"... and AIDS between songs, conversations about homosexuality and homophobia in hip-hop that have been percolating all year have come to a head..... It’s been illuminating watching masks come off and hearing what people think these two stories say about the state of hip-hop.... The message in the many twists this dialogue has taken is that a lot of people who claim credit for being open-minded also maintain that they deserve the right to object to some of the avenues of expression favored by the queer people they purport to have no problem with. It’s acceptance with a caveat: You can be gay, bi, trans, pan, nonbinary, what have you, so long as you don’t make too much noise about it. If you coddle hip-hop’s cisgendered, heteronormative core, you can cook. If you show too much queer attraction and self-expression, people get uncomfortable. The illusion of respect for our differences erodes. Acceptance is conditional upon giving the masses something to relate to.... More and more of us are taking up the language of the privileged but aggrieved, of people who see the slightest request for consideration as an attack on their personal freedoms.... A lot of people want things to stay the way they used to be and seem unable to grasp that the way things were required marginalized people to suck it up and live as second-class citizens in a country clearly built for someone else...."
From "I Don’t See an End to This" by Craig Jenkins (NY Magazine).
Here's the video — "Industrial Baby" — celebrating prison sex. I could only watch about a quarter of it because I turn off any recording immediately if I hear the "n-word."
The "vile quip" was: "If you didn’t show up today with HIV, AIDS, or any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases, that’ll make you die in two to three weeks, then put your cell-phone lighter up.... Fellas, if you ain’t sucking dick in the parking lot, put your cell-phone lighter up."
FROM THE EMAIL: J writes: "For some reason, very young children love Lil Nas. I find it disturbing." J links to the video below, and I don't see how you can wonder what the reason is. The kids are loving the very cute and catchy song "Old Town Road," which isn't about prison sex. It's just about riding a horse:
“Lollapalooza was founded on diversity, inclusivity, respect, and love. With that in mind, DaBaby will no longer be performing at Grant Park tonight.”
He did make a mild effort at apology — basically the ultimate in nonapology — "My apologies for being me."
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3 comments:
J responds to my response to her comment:
That particular song may not have sexualized lyrics, but the rest of his music does. Lil Nas is the bait and switch of rap stars.
Would you trust Mr. Rogers if he lured kids in, then changed his tune and became on overly sexualized rap star?
Here’s more… and it includes your favorite word!
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/mar/30/lil-nas-x-montero-call-me-by-your-name-twitter
from the article:
“It has been four days since Lil Nas X released the music video for Montero (Call Me By Your Name) and turned into the most controversial pop star on the planet. The video, which features the rapper sliding down a pole to hell before giving the devil a lap dance, has garnered criticism from conservative politicians and commentators, who say the song encourages devil worshiping and scandalizes young fans.”
“Shoot a child in your mouth while I'm ridin'” -Montero 1:08 – line from “Call me by your name”
Lyrics that mean what? Ejaculate into a child’s mouth?
More from that song:
I wanna sell what you're buyin'
I wanna feel on your ass in Hawaii
I want that jet lag from fuckin' and flyin'
Shoot a child in your mouth while I'm ridin'
[…]
Never want the **** that's in my league
I wanna fuck the ones I envy, I envy
[Pre-Chorus]
Cocaine and drinkin' with your friends
You live in the dark, boy, I cannot pretend
I'm not fazed, only here to sin
…
Good stuff. Wholesome music for the entire family.
Perhaps Lil’ Nas and Cardi B can go on the Satan worship Pole Dance Wet Ass Pussy **** world tour together?
-J
More about the prison sex song next…
I'll say:
1. I had to censor 2 things. That's what the "****" means.
2. According to the annotation at Genius lyrics, the phrase "shoot a child" just means "ejaculate."
3. I never said I didn't know about Lil Nas's sexual songs, only that it is easy to see why "very young children love Lil Nas." It's that incredibly popular song that's just about horse-riding. I agree with the implication — expressed by J — that it's unfortunate the the child sector of his fan base must be prevented from hearing his more recent music. He has something he wants to say, which seems to be mostly just enthusiasm about gay sex. It's the old Tipper Gore problem. Pop songs with explicit lyrics! Hide your kids!
Louis writes:
"Here in SoCal, I don't get exposed to much Country music. The first time I heard any reference to the song, Old Town Road, was in a youtube video I saw last week called, "The Evolution of Dance - 1950 to 2019 - By Ricardo Walker's Crew." (It's a really well done dance video and worth watching.)
"So I did a search for Old Town Road on youtube and the first hit I got was a 2019 music video by Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus. It's one of those music videos that tries to be a short Hollywood film. (and it works) So I can see why Lil Nas X is associated with that song. (It's a really good video and it has Chris Rock in it! - so you know it was done in the spirit of fun.)
"It reminded me of the time RUN DMC did Walk This Way with Aerosmith.
"I think that crossover songs like are really great. They bring us together, yet still retain the individual styles of both genres.
"A lot of the rappers come from a very dark place. People shouldn't criticize them for being true to the ugliness that they're rapping about. Sometimes, they're just playing a character and that character is not a good person. People need to be outraged at the character and the situation, not at the artist that is presenting it."
Leora writes:
"I think people confuse tolerance for enthusiastic and uncritical support. I grew up and worked with people who think I’m going to hell because I don’t accept Christ as my Lord and Savior. We’re friends but we weren’t going to marry each other. Let people seek out the entertainment they enjoy and leave them alone."
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