I know a lot of people love “Crank That” by Soulja Boy. Everyone’s heard it in the past month, whether it is at parties, club meetings or barbeques. It’s everywhere. Even I can’t resist trying to learn the dance so I can join my friends in “crankin’ that.”
But every time I dance to the song or snap my fingers to the beat, I feel a huge pang of guilt for what I feel is my tacit approval of the song’s offensive lyrics, more specifically, the continued use of the word ‘ho’ to refer to a woman. Lyrics that use the words “hos” and “b–” as synonyms for women continue to be an embodiment of a disgraceful aspect of our society. That aspect is the complacency with the continued degradation and objectification of women in the mainstream hip-hop industry.
Now I know that the Don Imus controversy in April partly addressed this issue. The media went crazy, Al Sharpton and Jess Jackson did more protesting, the NAACP denounced degrading lyrics again, some music producers met to discuss a solution, and everyone held hands and said that the degradation of women is not tolerable.
And where are we five months later?
Everyone on campus knows how to “superman that ho.” 50-Cent gets front-page status on Ruckus, despite failing to clean up his music, evidenced by his new song “I Get Money,” in which he states, “I got rid of my old b–, now I got new hos.” At least two of the artists performing tomorrow at W.I.L.D. have used the word “ho” in at least one of their songs.
And now as a society we ask ourselves, are we truly committed to eradicating degrading lyrics from all forms of hip-hop and rap? As always, in accordance with human nature, (most of) our voices say yes while our actions say no.
Now granted, Congress is having hearings on the issue, but do we really need the government to have to tell us that degrading women is bad? We as a society should be taking this burden upon ourselves, and so far we are all failing miserably.
As for those who argue, “you’re taking these lyrics too seriously, it’s just music,” I’m sorry to say you’re wrong.
Our complacency with degrading lyrics has effects beyond the dance floor. It entrenches the use of those words in everyday life and gradually desensitizes society to degradation based on gender.
For example, two weeks ago my residential college held its annual college council elections. One particularly competitive race was between a male and a female. The male (or those campaigning for him) put up campaign signs that encouraged voters to endorse him “before hos,” a play off of the popular phrase “bros before hos.” A few people found the clever play on words hilarious, some even saying that it was OK because it was meant to be funny. I found it disgusting. I also found it disgusting how so few people seemed bothered or offended. An amusing play on words is no excuse to allow the use of degrading words, especially when they refer to a specific person.
The fact that this even happened, that so few people reacted, and that this candidate ended up winning the election (despite supposedly being docked half his votes as a penalty for ‘negative campaigning’) shows in part the effect of degrading hip-hop lyrics on our society. The less we act against degradation in hip-hop, the more we accept its existence and then we begin to tolerate and allow it within our own community.
So what’s the solution? Stop listening to degrading songs. Check the song lyrics before purchasing them on iTunes. Stop buying the CD’s and stop going to the concerts.
I know that even getting one person to completely stop listening to degrading music is an improbable outcome of this article, but it is important to always remember that the music industry is ultimately money driven, and every one of our dollars is a way of voting for what we want. So far, most of our society has shown that we will pay money for a good beat regardless of offensive lyrics. Therefore, it is up to each of us to stop endorsing the continued sexism and to promote music that is not guided by objectifying women. Otherwise, the more money we pay for trash, the more trash we get.
Nandan is a freshman in Arts & Sciences. He can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].