Monday, April 24, 2006

just curious...


Is anyone else just not that excited about watching hundreds of Yalies sing along with Ludacris about wanting a lady in the street but a freak in the bed (etc.)?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Some disjointed thoughts:

First of all, I'm with you on this, though it's also partly because I think Luda is just plain boring.

It's true though that while his lyrics describe substantially less violence than other rappers', they seem to make up for it by accentuating the sexual, and often misogynistic, content.

But as a rap fan I often find myself thinking of some of my music as "problematic" and then, to an extent, just letting it go.

Is it progress that Ghostface's new album has a line "big ass, big brains, and straight out the hood" ? I can't decide. (Either way I think it's the best album of the year so far.)

Yalies' appreciation of Luda reminds me of this blog post from right after Three 6 Mafia's Oscar win. Maybe I hold my peers in too little esteem, but I can just imagine a bunch of Yalies getting a transgressive thrill from singing along.

Enh. At least it's something explicit that (I'd hope) most Yalies will realize is misogynistic, as opposed to the more insidious misogyny of emo today.

Anonymous said...

I'm of the opinion that Ludacris' line reveals the double lives that women have to live. We have to appear proper in the public sphere - it's only in the private sphere that we CAN be 'freaks', and I respect him for recognizing the difference.

Anonymous said...

Generally, I like to believe I think about rap pretty hard. And I'm not huge on having a lady in the street. And I know your point is in the freak in the bed as compared to the lady in the street (that they are said together, used to create a distinction between spheres.) But, so I'm not misunderstanding you, we still all want a freak in the bed, yeah? Hopefully I'm a gentleman in the street, and a freak in the bed. . . right hunny? Phew. Ok, good, thanks, babe. There is a sense in which, simply for propriety's sake, I hope (as does my significant other) that I don't expose my freakiness too publically, even during exotic erotic. I think, as I bet you do, there are worse Ludacris lines, though I do not excuse this one. My standard response would be to record a rap song about a gentleman in the street and a freak in the bed, but I think R 'n B might have that covered.

Anonymous said...

No comment by you guys on this? http://yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=32907?

Anonymous said...

that said, we (The readers) would enjoy your thoughts on the ydn article...

Anonymous said...

Gina...what is your deal?

I understand that women have been objectified, mistreated, and abused by a male-dominated and male-engineered system for hundreds of years, but was there really a need to slam an anonymouse person on a blog by assuming that he or she was "think[ing] [you guys]'s so fucking innocuous" and not recognizing that you "have identites outside your male patriarchal bullshit authority"? Are you the kind of person who gets pissed every time someone uses the term Semester instead of Ovester? Does the phrase "all men created equal" cause you to go into spasms?

This world and the language we speak are based on precedent, both positive and negative, and true meanings are lost as time continues to march forward, breaking down into rote. You cannot honestly expect every single individual, man or woman, to consciously think of their usage of the oh so common phrase "you guys" as being demeaning toward women. The phrase IS NOT DEMEANING! He was just addressing a group of unknown consistancy. Would you have been less upset with, "you gals?" I think you would have remaind silent, setting an equal, but directionally opposite standard.

Relax a little, and step down off of your high horse... I would like to think that I respect women as much as you do.

-D