Lathan Williams Case is Coming On: The "Know What I'm Sayin'" Guy

[Mr. Fuji]

And I'm pretty excited to see it. I've never seen this case, but I've heard the first part of it on his rap CD. I am a huge Young Lay fan and on the introduction to one of his CD's, he plays the beginning of the Unsolved Mysteries segment, which I thought was cool. His CD is actually called "Unsolved Mysteries." He's a good rapper. You guys should all check out his CD's.

[pjpiazza]

When is it airing?

[Mr. Fuji]

Sorry, that came on about a few minutes after I posted that. Looks like you missed it.

[Awsi Dooger]

I don't know anything about rap. Frankly, if this guy could make it big I'm not impressed with the industry. That method of speaking, well I'll be blunt and just say it's usually not indicative of high intelligence. Don't take my word for it, there have been many studies. If someone throws in phrases like "you know" frequently it's not exactly a positive. He took it to a level I've never seen before, almost a parody level.

[PrettyinPink55]

Did anybody count how many times he said it?

[Mr. Fuji]

Originally Posted by Awsi Dooger

I don't know anything about rap. Frankly, if this guy could make it big I'm not impressed with the industry. That method of speaking, well I'll be blunt and just say it's usually not indicative of high intelligence. Don't take my word for it, there have been many studies. If someone throws in phrases like "you know" frequently it's not exactly a positive. He took it to a level I've never seen before, almost a parody level.

As an English major who has studied linguistics, I'm pretty taken back by this statement. It is obvious that you've never studied linguistics on even the most basic level, because you would learn about the innateness of language and how the way people speak has absolutely nothing to do with intelligence, but instead it has to do with where they were raised. If your parents spoke that way to you as a child, you would naturally grow up speaking that same way. That's why people raised in China speak Chinese, and people raised in Germany speak German. Within those countries, different parents speak differently to their children, and the children grow to speak the way they were innately "taught" to speak.

To watch a few minutes of a person speaking on television and to make a decision about that person's intelligence because he happens to say, "You know what I'm sayin'" a few times shows a lack of intelligence on your part more than anything else.

[Kemistry]

I find it rather amusing myself when I watch this segment. I grew up around people who said that phrase like every 2 to 3 words but it never rubbed off on me however. That's just how alot of rappers talk really.

[idyllia]

Originally Posted by Awsi Dooger

I don't know anything about rap. Frankly, if this guy could make it big I'm not impressed with the industry. That method of speaking, well I'll be blunt and just say it's usually not indicative of high intelligence. Don't take my word for it, there have been many studies. If someone throws in phrases like "you know" frequently it's not exactly a positive. He took it to a level I've never seen before, almost a parody level.

Woah. If you don't like rap music, just say so. There's no need to insult someone's intelligence based on their speech pattern. This obviously more about you disliking the genre of music more than anything else. As for the intelligence of the genre, I'd like to see how the average person fares trying to do the same thing - well. Rap music is not my daily music of choice, but even I can see the truth in that it does take some level of skill and intelligence to craft the lyrics.

Being overly judgemental isn't exactly indicative of high intelligence either.

Lots of people stick in phrases such as "you know" when speaking - particularly when they are nervous. It's not much different than "um" or "like" or "uh". I have yet to come across anyone who doesn't utter any of those sounds during a conversation...and the company I keep is intelligent.

[JimmyHendricks]

Here's the CD Fuji was talking about:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...music&n=507846

The "Intro" and "Outro" tracks feature snippets of the UM segment.

[Awsi Dooger]

Originally Posted by idyllia

Woah. If you don't like rap music, just say so. There's no need to insult someone's intelligence based on their speech pattern. This obviously more about you disliking the genre of music more than anything else. As for the intelligence of the genre, I'd like to see how the average person fares trying to do the same thing - well. Rap music is not my daily music of choice, but even I can see the truth in that it does take some level of skill and intelligence to craft the lyrics.

Being overly judgemental isn't exactly indicative of high intelligence either.

Lots of people stick in phrases such as "you know" when speaking - particularly when they are nervous. It's not much different than "um" or "like" or "uh". I have yet to come across anyone who doesn't utter any of those sounds during a conversation...and the company I keep is intelligent.

Honestly, it doesn't stem from any dislike of rap music. I basically don't pay attention to rap music and never have. On the few occasions I've seen the lyrics printed and not tried to listen to them during the "singing," the lyrics don't strike me as overly clever. I've seen countless music reviewers report the same thing, in comparison to other genres.

Admittedly, living in Las Vegas and working in the sports betting field for 15+ years I tend to be opinionated and perhaps overly judgemental. It's not like I can stroll to the betting window and say to the ticket writer, "Gee, I don't know. Who do you think I should bet?"

The occasional use of "um" or "you know" is certainly normal and I would never criticize it. This case is representative of something else altogether, as anyone who watched that segment realizes. When I was a sportswriter it was pathetic and absurd how many athletes, even supposedly college educated, would say "you know" or similar at the beginning of every response, and frequently multiple times during their sentences.

If I had quoted them exactly as they said it, they would have looked idiotic, so I had to clean it up. Finally I got frustrated and wrote an entire column using "you know" repeatedly throughout: "While analyzing this week's game, you know, I was looking at some relevant statistics, you know, and the difference in yard per pass attempt, you know, is incredibly one-sided in USC's favor, you know."

Frankly, I expected some backlash, but the column received widespread praise and won a small local award. Years later one of the guys on the team came up to me and thanked me for that column, saying it jarred him to the point he took a specialized speech course and it really helped him. In listening to him speak, it didn't even sound like the same guy. So most likely, as in many societal instances, it wasn't a matter of intelligence as much as surrounding influence and available education, or taking advantage of the available education.

[soilentgreen]

I was glad to find out that Williams found his son and those two women who killed the boys' mother were arrested.

[ouphe]

Originally Posted by Awsi Dooger

I don't know anything about rap. Frankly, if this guy could make it big I'm not impressed with the industry. That method of speaking, well I'll be blunt and just say it's usually not indicative of high intelligence. Don't take my word for it, there have been many studies. If someone throws in phrases like "you know" frequently it's not exactly a positive. He took it to a level I've never seen before, almost a parody level.

I agree.