, but I don't know
I said I'm rappin, they laugh like I told a joke
And to this day they think I'm sellin coke
I want to be free! (and that's the truth) Ohhh yeahhh
I want to be free! Ohhh yeahhh
I be in Oakland California every day of my life
bass so hard you think I'm smokin a pipe
And if I don't smoke it, I gots to grind
Searched all my stuff, and all you find
is a pocket full of money count seven G's
Now you wanna think I'm sellin keys
Cause I'm a black man, but I run my own business
So why the police wanna send me to prison
They see a brother makin major cash
They knock a patch out his black ass
And that's the truth, you can't argue you at all
Tryin to give you ten years for a phone call
Ain't even trippin on the dank smoke
Cause all they wanna find, is guns and coke
In court all the time tryin to fight it
We get rich, we get indeibted
So what's the problem Officer this time?
Is havin big money bein black a crime?
Or did you take me to jail, to teach me a lesson
Charge me with somethin, or just ask questions
About the brothers I hang around
What's really goin on in the Oakland town
Tell me who went broke, and who got rich
But Too $hort baby just ain't no snitch
You say you're just doin your job
But you're gettin on my nerves, just like Bob
Everytime I hit a corner, I see you
Always tellin brothers what to do
You lock me up cause I don't know how to act
But I'm down for mine so I be talkin back
And when I do, you treat me bad as hell
I'm sick of spendin nights in jail
I want to be free! (and that's the truth) Ohhh yeahhh
I want to be free! Ohhh yeahhh
Got out of jail about fo'-fifteen
Walkin down the street like a broke dopefiend
Had a pocket full of money tryin to play the role
Benz got towed and I was hella cold
But I ain't trippin, I'm gettin used to it now
Handcuffed your boy took me straight downtown
for three warrants, had to catch me sooner or later
Cause the five-oh's always tryin to jack a playa
for no reason, wasn't doin nothin wrong
You think I'm lyin, singin that same ol song
Well I'm a black man, ridin in a Benz
How in the hell did I make these ends? Here we go
I pull over to the right
Stop the engine keep my hands in sight
I start cursin, cause it don't make sense
Why would I run and try to jump a fence
If I was plannin, a smooth getaway
I never woulda stopped in the first place
You'd be high speed chasin me but this time you ain't
Cause all I got on me is a big fat bank
And I hope I don't get robbed by you know who
Make me donate some G's to the boys in blue
And if I sue, I won't get nothin back
But I ain't mad... I'm just black...
I want to be free! Ohhh yeahhh
I want to be free! Ohhh yeahhh
I want to be free! Ohhh yeahhh
I want to be free! Ohhh yeahhh
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