Let me tell you something.

If my Daddy knew one thing, it was that he was cooler than a polar bear’s nose in a snowstorm, and you could not convince him otherwise.

Whether he was always that way, or his adoring girls encouraged it, or BOTH, as my uncle said in comments on “Aqua Boogie,” my Daddy was a dedicated funkateer.

He was so cool that he always knew the right song for the occasion and every so often, Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly With His Song” would float through the house on a sunny Sunday afternoon, drawing everybody to the family room for more music and games together.

So of course, when Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, and Pras—collectively, the Fugees—re-recorded Roberta’s version in one of the RARE covers that outshines its source material, it was all the proof my Daddy needed that he was part of the inner circle of musical visionaries keeping the classics alive.

“What y’all know about Roberta?!”

“Ooooh, that Lauryn can SANG, can’t she?!”

Daddy had all sorts of little interjections during “Killing Me Softly,” including of course “ONE TIME, ONE TIME,” the song’s only recurring male vocal where he got to do his part.

After school and extracurriculars, I’d walk out to find him waiting in his truck with all of the windows down and his nicest shades on, bumping The Fugees. Before I could pick up my pace and rush him away without anyone else noticing, I’d almost always hear “Go ‘head, Mr. Compton!” or some similarly encouraging comment from a classmate behind me. Oh, the shame.

But now I get it. My Daddy wasn’t a “cool dad.” He was a cool guy, and out of all of the guys out there, he’s the one I got lucky enough to call MY dad.

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