Christina Milian featuring Fabolous
“Dip It Low”
3 minutes, 23 seconds
In the mind of man lies a sprawling, jewel-behung idyll in which the ego is permitted to run free, adorning itself in all manner of bling; where every palm-tree-fringed oasis is a mirror for the self-indulgent, and Narcissus rises like a waterborn phoenix. How refreshing it is, then, to hear an R&B artist circumvent this Morian uncanny valley, and keep the proceedings on track.
A sensuously rhythmic mandolin or Egyptian oud pluck lays down the melody, couching ruby-lipped Milian amid its decadent mewls. The percussive chorus, demanding that the ladies learn to “pop pop pop that thing” evokes images of a steam train of lust, hissing from a full-bodied boiler and pulling devilishly into that station where men churn, leaving a lingering emphasis on the song’s centerpiece — Milian’s three-part harmony on the word “oh.” It is a song within itself.
Fabolous is in rare form with Christina. His wordplay has a delightfully playful spirit, while maintaining its nihil-duelistic city edge. Like any man, he enjoys “playing catch-up with a model / But I ain’t used to moving slow like ketchup in a bottle.”
And yet we know it is precisely the slowness of this chase that has enticed its pursuants since time immemorial. Fabolous does not deny this and insist upon raising up off the cot, like so many of his ilk. Fabolous is comfortable. He is one with the music, without running the ball too far ahead of the song’s star forward: Milian’s potent coos.
Thanks, Christina, for reminding our homegirls to dip it low, and for showing them how low to dip it.