A$AP Ferg – Hood Pope

He is infallible on matters of the hood.

Conceptually, A$AP Ferg’s “Hood Pope” is one of the funniest leftovers from 2013′s year-end musical feast. The potential imagery is so rich–what I wouldn’t give for a video of the Hood Pope trolling around in a low rider with a bullet-proof bubble drop top. Alas, it’s not to be. The Hood Pope of A$AP Ferg’s world is just the baddest guy in the town. There’s not so much as a sly wink in Ferg’s delivery. Same old shit.

It’s a real disappointment for me. This is a meme that the cultural lexicon desperately needs. Thus, I hereby resolve to make 2014 the year where I work very hard to make sure that best person at X is referred to as the “X Pope.” For example, the next time your account manager scores a big contract, congratulate her by lighting a small fire in your office trash can to produce a thin wisp of white smoke. You have elected her Sales Pope. The guy taking too long in the public bathroom? Gather those in line around you to cheer at his emergence from behind closed doors, for he is the Poop Pope. The possibilities are endless.

As for the song, “Hood Pope,” I will say this much. My cohorts and I, having come of age in the 1990s, have been patiently awaiting the 90s pop culture revival for some time. It happened for the 1980s with fierce intensity in the early Aughts–why shouldn’t our time be now. “Hood Pope” tells me that it is, in fact, happening right now in a completely underwhelming way. Ferg here has essentially created the least interesting Bone Thugs-N-Harmony track ever–a kind of singy-rap flow that would sound a lot better if someone else was actually doing it along with him. That idea is silly, of course. There can be only one Pope.

Translation: We are living through the 90s pop culture revival truly suited for the slacker generation.

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