Episode Summary
35 years ago, on October 7, 1990, LL Cool J took to the streets of New York to find his 'Around The Way Girl.' On this episode, we’re having a quick conversation about the video, and discuss who our favorite 'Around The Way Girl' is, past and present. We’re also dropping a new shirt to go along with this episode. You can get it and more at our shop, Nuthin’ But A Tee Thang, at teethang.com.
Transcript
Miguel: This is They Reminisce Over You, I'm Miguel.
Christina: And I'm Christina. We wanted to take a minute to make a small request of all our listeners. If you're listening to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Goodpods or Podchaser, leave us a five-star rating. You can also leave a review as well on Apple, Goodpods and Podchaser. Ratings and reviews will help us with discoverability, and we want to get this out to as many like minded folks as we can.
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Miguel: Welcome back to They Reminisce Over You, a podcast that takes a nostalgic look back at the best in music, movies, and TV from the '80s, '90s, and early 2000s. I'm Miguel.
Christina: And I'm Christina. And today we're taking a look back at LL Cool J's, "Around The Way Girl" video.
Miguel: One of my favorite videos of all time, and one of the best videos from that era.
Christina: I agree.
Miguel: Are you ready to get into it?
Christina: Let's do it.
Miguel: All right, so the reason that we're talking about this today and not on November 20th when the single actually came out is because of the premise of the video. And if you don't remember, the premise is that LL is holding auditions for his latest video. And the casting director keeps bringing him these model types, which he doesn't want. He wants the girl next door.
Christina: In their little business pumps and stuff.
Miguel: What's that?
Christina: Wearing their little business pumps and whatnot. Yes.
Miguel: He says he's looking for the girl next door type. "I asked for around the way filet. You keep bringing me stuck up tuna. I don't want Ivana. I want Tawana." He takes the camera that they're using to record the auditions and just hits the streets to find his own Around The Way Girl. And the reason that we're doing it today is because that video was allegedly filmed on October 7th, 1990, because it says so, in the corner of the video that he's recording.
Christina: As per the time stamp.
Miguel: Yes, the time stamp tells us when it was recorded, and that's why we're doing it today.
Christina: We are.
Miguel: So what stood out to you the first time you saw that video?
Christina: I think just the laid back vibe, like I actually don't even remember the beginning part with "the stuck up tuna." When I rewatched the video, I was like, oh yeah. I just remember him out on the streets filming the quote unquote regular girls.
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: And it was just more relatable, just girls walking around and then, of course, little dance numbers.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: So what's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear "Around The Way Girl?"
Miguel: It's just a regular chick. So to put it in 2025 terms, it's not the Instagram model who's showing off at the fancy restaurants and at the VIP section of the club. It's the girl that goes to the club just to dance with her friends and hang out, just your regular everyday around the way girl. And that's what I think of when I hear it. And in terms of the video, like you said, I just think about how low key it was compared to all of his other stuff. Because as we've mentioned several times before, LL Cool J can be a maniac sometimes. And this is probably his most toned down video. He's not doing anything crazy or outrageous. He's just out on the street filming New Yorkers. And then the cast of the video as well, obviously.
Christina: The most LL part, or typical LL stuff, was him being all sweaty and all the girls rubbing his chest while he's body rolling.
Miguel: But even for him that was toned down.
Christina: So he got to do a little bit, but not too much.
Miguel: So when we last talked about LL in a long form way, we discussed how this was part of his comeback album. What was different about this song versus all the songs for the ladies on Walking With The Panther?
Christina: Well, the main difference, I would say, is this doesn't sound forced. Like it doesn't sound like, oh, we need some songs for the ladies. We need another "I Need Love." And you know how I always tell you that "I'm the Type of Guy" always feels a little creepy to me? "I'm the type of guy." And then some of the other ones, they were just not good. Whereas this one is just like, it just felt more natural. It didn't feel like the record company needs a song, a particular type of song. And even though technically it's a song for the ladies, I mean, obviously the fellas like it too.
Miguel: Of course.
Christina: So it's not so, so like specifically, I'm trying to swoon the ladies.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: It's just, it's fun. It's cute. It's laid back.
Miguel: Yeah. And like I said, the typical LL we get is just something unhinged. And because this is his quote unquote comeback album, he had matured a little bit and he's not the young teenager that he was before.
Christina: What, the one and a half years before?
Miguel: And it's crazy to talk about a comeback album at like 21, 22 years old, which is crazy.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: But yeah, it was just a toned down version of LL and not getting all the outlandish stuff that he was saying on the previous album.
Christina: So everything about this video just encompasses the '90s.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: So what's a moment or a line that stuck with you throughout the years?
Miguel: It's basically the dancing that you mentioned.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: Because there was a small window of time where LL was dancing all the time. And this is right in that window. He was like trying to get his Big Daddy Kane on or something where I'm going to be this hard MC, but I'm going to be soft and dance with the ladies a little bit too. I'm not ashamed to get my groove on. Because in "Jingling Baby," he's doing a lot of dancing in that. And he's doing a lot of dancing in this one too, like choreographed dancing with the girls too, which is not what we knew LL Cool J for. And also like the hats and the clothes that they're wearing. It's very 1990.
Christina: For the girls, you see all the variations of styles that girls were wearing in the '90s too. Like you had the overalls, a little more casual style, but then you had the girl with the high ponytail and she had like a little tight top on, so she was a little more like sophisticated. But she's still an around the way girl.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: Then you had like the bike shorts and stuff, so it was like a wide variation of what the 90s styles were.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: Yeah. I think he really encompass the whole, a love letter to all the girlies.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: Because even though the song is not about one true love, it doesn't sound like he's boasting about having multiple women per se.
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: He's just like, I love all the around the way girls, Lisa, Angela, Pamela, Renee. I love you from around the way and that's like the last line too, so it just closed it off.
Miguel: Yeah. This is the type of woman I'm looking to settle down with at 22 years old.
Christina: Yeah. These are the kind of girls I like.
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: And like I said, it just feels more like a love letter instead of just like, oh, hello ladies. And it's just like, I love these kind of ladies. They're cool, they're fun, they're pretty and that's what I like.
Miguel: "I don't want Ivana, I want Tawana."
Christina: Bamboo earrings, at least two pairs.
Miguel: At least two pair.
Christina: At ;east two pairs.
Miguel: My favorite line is "a Fendi bag and a bad attitude."
Christina: "That's all I need to get me in a good mood."
Miguel: A bad attitude.
Christina: I like the "all the businessmen in suits be honking at you." See, everybody likes an around the way girl.
Miguel: Exactly. If you had to choose one person who would be the ultimate 1990s Around The Way Girl, in your mind?
Christina: Rosie Perez.
Miguel: Okay. Yeah, I see it.
Christina: I have two follow ups, but that was like the first person that popped into my head.
Miguel: Okay.
Christina: Because she definitely can have a bad attitude.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: She definitely, definitely, she's got that strong accent. She doesn't switch it up. That's Rosie Perez.
Miguel: Yeah. Yeah, I can see it.
Christina: I have two others, but I'm going to let you answer first.
Miguel: I really thought long and hard about it, and I'm going to say Queen Latifah. That's going to be mine because she could hang with the ladies, but she could also fit in with the dudes, and it wasn't weird. So I'm going to go with Queen Latifah. Because even back then, she wasn't out. I don't think she's ever actually confirmed it today, but dudes still wanted to get with her.
Christina: Yeah, the little one who grabbed her butt.
Miguel: Yes, Vinnie in "U.N.I.T.Y." "And the little one said..." So yeah, I'm going to say Queen Latifah.
Christina: That's a good answer. Good answer. My other two that I thought of afterwards was Nia Long and Jada Pinkett.
Miguel: Yeah, I can see both of those for two different reasons.
Christina: Yeah, because even in their early roles and stuff, they were always the neighborhood girl that every dude wanted to be with. So I was like, yeah, that's an around the way girl. They're like, because the thing about, like even though the idea of the around the way girl is sort of like the average girl, but like they're still like pretty and like men, you know, want to be with them. So it's not just like, oh, just a regular deguler girl.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: They're regular, but they're not necessarily regular deguler, you know what I'm saying? So Nia Long and Jada Pinkett were always like those girls in the movies and stuff, right? Movies, music videos.
Miguel: OK, I agree.
Christina: OK, so now if you had to choose someone who represents that today, who would that be?
Miguel: Ooh, ok, I have an answer, but I think I have a second one as well because I didn't think about this beforehand. I wanted to come off the top of the dome.
Christina: All right.
Miguel: And I'm seeing two people in my head.
Christina: All right.
Miguel: And they're two different types of women, but similar at the same time. I'm going to say Cardi B is definitely an around the way girl.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: But she's the one that might get a little reckless at times and say something to get both of y'all in trouble. And my second one would be Teyana Taylor, who not only might say something to get you in trouble, but she might get you out of some trouble, too.
Christina: Oh, I think she can.
Miguel: So I'm going with those two because, like you said, they're both pretty, they both embody--
Christina: Where they came from.
Miguel: Where they came from, they're both down to earth. You're not getting anything fake with either of them.
Christina: Right.
Miguel: And people like them.
Christina: That's why people like them because they're relatable.
Miguel: Yeah. Like obviously Cardi B has a whole bunch of haters. And that's just for stan reasons.
Christina: Right.
Miguel: But objectively looking at her as just a person and not on some stan shit, around the way girl.
Christina: Yeah. Yeah. The only reason why I, because I actually put, I put down Cardi B's attitude, but not her look.
Miguel: OK. But that's only because she gets glammed up.
Christina: Yeah. She's she's always glammed up.
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: And but I think that's just the nature of fashion now. So if you're a celebrity or you're known or something like the around the way girl look, it's just not, it's just not what we have right now.
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: Even like even you see how like athleisure has become glam.
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: Where it's like technically they're wearing athleisure, but they still got like, you know, full face of makeup. They got the hair is perfect. Like it's just not, that's just not how fashion is these days. So it was hard for me to pick somebody because of the fashion. But definitely Cardi B's attitude and personality. She's, she has not changed--
Miguel: At all.
Christina: And she's, like I said, despite all the fame and the wealth, she still seems very down to earth.
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: And relatable in her own way.
Miguel: Out in the middle of the street.
Christina: It's just when she starts talking about money and stuff, then it's like, all right, she's rich.
Miguel: But hey, she says she's a single mom. That's why she was out in the middle of the street trying to sell her new CD.
Christina: Yeah, but that's because she don't want to give up her Lamborghini.
Miguel: Exactly.
Christina: But yeah, and yeah, definitely Teyana too. Yeah, I didn't even think of her, but that's, I'd say, I definitely agree with that. Yeah, I can't really think of anybody else. But I also don't know the girlies like that these days either.
Miguel: Yeah, that's true.
Christina: I don't pay attention that much anymore.
Miguel: It's out of my demographic these days.
Christina: So I guess listeners, hey, if you guys are keeping up to date, you can put us on to some around the way girls.
Miguel: Let us know who around the way girls are in current term. Because I can't really think of anybody else. I know they exist. It's got to be a couple, at least three. So this one was short and sweet, nice and to the point. Talking about "Around The Way Girl" video, October 7th, 1990, 35 years ago.
Christina: Ugh, 35 years. All these anniversaries just keep getting longer and longer.
Miguel: They do. LL roaming the streets with his video camera, trying to find around the way girls.
Christina: Of course I saw someone in the comments was like, that's my aunt and put a time code.
Miguel: That's funny. I'm going to have to go back and look.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: I want to see. Yeah. And since we did an episode a while back about background singers and background dancers, some of those ladies in that episode that we spoke about are in this video, including Big Les.
Christina: Of course, Big Les is always...you can always count on a sighting, a Big Les sighting around this time.
Miguel: If there's a '90s reference, she's going to be involved somehow.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: All right. So I guess we can go ahead and wrap this one up here. Oh, yeah. So we will be launching a new shirt based off of the "Around The Way Girl" video. If you would like to check that out, go to our store, teethang.com, Nuthin But A Tee Thang. That's where we sell our merch. We have all sorts of good stuff there. So go ahead and check it out. Also, you can check out the music video as well. So you can know what is actually being printed on the shirt. There's also going to be a transcript and not really a playlist because there's only one song to listen to. So there shouldn't be any of that. I can post this one and the remix. How about that?
Christina: There you go.
Miguel: And yeah, you can sign up for our newsletter. troypodcast.com/newsletter, Liner Notes. It comes out once a month. It's free. So get into that as well. And yeah, we just gon' get on up out of here.
Christina: This one was short and sweet.
Miguel: Anything else you want to say?
Christina: Mmmm...nope.
Miguel: All right, then we out. Bye.
Christina: Bye.