Black and Yellow

Wiz Khalifa's "Black and Yellow".  I'd like to talk about it.

Todd in the Shadows, a pop music reviewer of whom I'm fond, has already done a detailed review of it, but I have a few items I'd like to address as well.

The chorus is [Yeah, a'ight, you know what it is, black and yellow (x4)] (x2).  Well, no, I don't know what it is.  It is your job as a writer, Mr. Khalifa, to inform me of what it is.  Now, technically, you could say that I'm holding you to higher standards than other performers, but considering you don't feel the need to stick to the rules of rhyme and meter established for poetry or songs, I felt it would be more appropriate to appraise this as prose.  You fail to show me in any way what it is in the entirety of the work.

In fact, this refrain contains only nine words: yeah, you, know, what, it, is, black, and, yellow.  There's also "a'ight", which is not a word but I suppose I can count it for something.  So your chorus is 9.5 words repeated over and over.  Okay, perhaps I am being unfair.  After all, "I Palindrome I", one my favorite songs by my favorite artists, has a chorus that only uses 13 words.  However, that song was actually about the concept of repetition and recursion.  And it still used more word power than you.

Unlike many short stories, "Black and Yellow" fails to establish setting, characters, or conflict.  While it does use "black and yellow" to tell us that it is set in Pittsburg, this is an entirely nominative setting, as it fails to influence the work, and no imagery is used other than "black and yellow".  Unless I am severely misinformed about the appearance of Pittsburg, I do not believe this is very helpful in enabling me, the reader, to form a mental picture.

Thus, I have concluded it is a work of postmodernist genius.  Rigidly minimalist in both its limited vocabulary and flat delivery, the short story "Black and Yellow" defies many traditions of how to properly form a song, poem, or story.  While I personally do not enjoy it in the least, I assume it is simply above my head.