Mp3 Killed the Radio Star: Am I Hot Or Not?

With the early daylight savings time that only applies in the US and the record breaking 90 degrees temperatures in Early March, it definitely feels like summer over here in LA. There’s even a summer song all over the radio and the clubs right now, though calling it a “song” is debatable. I have to admit, I’ve never heard of Mims until two weeks ago so I’m pretty late to “This Is Why I’m Hot.” On first listen, it’s a horrible song, another case study of a terrible rapper depending entirely on production value. Mims doesn’t even try to rap, the first three lines of his rap is essentially a disclaimer for his lack of skills: “this is why I’m hot/I don’t have to rap/I can sell a mill saying nothing on the track.” And then he embeds himself in every rap circle. He’s about as New York as Hillary Clinton, but that doesn’t stop him from claiming New York’s hip hop scene before pulling all the girls in the Midwest (complete with a green screen Wrigley Field in the video) and then jumping on the Bay Area hyphy bandwagon. Most of the time though, he repeats “This Is Why I’m Hot” about 82 times, followed by “I’m hot because I’m fly/That’s why you’re not,” which doesn’t even try to make sense.

The song sounds as bad as I’ve described, saved for a pretty slick, minimal beat that’s like a Clipse song glossed over for radio. And yet, every radio station, club, car stereo and TRL countdown is playing this damned song. It’s been near the top of the iTunes download for over a month now. I hated the fact that this is looking like the soundtrack to my early summer. But I was also obviously missing something. The beat itself is awesome, but it really does sound like one of Pharrell’s skeletal stuff for the Clipse. But then, songs about Pyrex stirrers don’t fill the dance floor, and that explains why Hell Hath No Fury moved a paltry 70,000 units in its first week despite a massive amount of hype. Mims’ upcoming debut Music Is My Savior will probably debut at or near the top of the chart. Rapping about nothing is truly more universal than rapping about cutting cocaine. That’s marketing 101, and Mims understands that. He knows, or rather, revels in the fact that he can have literally no rhyming skills as long as he produces a sound that’ll get heads nodding that isn’t too harsh for Radio Disney. And if there’s one thing to be said about Mims, he has a lot of charisma. Yeah, no one is willing to seriously consider him a challenger in New York. But he makes a generic claim anyway, all with a puppy dog grin. It’s all rather charming and as any girl will tell you, confidence will always win people over.

A lot of hip hop critics, writers and Nas keep saying hip hop is dead last year, and they point to slowing record sales and a genre that’s not raking in as much capital for the corporate coffers. I don’t think it’s that dire, the entire recording industry is down. But it’s hard to make a convincing argument when Mims, Jim Jones and Rick Ross can all produce chart-toppers with minimal lyrical skills. So you can’t call them hip hop or rappers, they’re more pop stars and simple always works best for pop hits. As much as I find Mims exasperating, he’s really no different from David Cassidy or any other similar pop artists who had a big hit or two. So yeah, “This Is Why I’m Hot” isn’t much of a song. But then, neither is “I Think I Love You,” and that song sounded great in a Levis ad a few years back. So it’s not good per se, but in a way, “This Is Why I’m Hot” is a summer song. Not my favorite, but I’ll accept it. And I have to admit, I heard someone sitting at a red light in his car blasting this song this past Saturday, and it definitely felt like summer.