I Want Pussy

"I Want Pussy" is a song by Old Dirty Bastard off of the album Nigga Please. It is considered by certain fans to be the archetypal Old Dirty Bastard song, a quintessential example of his work approaching experimental rap. It is controversial however for its broaching of soft money issue in the relationship between the sexes.

Music Production
The backing music, produced by the RZA, is one of ODB’s most conceptual. The melody is formed out of what appear to be samples of kung fu or other low quality film recordings played on a television which is receiving a faint signal from a UHF antenna. Selected elements of the background music are cut up (possibly influenced by elements of the Beatnik movement such as William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin) to form a nouveau melody which is utilized throughout the entire piece. The gritty nature of the sound design is thought by some to be intended to reflect the gritty nature of the lyrical content as well as the poetic delivery of the song. However, others feel that this was not intended, and point to almost all other RZA produced songs which they believe have exceedingly low production values for a major record release. The RZA (pronounced "rizza") himself on compilation albums has mentioned that he has produced at least a few songs "in his room".

Lyrics and themes
The lyrics consist of a tone poem which is divided into two distinct movements.

First Movement

The first movement is primarily composed of the refrain "I want pussy, for free". In hip hop criticism, this is known as a "paradigm redux". The idea is that the established convention is that successful rap stars should be able to use their monetary influence to establish continuous sexual relationships. ODB laments this convention. It should be noted that ODB claimed in many interviews that he had very little money allocated for himself, because he was forced to pay alimony and child support for a large amount of children. Thus, ODB would be unlikely to engage in a sexual encounter that could result in pregnancy.

Second Movement

The second lyrical movement of the piece centers around the sudden change to the refrain "yeah my momma cannot protect y'all". This distinct movement appears to be integrated to the very sound design of the song, for instead of simply beginning, the lyrics are faded in, in an organic way. It sounds as if someone forgot to increase the volume on a track on which a vocal performance was imminent. Again the intent is heavily debated in the hip hop community. The meaning of the lyrics is also debated. Some, known as "archetypers" interpret the lyrical phrase "momma" to be a reference to government social welfare institutions, a sort of extension of the benevolent institution meme referenced in popular culture by phrases such as "ma bell". Others, known as "fundamentalists", believe that the word "momma" cannot be separated from the word "protect", and consider that both the subject and the predicate of the sentence refer to the same basic idea, that of poverty.

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