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"My Humps" is one of the most damning post-Marxist critiques of postmodern society ever written. From the very first lines of the song, it attacks the materialist foundations of our society by plaintively asking, "Whatcha gonna do with all that junk?/All that junk inside your trunk?" The "junk" obviously refers to our obsession with material possessions at the expense of spiritual enlightenment. This is made all the more poignant when we consider Fergie's minimalist approach to life, forgoing these nice possessions and instead concentrating on intellectual pursuits.
Later, she goes on to attack another cornerstone of civilization, religion. The "opiate of the masses" holds no attraction for Fergie, as she sings, "...True Religions/I say no, but they keep givin'." It's obvious from this line that Fergie sees religious institutions as useless, but despite her rejection of them, their existence continues, "they keep givin'" the population a crutch to lean on rather than facing the reality of their unfortunate economic circumstances. The next lines continue, "So I keep on takin'/And no I ain't taken." This is a profound sentiment, as she admits that she is willing to work within the system to dismantle it; she takes whatever she can get from the parasitic religious institutions while making it clear that "she ain't taken." She works within the system without being taken in by it, something that can be accomplished only by a true revolutionary.
All the while, she keeps referring to her "humps" and "lumps," from which the title of the song derives. These refer to the burden she bears by being at the forefront of the revolutionary assault on our economic and political assumptions. After all this abstraction, she levels her most vicious, direct, and threatening lines of the song: "I'ma make, make, make, make you scream/Make you scream, make you scream." These are powerful words, making it clear that she has no intentions of sitting back and letting others take care of the dirty work for her. She's going to be right in the middle of the revolution, and it's not going to be pretty.
Still, in the midst of all her revolutionary rhetoric, she still pleads with her listeners. "Let's spend time, not money." She implores everyone who hears her song to make the most out of every second of their lives rather than fretting over money all the time. There's so much more out of life, no matter what the capitalist monolith wants us to believe. In my opinion, it's this combination of depth of emotion and fury that makes the song so great. But what's more is that, even with all the incredibly lyrics I've mentioned so far, it continues, next moving into hope for total racial reconciliation. Will.i.am sings the next couple of lines, which go, "I mix your milk wit my cocoa puff/Milky, milky cocoa." This is a brilliant metaphor. The "milk" refers to the Caucasian population, and the "Cocoa Puff" refers to African-Americans; the beauty of this figure of speech is that, while each of the two parts is great on its own, they become so much better when combined. This metaphor can be extended to the Asian (Cap'n Crunch), Hispanic (Cinnamon Toast Crunch), and gay (Fruity Pebbles) populations as well.
Finally, Fergie closes with this threat to the establishment, referring to her "humps": "You can look, but you can't touch it/If you touch it, I'ma start some drama/You don't want no drama." Not with Fergie, you don't. She's a firebrand, and she lets her oppressors know that they can observe her struggle, but if they try to intervene, there will be drama, and that's a bloody cross indeed when dealing with this lady.
All that being said, what is the overall message of this work? Is it one of take-no-prisoners aggression? I don't believe so. It's a message of hope, yet without the deterministic nature of traditional Marxism. Fergie believes that class struggle certainly exists, but it isn't the be-all, end-all factor in society. In fact, this song echoes the sentiments of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, who claim that one of the biggest flaws in Marxism is the "use of a priori interpretative paradigms with respect to history," which means that traditional Marxists thought that the Iron Laws of History would inevitably lead to a revolution where the proletariats took power from the bourgeoisie (Laclau, Mouffe 1985). If you look closely at "My Humps," you will see that Fergie also rejects this notion. She believes that the workers of the world can overcome the stifling economic oppression of the elite classes, but she also realizes that it is not a foregone conclusion; work will be required, and the manifesto "My Humps" is a definite, clear-cut call to arms for all like-minded people. It is because of songs like this that music as a true artform can continue to exist.