My second post was about a situation where something continued being funny in spite of the fact that I found out that it was fake.
But something else can happen with these videos, and it happens when you can't tell if something is real or fake. Only certain videos can achieve this state of limbo, but those that do are so bewildering. You stare at the screen, thinking, "This can't possibly be real," and yet there's nothing about the people involved on the internet to prove you wrong. Personally, these are my favorite types of videos. I love to be shocked watching them. I love showing them to other people who end up equally shocked.
Long story short, I'm smitten with a set of videos I discovered last semester from a record label named Turquoise Jeep. And it's not because the songs are good; indeed, it is quite the opposite:
The songs, though somewhat catchy, are for the most part made with simple beats, contain overtly misogynist and sexual lyrics (one song is called "Shuyamouf" [Shut your mouth]), and are phrased in hilarious ways. The performers, who go by "stage names" such as "Young Humma" and "Flint Flossy," do ridiculous dances and some even appear to be wearing conspicuously fake facial hair. The videos look like they were made by a middle schooler who just discovered the effects for a movie maker software. It all adds up to a bunch of guys trying to be funny.
But are they trying, or do they just not know how ridiculous they are? Take a look at one of the videos. Be warned, it is rather explicit, but not in its use of foul language, but with its obvious sexual metaphor.
The chorus, "how you like your eggs, fried or fertilized?" Is a little funny in itself, but they play off an old joke ("How do you like your eggs in the morning?" "Unfertilized"), but it's the delivery that puts this video over the top. Young Humma is much too intense ("I ain't playing, girl, don't think you realize"), and as if it were not obvious enough, he explains the difference between fried and fertilized in detail after his girlfriend gets it "misconstrued."
I've showed this video and the others by Turquoise Jeep to a lot of friends, and many make the same claim: "They can't possibly be serious." They cite the colors that change, the green screen backgrounds that go wild, the fact that somebody used "misconstrued" in a rap song. But the fact is that Turqouise Jeep is selling albums, has a twitter to follow (written almost exclusively in ALL CAPS) and seems to take themselves very seriously. I have yet to find something on the internet to prove to me that they are aware that they are being laughed at.
So for me, the jury is still out, and I don't really care if I get an answer. The ambiguity about how serious they are about their laughable dancing, hilarious lyrics, and over-the-top videos, in my opinion, just adds to how much I enjoy them.
