Jam of the Moment: Pizza Party
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Put away your money, I’ll buy you a slice / you ain’t gotta worry how high is the price / don’t dine with this world, you’ll die on their diet / they’re like, “sit down, eat your slice of pizza, and be quiet”
Put away your money, I’ll buy you a slice / Who you think we with? Christ / He gives peace without worry, joy with no regret, wealth that won’t fade, life beyond death
Sick lyrics from an emcee consumed with mental and spiritual health, this is the chorus from “Pizza Party” by Phanatik, from his 2010 album, “Party Over Here.”
This tune draws fundamentally from the Biblical text of Isaiah 55:1-2, where the reader is asked, rhetorically, why spend money on things that won’t satisfy?
That, of course, is the purely scholarly and/or theological reason why if you’re a Christ follower and a fan of hip-hop, you should be feelin this song.
But if Scriptural references were the only qualifications for good music, then emcees would trade their rhyming dictionaries for Strong’s Concordances. What really makes the song work is the combination of the urgent orchestral sounds and the boom-bap ringing out.
That, and the fact that despite a serious subject matter (faith in Christ) it’s not super serious. Like, the way he says “sit down, eat your slice of ‘pizzer’ and be quiet.” What is he, some Philly cabdriver channeling Coach Z from Homestar Runner? It’s a little odd.
But I dig a little odd. And I like pizza. And I like hip-hop. And I love God.
So there you go… today’s Jam of the Moment.
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