Can I get a what, WHAT?!?! I was riding down the street listening to one of those midday radio mixes, some oldies mixed in with newbies, and leaning hard to it. That Faith Evans track, “Love Like This Before,” came on with a dude with one of those boisterous Kid Capri-like voices shouting over it. It may have even been Kid Capri. I was bopping hard by then and started to sing along: “Can I get a what, what … for all my n—-s that like to hit it from the back and like sex with no strings attached …” I stopped jamming so quickly, I almost got whiplash.
Come on now, there are so many things wrong with that statement, especially to be broadcast on black radio. As a responsible adult, I just couldn’t continue to validate what I realized was trash being fed to unsuspecting youth. And that’s quite mild compared to many other songs I’ve heard lately. At face value, it got me all hyped up and in party mode. But damn, the reality is we’re just killing our kids, intellectually and physically, by allowing lyrics like that, packaged in “party songs” to flood black radio airwaves.
First, we’ve beat the hell out of the “n—-” horse already, but identifying one’s self that way spurs a mind-set of shiftlessness and low productivity. Second, the “that want to hit it from the back” line conjures up images of irresponsible teens — including young dudes with misogynistic attitudes — just buckwilding sexually, possibly with no protection or real knowledge of the myriad outcomes that that can produce. Third, “with no strings attached” is a flat-out lie. I would venture to say that there is no such sexual encounter with “no strings attached.” On the real, you’re guaranteed to either be left with an emotional string, a spiritual string, or most immediately realized, a physical string (babies, HIV, herpes, etc). Our youth — and adults alike — are being deceived.
How can we — including the stations that play the garbage — on the one hand talk about and launch defenses against HIV, unwanted and teen pregnancy, 1 in 5 “n—-s” dropping out of school, etc. — which all affect the black community the most, then sit idly by and let the radio play music that directly and indirectly promotes all of it. I know it’s all in the name of fun, but we’re talking out of both sides our necks, I’d say. Can I get a what, WHAT?!? –painfully aware
–painfully aware
