Hot & Cold Studies

Excerpt 57:

The way you flap it on… (on what?) Boy rub it all on… (on what?) Ah. All you need to seek it

The way you pull through… (through what?)

(Cynthia Morgan “Lead me on,” 2015)

The questions in bold forms are inserted by the researcher to further clarify the fact that the artiste deliberately omits some items in the discourse. This initiative is to raise the questions about the ellipted items by the artiste. The ellipted items raise interest and questions about what is missing in the lyrics.

Cynthia has been able to raise the question “what” successfully. The excerpt above is not complete and does not make a complete thought. A follow up on the succeeding lines provides an insinuation, which is sexual, since the theme of the track is sex, just as the video reveals.

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“Baby give me some more,” “Murda” and “Pull up”. These artistes, especially Tiwa Savage, employ this device to expatiate on various ways in which sex and its procedures are perceived. It also reveals the artistes‟ conceptualisation of sex. For example, the phrase, „private show‟ presupposes sex as an act “performed discreetly”

and collocating it with show reveals that it is „spectacular and engaing‟.For her, sexual act is described as an action that is not performed in the public, but in private. This is why she refers to it as a “private show”. Eventhough, private show hides the concept of sex, it also expresses the concepts of sex as a performance. Hence, Tiwa describes it as a private performance.

Tiwa and Sèyí shay describe „dance on the floor‟ as the bed. There is a conceptual mapping of dance with sex. The features of dance which involve „energy exertion‟, movement of the body‟ are associated to sex. This explains how sex is conceived by the artiste, as an activity that involves more than one person and involves the movement of the body. Sex which also involves all these features is compared to dance, hence the use of dancefloor. The dancefloor can then be anywhere sex is done and dance can be sex or sexual. The strategy helps these artistes to describe vividly their conception of sex in their lyrics. The artistes‟ perception is revealed and their lexical choices also project the various domains in which sex and sexual organs are perceived. These words also clearly paint the picture of the artistes‟ intended meaning of sex and sexuality. This is what Gibbs (1987:12) means when he argues that

“Metaphor, unlike literal speech, describes the vividness of human experience in terms that only humans could express.”

The use of metaphors creates an imaginative world that affords the artistes the opportunity to explore their various perceptions of sex and sexuality. For instance, the artistes transcend dancing to sex and act that accompany dance as romance. The emphasis on dance by both artistes also communicates that the domain of dance is perceived as sex. They practically performed the dance as if they are actually having sex and communicate a lot of erotic gestures through their eyes and their bodies.(see chapter five). The use of dance to communicate sex and sexuality is metaphoric. In his view of the relationship between dance and sex, Raymond (1997) views “dance in American hop as dry sex”. Nigerian hop artistes borrow from Western

Hip-hop. They borrow from simple and familiar metaphorical concepts to suggest their intended idea, thought and perception of sex.

In Seyi Shay‟s “Crazy lyrics,” there are few instances of metaphor to support the foregoing point.

Excerpt 40:

Trans Boy, you're my lover, you're my sweetie sugar

No need to bother, cos I got you covered Because I got you covered I get your back any day I know

I'm the [m[2l2, you're looking for I'm the fine girl, you're looking for

East to the west, we go let them know 5

No do me wrong, my baby fine oo Don‟t do me wrong, my baby is fine

Trans Could it be your love?

Could it be your touch?

Could it be the stuff?

Whey dey make me wan marry you go today

10 Could it be your love?

Could it be your touch?

Could it be the stuff?

Wey dey make me wan marry you go today That is making me want to marry you

I dey kolo, you take me low oo (caro) I am crazyyou take me low oo (Caro)

15 Early in the morning ah ahh ah

Boy, if you are calling ah ahh ah

You dey scatter my brain oo, high me like champagne You are making tipsy as if I tookchampagne

You be the boss, I be the bosseth You are the boss, I am the bosseth

Give me your love, me be your loveth

(Seyi Shay “Crazy”, 2014) The expressions “sweetie sugar” and “stuff” are the items that are used metaphorically in the song. Seyi shay uses “sweetie sugar” to compare the taste of the pleasure she experiences from her lover to the sweetness got from sugar. This is in congruence with the popular usage of sweetheart to describe lovers in the contemporary society. Also,

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the word “stuff” is used metaphorically to describe the quality of the sexual organs of her lover with the quality of the sex she had with him. She compares the relationship between her and her lover to that of a boss and a worker. This connotes that she is ready to do his will and whatever he commands to achieve sexual satisfaction. She says she is very much even in love as he calls her early in the morning. Similarly, in Tiwa Savage‟s “Without my heart,” there is an instance of metaphor:

Excerpt 41:

Couple of drinks in me Feeling a little tipsy

Turning on my sexy (eh eh eh eh, eh eh eh eh)

Tiwa attempts the renewal of the age long comparison between the manners with which wine intoxicates the drunk, and the way lovers behave, perhaps senselessly, after they are intoxicated with love. This mode of comparison here transcends that of love to the act of sex. This consumption of the drinks is compared directly to falling in love, and the love makesher feel tipsy,turning her sexual passion on.

Cynthia Morgan also employs metaphor in her song, “German juice.” In the song, the ladies‟ buttocks are compared with German juice:

Excerpt 42: Trans

The German juice

The girl with the German juice The German juice

Girl come pon it let make it burn a niggah man Pon(sit on it) The German juice

The girl with the German juice The German juice

Girl, come pon it, let make it burn a niggah man [boom] Girl, come and sit on your nigga and make himburn with feelings

(Cynthia Morgan “German juice”).

The phrase, German juice, is given direct comparison with the girls‟ buttocks. One might think that the two items are far apart in the area of comparison, but one will realize that the two are compared not in their physical state, but in their inherent values. The gustatory pleasure derived from juice when sucked with a straw is compared with the sexual pleasure a man derives from a lady with big buttocks when

he penetrates from behind. This informs the persistent use of the expression “biggest behind” in the lyrical content of the song. Therefore, the man‟s penis is remotely compared to the straw with which one sucks juice for enjoyment.

Metaphor is central to the realization of many inferred meaning in Hip-hop songs. This is evident in the songs considered in this study. They are powerful for inferred meaning and achieving a positive escapiscm.