Black Sheep / A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing / 1991
Flavor of the Month
cocky but wry, with an undercurrent of vindication
"Flavor of the Month" is a boastful, ice-cream-metaphor-driven track about sudden popularity and the fair-weather friends and lovers it attracts. Black Sheep's Dres plays the once-overlooked artist now besieged by attention, treating fame as a dessert everyone wants a taste of once it's fashionable.
fame and fickleness validation after rejection hip-hop bravado commodified desire self-reliance
Who's speaking
A first-person narrator (Dres) addresses an unnamed former doubter or opportunist directly, recounting his rise with confident, needling humor. The voice is self-assured and largely reliable, though clearly performing bravado for effect.
What happens
The song moves from a scene of romantic/sexual pursuit and self-description in the second verse into a fuller account in the third verse of how the narrator's status has flipped -- from being ignored to being chased. The extended ice-cream metaphor (flavor, cone, scoop, sherbert) ties both verses together, describing him as a treat everyone suddenly wants now that he's popular, while he needles those who once dismissed him.
How it's built
Built as verse-chorus with two extended verses (labeled second and third, implying an unheard first verse or omitted intro) bracketing a recurring chorus. Each verse escalates the flavor conceit, and internal rhyme schemes cluster around food and desire imagery, giving the song a tight thematic unity despite loose narrative structure typical of early-90s posse-style boasting.
Section by section
Second verse
The verse opens with a question about romantic or sexual preference dressed in flavor language, immediately establishing the ice-cream conceit as a metaphor for desirability. The narrator then pivots to self-description, distancing himself from claims of being the best, the toughest, or the most 'authentic,' instead presenting himself as an ordinary, confident individual. This modesty is undercut by the closing lines, where he notes he waited patiently and now has something worth wanting -- setting up the reversal that dominates the next verse.
Chorus (recurring)
Though not quoted directly here, the chorus functions as the thematic anchor, reinforcing the flavor-of-the-month idea as fleeting popularity. Its repetition between verses acts as a knowing wink, reminding the listener that this attention, however satisfying, is understood to be temporary and performative.
Third verse
“cone now, want a lick”
This verse tracks a clear before-and-after: cold stares becoming warm greetings, hustling a demo becoming driving a car. The ice-cream imagery intensifies into near-mockery, with people materializing with cones and spoons -- visual shorthand for opportunists chasing his new status. He needles a former doubter about the cost of that dismissal, framing the whole verse as satisfying, if slightly bitter, vindication.
Craft
- extended metaphor
- Ice cream flavors, cones, and scoops stand in for fame, sexual/romantic interest, and status, letting the narrator describe being 'consumed' by newfound attention without ever breaking the conceit.
- direct address
- The narrator repeatedly speaks to a 'you' who doubted or dismissed him, turning the song into a pointed rebuttal rather than a generalized boast.
- contrast/before-after structure
- Lines pairing past neglect with present reward (stares versus pounds, demos versus cars) create a rhetorical seesaw that reinforces the theme of reversal.
- colloquial slang and wordplay
- Terms like 'sherbert' and 'grittin' blend regional vernacular with the food metaphor, adding texture and humor while keeping the boast playful rather than aggressive.
Reading it
The most persuasive reading treats the song as a satire of fair-weather admiration -- fame recast as a dessert everyone suddenly craves once it's socially acceptable to want it, with the narrator both enjoying and mocking the attention. An alternative reading leans more romantic/sexual, treating the flavor conceit primarily as a metaphor for newfound desirability with women rather than industry success, since several lines (girls, phone numbers, pursuit) support that narrower frame. Both readings likely coexist, since early-90s hip-hop boasts often braided professional and romantic conquest together.
Context
Black Sheep, part of the Native Tongues collective, released this track on their 1991 debut A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing, an album largely built on witty, metaphor-heavy boasting rather than hardcore posturing. Beyond that general stylistic context, I don't have reliable specific historical or recording details about this particular song.
Listen for
- the escalating ice-cream metaphor across both verses
- the shift from being ignored to being sought after in the third verse
- the playful, unhurried flow that matches the confident tone
- how the chorus reframes the boasting as knowingly temporary
About Black Sheep
Black Sheep is an American hip-hop duo from Queens, New York, United States, composed of Andres "Dres" Vargas Titus and William "Mista Lawnge" McLean. The duo was from New York but met as teenagers in Sanford, North Carolina, where both of their families relocated.
1991 - present / United States
Full biography and catalogue