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The head/heart duality is a well-known cultural phenomenon. In everyday speech we use "heart" as a shorthand to refer to our emotional state or our faith and "head" to refer to cognition or reason. Should I follow my head or my heart? Both "head" and "heart," while they are literally the names of body parts, are commonly used to stand for nonbodily phenonmena, for mental processes. But what body part do we use when we want to refer explicitly to our coporeal self? Whe, the humble "ass," of course! Consider the seminal gangsta rappers Niggaz with Attitude, who in thier classic track "Straight Outta Compton" rhyme: "Niggaz start to mumble / They wanna rumble / Mix 'em and cook 'em in a pot like gumbo / Goin' off on a motherfucker like that / With a gat that's pointed at yo ass." Do the guys in NWA mean to say that a gun is literally pointed downward, at your tuchas? Of course not. We understand that in this context "ass" means "corporeal self.
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David J. Linden (The Compass of Pleasure: How Our Brains Make Fatty Foods, Orgasm, Exercise, Marijuana, Generosity, Vodka, Learning, and Gambling Feel So Good)
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Straight Outta Compton, N.W.A’s debut album, from selling three million records without a radio single.
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Gerrick Kennedy (Parental Discretion Is Advised: The Rise of N.W.A and the Dawn of Gangsta Rap)
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N.W.A dropped Straight Outta Compton, and when Ice Cube said the line “from the gang called Niggas Wit Attitudes,” boom—suddenly the media had a new phrase to latch on to: 1988 was the year of gangsta rap. N.W.A took it to stratospheric heights, and I was
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Ice-T (Split Decision: Life Stories)
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N.W.A dropped Straight Outta Compton, and when Ice Cube said the line “from the gang called Niggas Wit Attitudes,” boom—suddenly the media had a new phrase to latch on to: 1988 was the year of gangsta rap. N.W.A took it to stratospheric heights, and I was dubbed the godfather of the movement.
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Ice-T (Split Decision: Life Stories)