This Time Around [MERGED]

Re: This Time Around

Well yeah I'm sure the lyrics were fairly different when it was a MJ vs. Prince song.. Battle of who's badder/cooler/better... still not violent.. And what the song could have really been like or what would be said is only up to our imagination at this point...

And what I said with the current lyrics very much makes sense.. it's what the lyrics say and the song is written in only first person (and one person) no dialogue back and forth which the song with Prince very much probably would have been.. You can't have a battle with only one person point of view..
 
Re: This Time Around

Duran now that a re-read your reply I think you mis read what I was saying.. are you thinking that I am saying Michael is a trouble maker? I'm saying he's speaking to a trouble maker... And I say "Point of authority" does not necessarily mean a cop.. just means he has power over the guy he's talking to.. He can turn him in, or simply have enough on him to be in trouble..
 
Re: This Time Around

Bad the song implies fighting though, or at the least there's going to be a fight if the other guy don't "watch your mouth" . He threatens his opponent "Your butt is mine", "I'm giving you a count of 3 to show your stuff or let it be", "if you don't like what I'm saying then won't you slap my face". People don't say things like that to be friendly, lol. It's like kids at school scheduling a fight after school or something. It's the opposite of Beat It, where he tries to stop a fight.
I've always heard the song and saw the "fantasy" part of the video exactly like this. It's a challenge and his opponent ends up backing down. "I'm going to knock some sense into you" too.
And then of course, make peace at the end.
 
Re: This Time Around

You can't have a battle with only one person point of view..
Sure you can, there's battle rap songs. The rappers in question don't usually do the songs together, but they talk about each other in separate songs. There's also the many reply songs over the years. Such as Superstar by Lydia Murdock, which was a response to Billie Jean. Even James Brown did sort of challenge songs. If you listen to Get Up Offa That Thing, he puts little jabs to Barry White, Johnnie Taylor, KC & The Sunshine Band, and other acts popular at the time. There's also his latter day hit I'm Real, where James is telling people who sample his songs to "take my voice off your records, till I'm paid in full". John Lennon put out the song How Do You Sleep?, which criticized Paul McCartney's solo material. Paul replied with Silly Love Songs.
 
Re: Bad

I've always heard the song and saw the "fantasy" part of the video exactly like this. It's a challenge and his opponent ends up backing down. "I'm going to knock some sense into you" too.
And then of course, make peace at the end.
Wesley Snipes's character even says at one point, that Mike went to a "sissy school", which implies he's not hood anymore and gotten soft and maybe saying Mike's character is a sellout. Kind of like a Carlton Banks type of personality, from the 1990s TV show Fresh Prince Of Bel-aire. If you're telling a guy he's soft from the type of neighborhood they're from, maybe that guy will respond in a way that will show you he's not. Which is what happens. Mike tells Wesley, "let's do it", then brings out his gang.
 
Re: This Time Around

^ exactly.. Like I said earlier being a clean person is what BAD really is! not a thug.. the video makes it clear that Michael is not comfortable around his old friends and environment. the whole message Is you can be a good citizen and be a bad @ss because of it.. that's what 'cool' really is..


Duran also you just said you can battle in a song from only one perspective and giving the example of how rappers rap separate songs about each other.. I'm not sure if you're just trying to find holes in what I'm saying but that is completely irrelevant to what I'm saying.. BAD is a song (singular) the lyrics as they stand would not make sense in a battle form unless BAD was MJs song and Prince had his own response song.. that is very different than what it was. they were going to do THE song together. so the lyrics most likely were not the same! maybe some verses and parts but it could not be a battle and it's one point of view in the same song.

you know that.. lol
 
Re: This Time Around

TTA is in the bottom five on HIStory for me.

Probably goes:

Earth Song
TDCAU
2 Bad
Little Susie
Smile
Stranger in Moscow (must be an incredible album if SIM is 6th)
Scream
Come Together
Tabloid Junkie
Money
Childhood
History
You Are Not Alone
This Time Around
D.S.
 
Re: This Time Around

TTA is in the bottom five on HIStory for me.

Probably goes:

Earth Song
TDCAU
2 Bad
Little Susie
Smile
Stranger in Moscow (must be an incredible album if SIM is 6th)
Scream
Come Together
Tabloid Junkie
Money
Childhood
History
You Are Not Alone
This Time Around
D.S.

Childhood is that far down in your list?? You put money above Childhood?? I'm about to have an aneurysm lol.

I was just thinking the other day about how childhood is truly a masterpiece and should be ranked among his finest work.
 
Re: This Time Around

I'll take the ''dated'' This Time Around over any new song (In the mainstream charts) that's coming out today
IMO, all mainstream music isn't bad/unlistenable, but often times overrated. :yes:
For example, an artist could release a good song that is without a doubt a good/great song, but reviews will act like it's the best song ever made or something when in reality it really is only a good/great song and nothing more or nothing less.

I do prefer MJ's music over the music of any other artist though.
And although this time around isn't as fresh as some if the rest of MJ's music, I definitely don't think it's dated at all. :)

Childhood is that far down in your list?? You put money above Childhood?? I'm about to have an aneurysm lol.

I was just thinking the other day about how childhood is truly a masterpiece and should be ranked among his finest work.
IKR childhood is freakin amazing if only for the vocals. :yes:
 
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Re: This Time Around

Childhood is that far down in your list?? You put money above Childhood?? I'm about to have an aneurysm lol.

I was just thinking the other day about how childhood is truly a masterpiece and should be ranked among his finest work.

Yeah, I don't feel good about myself. Same with putting Scream at seventh place.

But truth be told, although it's grown on me over the years, his voice is exquisite and the lyrics heartbreakingly honest, I never fell for it and never play it unless I'm listening to the full album.

For me HIStory is an album of two halves, 7 or 8 stunning songs showing Mike at the peak of his songwriting and genius and seven ones that are just good.
 
Re: This Time Around

I'd take an MJ song over any other song any day so to compare MJ old vs. whatever new is not even a thing to me lol!..


I can only put MJ against MJ when it comes to what I like more.. I'd rather listen to the worse MJ track over anything out there!
 
Re: This Time Around

I thought, This Time Around as explicit's song
 
Re: This Time Around

Love the song.
Nice rap by Biggie and like the last line, that's why I have it as my sig :)
 
Re: This Time Around

Love the song.
Nice rap by Biggie and like the last line, that's why I have it as my sig :)

I am against the usage of the N-word, of course, but here I always felt that MJ let it stay there to prove a point. He could have easily have censored or removed that line.
 
Re: This Time Around

Just song with a meaning but really lacks the classic mj beat to make it great
 
This time around :)

I like this song :)

Its different but I enjoy it lol ? :)

From MJ4,
 
Re: This time around :)

Definitely one of my favourites from HIStory.
Back in the day my HipHop-loving mates were impressed that MJ managed to get biggie on one of his songs. It gave MJ more credibility with that crew, that's for sure.
 
Re: This time around :)

this song I great and enjoy threads like this but it's going to be harder and harder to sort out news when we don't have a special area separating 'hot topics' with 'general' conversations..
 
Re: This time around :)

Love the song, the theme and the Biggie rap :)
 
Re: This time around :)

this song I great and enjoy threads like this but it's going to be harder and harder to sort out news when we don't have a special area separating 'hot topics' with 'general' conversations..

I find reading the topic name helps with that ;)

Anyway, we don't get news no more...
 
Re: This time around :)

Like the song. Not really a fan of the rap section...
 
‘This Time Around’ is not really an underrated track.

It is a very weak track plotted around a very weak melody. As a result, it becomes too repetitive & unexciting after its first seconds.

Besides, the hip-hop genre was never MJ’s strong suit.

Also, it was a far-fetched move (on MJ’s part) to include The Notorious B.I.G.’s rap vocals again (posthumously, in that case) on the opening ‘Unbreakable’ track six years later in 2001.

Not to mention that the entire ‘Unbreakable’ track sounds like just a faster version of the ‘Unbelievable’ track that was released by the same rapper in 1994.
 
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