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Mexican Standoff

"Money, Power & Respect" vs. "Money, Cash, Hoes".

by Gabe D. | 2005.05.01

A little bit of a throwback for this edition of the Mexican standoff, but really, this age-old debate is always on time.

The Lox’s “Money, Power & Respect”

The eponymous song spells it out pretty clearly: Money, Power & Respect are “what you need in life”. It will also “help you sleep at night”, “make you see the light” and, in a remixed version, may even “give the gift of flight” or “soothe your insect bites”. The sky’s the limit, really. This message was quite persuasive in musical form, from Lil Kim channeling Scarface in the intro to the irritatingly catchy (yet still enjoyable) sample. Plus, it featured the Lox in their shiny-suits-and-large-sunglasses phase. DMX was also notable for a stirring guest appearance, shortly before he completed his regrettable transformation into a half-man, half-dog, homo-thug caricature.

Jay-Z’s “Money, Cash, Hoes”

While some might claim that the stated need for both money and cash is somewhat redundant, in actuality it is important to possess both solid financial assets (“money”), and liquid assets (“cash”). Hovito’s song and concept are a veritable financial planning seminar, emphasizing the need to diversify one’s portfolio, as well as the ever-pressing need for hoes. While the Money, Power, and Respect route will lead women to flock to you eventually, why not just skip the rather tedious accumulation of those things and move directly to hoes? I mean who’s more interesting really: Pimpin’ Ken, or Warren Buffet? If only the American public could learn this lesson…well, the economy would probably go belly-up, so perhaps it’s just as well. We estimate a song like “We Luv Deez Hoes” would probably be a better vehicle for such a message. Or, in a sweet twist of fate, “Bitch Betta Have My Money”. Also of note, “Money, Cash, Hoes” includes another guest turn from DMX, though Jay didn’t really need the canine-collaborator’s assist. However, Dark Man X did contribute the extremely memorable “D-M-X and my dogs bite/ Jigga my nigga, rhyme all…night”, which actually sounds cool and ridiculous at the same time.

The Winner

Nostalgia. That’s right, our well-documented predilection for a time in the not-too distant past when men were men, East Williamsburg* was Bushwick, and the East Coast Hip-Hop aesthetic reigned supreme (well…semi-supreme) rears its ugly head once again. Not that this was some sort of “golden age” or anything close to it, but it was still something, damnit.

* That's the last time we'll ever use the phrase "East Williamsburg". We promise.

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