ONE HIT WONDERLAND: 'Informer' by Snow

[A_Dopamine_Molecule]

I won't lie, "12 Inches of Snow" is one of the most clever record titles I've ever heard.

[ReidBlakley]

Fun fact: at 0:59, Todd plays a brief clip from the video for “One Week” by Barenaked Ladies; the guy on the right, Steven Page, is Snow’s cousin. This is how small the Toronto music scene is

[newguy]

In Living Color was pissed because at the time the police union pushed Warner Bros to kick Ice Tea off their label for his controversial song "Cop Killer." However, at the same time Snow was on the same label singing about killing an informer and he was left unscathed. The black community considered it a racist double standard, and unfortunately instead of taking it out on WB, we took it out on Snow.

Also in the mid 90s, there was a huge reggae boom in the North American black community. The fact popular acts like Nadine Sutherland, Patra, Buju Banton, and Chaka Demus were being ignored for Snow pissed a few people off. "Action" by Terror Fabulous is still a banger at BBQs.

[Bobsaget]

7:30 it’s not just an accent, patois is a separate language from English, that’s why it’s so difficult to even read the lyrics to the song. He didn’t want to make White Boy Reggae™️, so he sang the song in the genres original language, and a lot of Jamaicans have made videos about the song saying it’s accurate.

[MnMsandOreos]

If you make it big in Canada, you make it REALLY BIG in Canada. we have laws where all radio stations HAVE to play a certain amount of Canadian music. So if there is a popular Canadian act, they will NEVER DIE in Canada. And yet somehow... This guy

[DanielOmega]

Vanilla Ice is from my home town and he grew up on the same street as my Senior English teacher. young Vanilla Ice used to bully her when they were kids and she's still bitter about it to this day.

[MissMalaise]

Caribbean person here: yeah, to lick someone down means to beat them, or in some contexts to kill them. Growing up it was painfully obvious by hearing this guy that he wasn’t Jamaican (or from any other Caribbean country) but the song was fun. I suppose it’s a point in his favour that I can understand most of what he’s saying lol

To that end, it always amuses me when there are non-Caribbean people in the comments of Sean Paul videos desperately trying to decipher the lyrics 😂

[flame_warp]

Of all the artists from this show to have a comeback hit...

[ArcanaMaxima]

"I mean, Canada let Tom Green have a rap career up there."

...'let' is a strong term.

[AlekWheeler]

Interesting fact: in 1998 PM Jean Chretien gave Snow a full, free and unconditional pardon for his crimes due to his services to music. In 2000, Toronto mayor Mel Lastman awarded him 40 acres of maple syrup growing trees and a moose as damages compensation, as is inscribed in the Canadian Constituion Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Snow now makes his own maple syrup beer, appropriately the drink of York now.

[mikerivera]

And in 2019, he’s back on the biggest reggaeton song in the US

[FakeSchrodingersCat]

I know its easy to hate on the patwah but when you are a teenager you talk like your friends more then your parents, he did grow up in one of the predominately Jamaican neighborhoods he probably also did grow up able speak like that, out of self preservation if nothing else. It's not like he grew up in a white only gated suburb and put on the accent just to sell records.

[RocketRoketto]

Pretty sure i left this comment before but as Snow, I grew up in the bronx and all my friends in HS were Jamaican/Guyanese/Trinidadian, so they aren't hard to understand. Hes talking about getting arrested for a stabbing down the street that he didn't do and what happened afterwards.

(I'm listening to the song whist writing this kmowing you won't read it obviously)

1st verse: the cops break into his house and accuse him of stabbing someone down the street, so they arrest him and take him down to the station where they strip search him

(And if you watch cop shows you know, they needed probable cause which they didn't have)

Chorus: singing to the person who told the cops he's the culprit, the "informer" who's ass he's gonna beat when this is over, hence the licky boom boom down. He's gonna whoop his ass.

Verse 2: he gets his one call and he calls his girl Tami, who makes him feel better about the whole situation

3rd verse: he's literally telling us in the song that he's a white boy from Canada and not jamaican and that he is about that street life and he has nothing but love for the culture cause thays all he's ever known. His way of saying he means no disrespect.

In between: back to Tami, his A-1, his ride or die, intelligent and Irie. Irie is a rasfaraian word/expression one meaning is to be all good, alright, at peace. Hes telling us that through all that Tami is his peace.

(Best part of the song!)

McShan verse was totally pointless, and wtf is a dibby dibby girl. Basically they tried it with him but he won't snitch.

[osriccauldwyn]

America let Vanilla Ice have more of a rap career than Canada ever let Tom Green have.

[Fuffuster]

Interesting fact, my dad was one of Snow's social workers back when he was living in Toronto doing social work with my mom in the 80s and early 90s.

[atomicdancer]

Vanilla Ice: "The worst man in history." - Todd in the Shadows, 2015

[aldomontoya]

My proud guilty pleasure.. 12 inches of Snow is a great record.

[poundbagcom]

He's a fake rapper with more street cred than 90% of the Thug Life rappers out there.

Ok, then.

[twistedgambit]

I just realized that "Snow" along with other Reggae rap artists were revolutionary to today's rap music, aka trap music. With the garbled vocals, and crazy beats, and catchy hooks.

[PetraDarklander]

'Licky boom boom down' means that if you're a rat or a snitch you're gonna get a beating.
There's a great interview posted by Marvin Prince where Snow explains a lot about his youth and how he learned the language. Also the interview by djvlad is worth a watch.

Doesn't have to be black to have Jamaican culture. He learned all his Jamaican by listening to Jamaican music constantly and hanging with all his Jamaican friends. He grew up in Jamaican culture, and if his Jamaican friends gave him the thumbs up, that's good enough for me, and should be good enough for anybody who isn't Jamaican.