35:05 Arch,Front,South,Broad,Arch loop (3.8 miles) - Black EyedPeas/Elephunk

It's cold in Philadelphia, about 36F, and snowed a little last night. This made for a slower run, because there were patches of ice every now and then. Still, a good run. I picked up enough speed to turn over 9:15 miles, which is very good for me in the city.

I'm not normally a rap fan, though I'm sometimes surprised to find something I really like. In the movie Be Cool, The Black Eyed Peas did a number called "Sexy", which is a rap over Jobim's "Insensatez". This song got me listening to Bossa Nova again, and I got to where I could play "Insensatez". I started listening to the Peas one day and found that I really like them.

The Black Eyed Peas have a lot going on musically, it's not all just rap, and they talk about things other rappers don't. The song "Sexy", for example, is pretty much all about a consensual relationship, something notably lacking from a lot of rappers' repertoires. "Sexy" also stands out because the Peas brought in Sergio Mendes to play the piano part (nice).

"Shut Up" is a painfully faithful rendition of an escalating argument between two lovers, a la Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Particularly wrenching is this section of dialogue:

That was a different thing

No it ain't

That was a different thing

No it ain't

That was a different thing

It was the same damn thing

in which you hear everyone's favorite theme of lovers' quarrels: semantics over substance. On second thought, don't listen to this if you're married, it'll just make you depressed.