Toppa Top 10: Ten Essential Ninjaman Tunes

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 +1
April 11, 2012


4. Number One (Test the High Power)
ninja-man-number-one

Lyrically, “Number One” is total chaos, the majority of the song given over to a crazed, million-thoughts-per-minute, stream-of-consciousness rant the finer points of which are decipherable only to tenured scholars of the soundclash. But it’s precisely this chaos that gives the song it’s appeal—regardless of how much or how little you can understand of what he’s saying, the creativity of it all is blatantly apparent. Just ask Method Man—the Wu-Tang rapper co-opted Ninja’s lyrics (“When I was a likkle stereo, I listen to some champions/I always wondahhh/When I will be the No. 1/Now you listen to di Gorgon/And di Gorgon sound ah reign/And any jump and come test mi/Mi ah go lick out dem brains”) for his classic “Bring the Pain.”