EWA100 - #71. Positive K - I Got A Man

71. Positive K - I Got A Man (4th & Broadway. 1992. From the LP The Skills Dat Pay Da Bills)

Raven Mack: "I Got A Man" is one of those songs that proves science is not the penultimate form of analysis of life matter, because if you break down this track into it's lyrical components, it's pretty simple and kinda stupid. If you break down the beat, it's basic part-club part-boombap early '90s pop rap soundtrack. And Positive K, if you break him down, is just some pussy-houndin' smooth brother who is probably looking the same to this day, driving around in a Bonneville drinking Icehouse double deuces with his co-workers at some sort of shipping facility. But you put it all together, science be damned, and this is a track that I guarantee you if you threw on at a party - whether that party was metrosexual thirtysomethings or hippie girls with dreadlocks or grown black folks who wear prescription sunglasses with fake gold emblems - someone is gonna be all like "Awww shit, I remember this song" and either shake their hands or their ass, depending on how much sexual rhythm they were born with naturally. When we were coming up with this list, we made some criteria about what constituted a jam, in that it shoud've been a single of some sort that got notoriety from regular people and not just the ultra-sub-culture of hip hop uber-dork, had there been an internet for that type of uber-dork to thrive upon back in the earlier days of hip hop. "I Got A Man" is probably the best example of the Jam in this list thus far, because it's nothing but a Jam. Stupid lyrics, basic beat, obscure rapper you could've replaced with 75 other rappers of the time, but it all came together perfectly on this song, to stand the test of time and bring back those fine memories of when we were younger and not married with kids and riding to the babysitter's house, trying to pretend we're not half-drunk.
And plus, this song is basically about pussy. I know it's not kosher in this politically correct time to admit it or objectify it, and I don't really think of it as objectification, but vagina is a strong force in the mind of a man. Our hidden molecular structure tells us we need to put our penis in the vagina as much as possible, and this is all for survival of the fittest cell memory that our scientific mind can't even understand and tries to psycho-analyze into guilty non-existence. But it's there. Every dude you've ever met wants to have sex with vagina as many times as his body is able to do it, as often as possible, and often times with as many vaginas as possible. If a dude doesn't feel that way, legitimately and he's not just lying to not piss off his girlfriend who caught him looking at some other girl walking by, then that dude is just chemically imbalanced by our modern society and he's probably gay or has a furry fetish or some odd shit that doesn't make babies.

Mike Dikk: This was a last minute nomination that I didn’t think would actually make the final list because it’s one of those songs I always thought I was one of the few people man enough to admit in public that I like it. It’s pretty corny, but basic enough where anyone can get into it.
This is really a male version of Positive K’s only other claim to fame, MC Lyte’s “I’m Not Havin’ It”. I could never figure out if the “girl” on this track was him with a very convincing voice changing device or if it was just an unaccredited female. Either way, this song is where Positive K’s brilliance was completely tapped out. Even at the time when this song was new, it was fairly obvious Positive K would never be heard from again as soon as the song faded out.
Since the story of Positive K and “I Got a Man” isn’t really that exciting, I figured I’d get into some other stuff to spice it up. I think all people who successfully do artistic things fall into one of three categories. The first and most common would be the type who never does anything too incredible, but is always consistent at being fairly decent. This is the category I would fall into if I was actually successful at what I do. It’s the reason why authors like Stephen King and Anne Rice stay relevant and always have their books in supermarkets. They won’t knock you on your ass with what they do, but its decent enough where some goober from the Midwest can get into it and make themselves feel intelligent for a few minutes.
The second type would be a person whose whole output is pretty shitty, except for a couple things that they put all their time and energy into that ended up coming out brilliant. This is the category Positive K is in. I seriously doubt anyone still owns Positive K’s one and only LP, but I bet an entire shitload of people have the “I Got A Man” mp3 on their ipods, and I bet a few others have “I’m Not Havin’ It” on there, too.
The third would be the one-in-a-billion type who is brilliant at everything they do. I can’t really think of anyone that fall in this category, because I hate the Beatles and Prince and Michael Jordan even had some bad days. I guess Biggie could almost count since he died before he could really start sucking.
I think the best part of “I Got A Man” is how he gives up chasing the girl once she tells him her man buys her things, and that is a request Positive K simply can’t fill. It was an early glimpse into the weird dichotomy of rap music. You can spend lots of your rap money on your number one lady, but never any rap money on a girl you want to fuck that you think is a slut, unless she’s a stripper. Then it’s ok to throw money at her, but not necessarily fuck her. Just about every rap song regarding girls has followed this formula since forever. Clipse have recently tried to flip the script with their song “Dirty Money”, and I’m surprised the hipster fruits that hang off their nuts didn’t manage to write 15,000 words about the genius of this song. Hell, they probably did. “Dirty Money” is about spending all that crazy money they made selling crack on sluts. Not to get off on a completely different subject that has nothing to do with Positive K, but I find it funny that all these rappers sell crack and have no problem incriminating themselves by rapping about it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m white, so I’m predisposed to like The Clipse, but until one of these asshole rappers actually get caught selling crack and have their music used against them like what happened to Project Pat for his gun charges, I do not believe any of them. Until then, Project Pat is the realest dude rapping.

Download: Positive K - I Got A Man

The internet has left Positive K behind, so no official music video. Instead you get some fat man performance art lip synching video. It's about Buddha trying to take a nun from Jesus. This shit is kind of weird.