Hip Hop and Error Analysis

There’s sixteen ounces to a pound, twenty more to a ki

–Mos Def, “Mathematics”

Crack cocaine has long been a scourge of America’s inner cities, and as such, often makes its way into hip hop lyrics.  For whatever reason, drug dealers measure large amounts of cocaine in kilograms (usually abbreviated as a “kilo” or a “ki”), while smaller amounts are measured in ounces (“O’s” or an “O-Z”).  This leads to some pretty unusual unit conversion, as illustrated above.

How close is this conversion?  Well, 36 ounces is 2.25 pounds, while a kilogram is approximately 2.2 pounds.  This is about a 2.3% excess, so somebody’s getting ripped off here.  My hunch is that it’s the user who gets the short shrift.  Maybe we can dub 36 ounces the “drug dealer’s kilo,” along the same lines as a baker’s dozen being equal to 13.

Another example of shady unit conversion:

LHC Rap Video

You might have seen this already, but it’s just too good not to post:

The vibe is decidedly old school, with straight delivery reminiscent of early rappers like Kurtis Blow or the Sugar Hill Gang.  (In fact, since the rapper is a woman, it actually kind of reminds me of Blondie’s foray into hip hop, if you can call it that.)  And for some reason, they decided to resurrect one of the most annoying samples in hip hop’s history, the “Hoo! Yeah!” from Rob Base’s “It Takes Two.”