Date:    Tue, 9 Jun 1998 10:47:29 -0500
<br>From:    Grant Barrett <gbarrett[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]DFJP.COM>
<br>Subject: "You da man."
<br>
<br>I believe my peers and I caught onto to "you da man" from Spike Lee's movie
<br>"Do The Right Thing" which has a scene of two black men arguing about which
<br>of them, really and truly, was "da man."
<br>
<br>MOOKIE: You da man.
<br>
<br>BUGGIN OUT: You da man.
<br>
<br>MOOKIE: No you da man.
<br>
<br>BUGGIN OUT: No you da man.
<br>
<br>MOOKIE: No you da man.
<br>
<br>BUGGIN OUT: No I'm just a struggling black man tryin' to keep his dick hard in
<br>a cruel and harsh world.... whassup with the white boy?
<br>
<br>The movie came out in 1989, and for those of who stepped out into the world at
<br>that time (usually by entering college), it was a defining, informing movie. It
<br>demonstrated strife inside of the black community that people like me (white,
<br>semi-rural, middle class, Midwestern) didn't know existed, partly because we had
<br>perceived the black community as a monolith of thought and opinion. "You da man"
<br>and a few other lines of the movie were easy hooks into something foreign.
<br>
<br>I wonder how we could gauge how much impact that movie had on the use of
<br>"you da man?"
<br>
<br>Grant Barrett
<br>gbarrett[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]dfjp.com
<br>