It is common knowledge that subliminal messages are sent to us through the media: however, it seems to be the more direct messages that we ignore every day. Music is present in the daily lives of many people, especially on campus. Walking to class, it’s second nature to pull out a pair of headphones and jam to a favorite song. All over campus people listen to music as they study, eat and wait for buses. Much of the music being produced today is known to have very explicit lyrics; however, people continue to support the artists.
I remember riding with a friend about a month ago and listening to a Lil Wayne song. Listening to the lyrics of the song, I wondered why anyone would pay money to listen to any of it. The lyrics were laced with vulgar words about drugs, money and disrespect to women. I can respect a rapper that creates music about his or her real life experiences. However, I cannot stand behind someone who not only disrespects himself but also the suffering of others.
“Pop a lot of pain pills/ Bout to put rims on my skateboard wheels/ Beat that p***y up like Emmett Till.” These are the lyrics that have recently gotten Lil Wayne dropped from Mountain Dew endorsements. While reading these lyrics, I cannot understand how any of it relates to what is said before. Taking pain pills has absolutely nothing to do with putting rims on skateboard wheels, putting rims on skateboard wheels has nothing to do with sex, and the reference to Emmett Till is completely disrespectful.
For those who do not know the story of Till, in short: Till, a 14-year-old black male, travelled from his Chicago, Ill., home to Mississippi for a family visit in 1955. He was reported to have whistled at a white woman in a flirtatious manner and in response to this, Till was taken from his great uncle’s home in the night, brutally beaten, shot in the head, and thrown into a river with a cotton gin fan tied around his neck with barbed wire. Till’s story should be respected, as his story showed America that things needed to change between white and black Americans. Lil Wayne’s use of Till’s name to describe sexual relations not only display a disregard for Till’s family but also a lack of pride for the history of his own nationality.
Sadly Lil Wayne is not the only one who has recently made headlines for his lyrics. “Put Molly (ecstasy) all in her champagne/ she ain’t even know it/ I took her home and enjoyed that/ she ain’t even know it” are the words that caused rapper Rick Ross to lose endorsement from Reebok. Although Ross has stated he does not condone rape and that the lyrics that he performed in this song were misinterpreted, the lyrics show little room for misinterpretation.
The lyrics blatantly state that Ross drugged a woman by placing the common date rape drug “Molly” in her drink without her knowledge and continued to take her home and enjoy her without her knowledge. Unless Ross wants to imply that he played an innocent game of checkers at home with the woman in her drugged state, it is safely assumed that he enjoyed her by having sexual relations with her. To make matters worse, Ross recites, “I die over these Reeboks, you ain’t even know it” before the aforementioned lyrics. These lyrics show no appreciation for the company that chose to endorse Ross, nor do they promote a positive image for the company.
After hearing about these cases, I was left wondering why these artists were even sponsored in the first place. The lyrics that cost Lil Wayne and Rick Ross their endorsements are not the only lyrics of their kind. Many artists today are supported and made famous for creating catchy songs or something easy to dance to. This is simply because people do not listen to the words of the music that they listen to but, continue to blindly support the artists. Take a second and look up the words to the next song that you listen to. Will you still support that artist?
Erynn Williams is a freshman majoring in dance.
