Busy P, "To Protect and Entertain (feat. Murs)"


Ed Banger Records got too big, too fast. In a flurry of hype, I-was-there-first banter, and musical inbreeding, the Parisian collective represented an alternative cool one minute, a trendy frat boy favorite the next, and an utterly passe aesthetic the next. Instead of turning it down a notch, though, and hiding out for a while (wouldn't some woodsheding help with the creative process?), the crew's insistent on touring forever and releasing something new every couple of weeks. While Justice has been laying lower than their labelmates, their embarrassing remix of MGMT certainly isn't helping restore their once strong image.

Busy P (who's on tour through late-August, by the way) keeps pumping out the jams, too: June 23 marks the release of Pedrophilia, an EP featuring two original songs and four remixes. (At least it's not as bad as Justice's "DVNO" release which had what, three hundred remixes of the title track on it?) "To Protect and Entertain (feat. Murs)" is the title song on the record, and boy does it suck. Busy P sets up a snake-charmer-esque, gritty electronic hip-hop beat for Murs to flow over and that's pretty much the extent of the thing instrumentally. I guess the dynamic duo thought it'd be quaint or silly to write a song about how hard they kick it overseas ... "To Protect and Entertain" is a horrendous cut that revolves around name-dropping ("Hit up LAX and got in no hassle/We left there and hit up Cinespace," "Tomorrow morning I'm gonna be on Cobra Snake making out with a chick my girlfriend hates"), astoundingly stale metaphors ("I've got a dick as big as Texas"), and in-your-face flaunting of "coolness," "hipness," and globe-trotting finesse ("DJ AM, Steve Aoki, got the dance floor packed/And it's mostly girls, girls, every day/From Paris to L.A./I snatch one up and we dance for hours.")

"To Protect and Entertain," in short, is one of the most sophomoric and egotistical songs imaginable. Here's the Ed Banger et. al. finally kicking the bucket. Jerks.







Busy P - To Protect and Entertain (feat. Murs)

Buy it at Insound!

Comments

Anonymous said…
what a fucking hilarious review - music to my ears. finally, someone who says it like it is. thank you. fuck all you, banger heads dressed in dayglo at zouk, singapore. yes u know who you are. this horrible track makes me think of you.
Anonymous said…
Why the hell do you take the time to write a post about a bad song? You give us something we shouldnt listen to? What about posting something we should listen to? Would make more sense to me...
Nicholas Mercer said…
Something like this deserves a public finger wag.

I've never quite understood why blogs are sort of expected to write about only things that the authors like. That happens in no other media industry ... you don't only see good movie review in the New Yorker; you don't only read about the best art shows or theatre performances in the New York Times. Why should I be expected to only point out the good!? Let me have some fun, man ...

Thanks, NIJERK, by the way (grin).
Anonymous said…
Yeah, but if I see in my feed that there is a new post on BiBaBiDi I am expecting a good, new song. Not about something I shouldnt listen to :( If you do things like that you need to include a post with a good song. This would compensate the other one
Anonymous said…
i loved this post.
thank you.
Anonymous said…
this blog is fast becoming the HRO for people who are too old to be out past midnight at clubs. maybe there will be an electro recession in 2009, but this isn't the signal. i don't think anyone wants to claim Ed Banger now...
Anonymous said…
Please keep it up. More bullshit callers needed. That said, this track ain't bad by rap standards, far from it. Definitely nothing new or special though. Would have been good if it was (more overtly) self deprecating instead of just being self-reflexive.
Anonymous said…
This is so how I feel!! Thanks for putting it in print. I hate having loved something and then suddenly being dead tired of it, but that's really the case here.

Thumbs up for negative reviews in the blogosphere. Start a trend.
Anonymous said…
Word to your mama. That lyric is pure ASS. Some of the worst rhyming I've heard lately.

I think people forget, though, that Ed Banger has always been very hit or miss (see, e.g., the two compilations). That said, when they hit, it's fucking BIG.
Anonymous said…
as much as i somewhat agree with this blog, i don't think theres much reason to be coming down so harsh with the heavy hand. lets not forget that Justice for instance, are Graphic Designers by trade, and it's on the back of one remix that they've come to the forefront of the scene. Busy P made his mark managing, and djing, and as for the likes of Uffie?
don't get me wrong, i probably like/d them as much as the rest, but let's not forget that it was us ,the gig-going, cd buying, itunes using crowd that funded their rise. let's not hate them for making a go of it .
Anonymous said…
sounds just like the rest: decent. Jutice and that ed banger shit was never listenable, except for oizo, whos pure genius. i give the track respect for fuking with hiphop. about time timbaland with his stupid ass "yeah" sample on every beat he puts, shat the fuck up.
Anonymous said…
What a bunch of over the hill 35+ bullshit.

Wow, you criticize a song on the grounds of it not containing original lyrical content?! fuck off, nothing distinguishes this song from 90% of the other music that gets posted on here except for the fact that it refers directly to real things, and therefore is apparently cliche and outdated.

name dropping and mentioning of hipness is pretty much a constant in yr bibabidi bullshit, don't pretend this is any fucking different.
Anonymous said…
This is the best review!
Anonymous said…
I was a murs fan for Gypsy's Luck and Good Music. Then I bought this Mums the Word album and he was on it dropping the line, "You can't Pursue, like a lawyer with a handbag." It quickly became referenced by me as the worst rap metaphor ever. Pursue = purse sue? Stop rapping!
Gosh Damn said…
what are you talkiing about? that's a hilarious joke. the fact that you typed a blog comment about it proves that it stuck with you, which is more than 99% of hip hop can do.
Coslm Odnos said…
I love the fact that you give a review and back up your opinion. Also the fact that you don´t put Ed banger or Justice out to be G-D. As a lot of people have.
I must say though, I like the Mr. Oizo remix of the song in question... I love L.A., what can I say...
Anonymous said…
haha good stuff mate!
gave me a right laugh.
keep it coming!
Anonymous said…
the song was written for people in LA... i can obviously tell none of you assholes are from la.. none of you have ever been to cinespace and made out with a chick that your girlfriend hates.... so please shut the fuck up and maybe if your lucky your crappy township will oneday have an electro scene worthy of busy p writing a song about it but uh ... yeah doubtfull
Nicholas Mercer said…
I lived in L.A. for seven, eight years. I love the city. It's my second home. That doesn't negate the fact that Cinespace is a terribly trite place and you're a complete prick for actually reveling in backstabbing your girlfriend (or whatever--I could care less about your personal life) with some other Hollywood bimbo. L.A. is a tough place to live in, especially if you're a moron, and it sounds like you, along with Busy P., fit into that category.