No Scrubs

LaFace, under Sony. The no is the virtue. The categories are the limit.

LaFace released it. Sony holds the imprint. The song is a door policy: not everyone who honks gets in. A house with daughters will meet this one. The policy is sound. The sneer can be practiced until it is the personality.

Keep the no. Drop the contempt.

The eight

Industry
6/10
A chant built so the refusal is easy to remember.
Household
5/10
They are protecting the door. That is a household instinct.
Piety
3/10
No reverence. A rule.
Courage
6/10
They say no in public.
Republic
5/10
A small republic of friends with a standard.
Temperance
5/10
The want is refused, which is the point.
Truth
6/10
The terms are plain.
Stewardship
5/10
A useful no, if the house does not learn contempt with it.

Live historicallyAsk what the actual standard is, in this house, for who gets your time. Say it without the insult.

Song · Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, and YouTube Music · 1983

Epic · Sony Music Entertainment

Billie Jean

Epic, under Sony. The bass is a masterpiece. The story is a man who will not be claimed.

Epic released it. Sony owns Epic. You can separate the playing from the plea. The playing is why it is still here. The plea is a man insisting a woman and a child will not be allowed to attach themselves to him.

Dance if you already know what the song is. Do not learn fatherhood from the chorus.

The eight

Industry
9/10
A bass line people can hum forty years later. That is work.
Household
4/10
A mother and a child are the accusation. He spends the song refusing them.
Piety
3/10
The dance floor is the light he trusts.
Courage
5/10
He says no. Whether he should is the question the song will not sit in.
Republic
4/10
A private scandal, danced in public.
Temperance
5/10
The groove is controlled. The life in the lyric is not.
Truth
5/10
He may be telling the truth. He is also building a case.
Stewardship
6/10
The record is inherited. The alibi is not a model.

Live historicallyPlay it for the bass. Then ask what a man owes a child if the chorus is wrong.