We borrowed the title of this Tower of Power mega-hit for POCHO Jefe Lalo Alcaraz’ toon about San Francisco hipsters so it’s only fair we show our true love for the Bay Area in general and TOP in particular.
Check out TOP’s performance of What Is Hip? live at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2006 (with guest star Carlos Santana.)
By the way, these are some hip lyrics:
So you want to jump out your trick bag
[Chorus] What is hip?
And ease on into a hip bag
But you ain’t just exactly sure what’s hip
So you start to let your hair grow
Spend big bucks to cop you a wardrobe
But somehow you know there’s much more to the trip
Tell me, tell me if you think you know
What is hip?
If you was really hip
The passing years would show
You into a hip trip
Maybe hipper than hip
But what is hip?So you became part of the new breed
[Chorus]
Been smokin’ only the best weed
Been hangin’ out on the so-called hippest set
Being seen at all the right places
Being seen with just the right faces
You should be satisfied
Still it ain’t quite rightHipness, what it is!
Hipness, what it is!
Hipness, what it is!
And sometimes hipness is
What it ain’t!You done even went and found you a guru
In your effort to find you a new you
And maybe even managed
To raise your conscious level
As you striving to find the right road
There’s one thing you should know
What’s hip today
Might become passéSongwriters: S. KUPKA, E. CASTILLO, D. GARIBALDI
What Is Hip lyrics © BOB-A-LEW SONGS O/B/O STEPHEN KUPKA SONG , BOB-A-LEW SONGS O/B/O ARIKAT MUSIC , BOB-A-LEW SONGS O/B/O DAVID GARIBALDI SONGS
PREVIOUSLY ON CARLOS SANTANA: