Song Details
- Album Release Date: 2007
- Album Name: Bird Roughs
Song Meaning (Interpretation) of “Yuppie Hip-Hop Ad” by The Underground Railroad To Candyland
This song is a humorous take on the commercialization and commodification of hip-hop culture. The narrator compares the emergence of “yuppie” hip-hop culture to an ad for a product, saying that it’s “far from the street where hip-hop was born/ But it’s on the radio every morning ’till the sun comes up”. He goes on to sarcastically praise the culture of excess it promotes: “stretch limos, leather coats, personalized rollin’ machines”. He paints a picture of a rap lifestyle full of drugs, alcohol, and partying, and suggests that it’s merely for show, with the lyrics “everyone’s got something that looks real in the night, but when you come in the light, it’s all just watered-down [stuff].”
The Underground Railroad to Candyland is making a statement here about the way that hip-hop culture has become commodified and marketed; it’s not about the authenticity of the music and lifestyle, it’s about entertainment and money. The chorus points this out explicitly, with the lyrics “oh can you see the Yuppie Hip-Hop Ad?/ You know it ain’t no culture that we ever had”. The song ultimately takes an ironic stance on the state of hip-hop—it acknowledges the excess and artificiality, but celebrates it in its own way.