Just in the same way I didn't get the Eggo waffles slogan until the mid-'90s...

...today, for the first time, I paid attention to the lyrics in the last verse of The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight." Brilliant:

Have you ever went over a friend's house to eat and the food just ain't no good /
I mean the macaroni's soggy the peas are mushed and the chicken tastes like wood /
So you try to play it off like you think you can by sayin' that you're full /
And then your friend says momma he's just being polite he ain't finished uh uh that's bull /
So your heart starts pumpin' and you think of a lie and you say that you already ate /
And your friend says man there's plenty of food so you pile some more on your plate /
While the stinky food's steamin' your mind starts to dreamin' of the moment that it's time to leave /
And then you look at your plate and your chicken's slowly rottin' into something that looks like cheese /
Oh so you say that's it I got to leave this place I don't care what these people think /
I'm just sittin' here makin myself nauseous with this ugly food that stinks /
So you bust out the door while it's still closed still sick from the food you ate /
And then you run to the store for quick relief from a bottle of Kaopectate /
And then you call your friend two weeks later to see how he has been /
And he says I understand about the food baby bubbah but we're still friends

I don' t even have anything to say, this is so phenomenal. How have I not heard this before? I'd be way more into hip hop these days if Snoop would only rap about some rotting chicken.

(Though I must admit that, naturally, I have a certain ownership of popular music today, which of course includes hip hop and its enormous influence. Husband and I were celebrating my birthday last week at a nice restaurant with a live jazz trio, and a four-top of older people were singing along to the standards the group was performing, including a touching husband-wife duet. My husband pointed out that in 35 years or so, that will be us: I will sing, "Got me lookin' so crazy right now / Your love's got me lookin' so crazy right now," while husband will reply, "Young hova / Ya'll know when the flow is loco / Young b and the r-o-c uh oh.")