The Surreal World

I have given up trying to count the number of times a week that weird and bizarre moments happen in my life. For instance, I decide I want some nasi kandar and I go out to get some chicken curry or fish-head curry and there on the big screen is WWE wrestling. Rick Flair vs. Shawn Michaels (the balding) Heartbreak Kid. Where am I? Oh yeah, eating chicken curry with my hand.

Or, you’re in some shopping mall and they start playing the latest rap hit only they are playing the uncensored version and as strings of expletives ring out over the aisles, ladies with headscarves buy food for their family.

Rap music has always been hard to stomach for me. It isn’t the beat or the music but the simple fact that most rap songs are about one of several topics 1) sex or sex acts 2) money and materialism 3) cheating 4) breaking up (usually because of cheating! Go figure!) Also, I find it difficult to take a form of music seriously when the rapper’s name is often included in the chorus. Yo…I am Jay-Z…that is J to the A to the Y to the Z…please take my music seriously!

Also, rap names are so hilarious. I often see small girls who get their first crush on a boy. Let’s say Sarah Jones gets a crush on Mike Roberts. You know that she is going to write a book full of Mrs. Sarah Roberts in her free time just to see if it fits together, her new last name and her first name, like long term happiness is guaranteed if the names sound good together.

Now I imagine a small boy doing the exact same thing. Little Fred Smith fills pages in his notebook writing “Fabulous Freddy” and “Fred S. in the house!” or “F Stop coming at you keeping it real!” just to find that right combination for his name.

On Saturday I taught class about an hour from the city I live in and had to borrow a car and drive down. This gave me a chance to hear some of the currently popular songs. Anyway, since it was a Malaysian station, they intersperse some of the aforementioned rap with some Malaysian songs. There is a recently new song called “Ipoh Mali”. It is by a rapper named “Point Blank” and also Jaclyn Victor sings on the track. (BTW, she is the first Malaysian idol winner and one of about three Malaysian singers I think has real talent. Ning Baizura and Siti Nurhaliza also make the cut. Sorry Mawi!) Apparently, it’s called Ipoh Mali because when asked where they are from people say “Ipoh Mari” or “Ipoh Come” if literally translated. But Chinese have trouble saying the letter “r” so the phrase used by everyone now is “Ipoh Mali”. Really, the information I give out for free…I should be charging for this. 

All this to say, it is a really cool song. It is about Ipoh, a city in Malaysia and how proud Point Blank is to be from there. However, it is surreal because you hear lyrics like:

Growin’ up as a Ipoh chink kid representin’ it
Ipoh Garden Eastside yo was the hood I was kickin’ it
I grew up poor but I had the riches memories
Wooley Food Centre rockin’ arcades religiously

You know that Ipoh is nothing like the milieu that spawned most of the hard core rap that appalls me but the way he talks about it sounds exactly the same. So much for my surreal moment on Saturday morning.


If you want to see all the lyrics to “Ipoh Mali”, click here to check out their website.