The Lonely Island discuss semicolons; incorrectly.
Semicolons: the ultimate grammar nerd tool. Or is it "Semicolons; the ultimate grammar nerd tool"? Nope, that second try was wrong; semicolons are only used to connect two independent clauses. Semicolons are also the most underused piece of punctuation for a reason; everyone's scared that they'll use one incorrectly! Well, everyone except "I'm On A Boat" jokesters, The Lonely Island. In their latest bit, following the brilliantly oddball, gay marriage-themed "Spring Break Anthem," the rap comics tackle grammar usage with Maya Rudolph and Solange (!!) in "Semicolon" from their forthcoming The Wack Album out June 11.
Listen to The Lonely Island featuring Solange's "Semicolon" after the jump.
"OK, everybody, welcome to grammar class. Today we're learning about semicolons," says Maya Rudolph, who's posing as teacher for the day. "Ooo ooo ooo!!" yell the Lonely Island. "We use semicolons EVERYDAY." *Record scratch* Uh, sorry, Andy Samberg, but "everyday" is an adjective that basically means "commonplace" or "normal." We THINK you meant to say "every day," which means "each day."
Moving on, the Lonely Island spit their semicolon-themed lyrics: "Get ready for a whale of a time; Shamu/ My whole team coming clean; shampoo/ These dudes is comic relief; whoopie/ And I'm the motherf****** monster; cookie." Once the guys wrap up their (totally incorrect) verses, Solange jumps in with a calm and cool chorus: "We run these streets; stop lights/ All eyes on me; spot lights."
OK, is this like that time Alanis Morissette sang about unironic things in "Ironic"? But actually MEANT for those things to be unironic?? Which would inherently make the song ironic after all? Is this what we're dealing with here? Wouldn't this song be more effective if we hashtagged "Shamu," "shampoo," "whoopie," and "cookie," which seems to be all the rage with songs these days? I'd just like to know if we're misusing semicolons on purpose or if we're trying to achieve new levels of irreverence; that's all.
