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ZAUM Sonoma State University's Literary Magazine | |
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Return to current zaum Blog post Generation Lil' Wayne April 1, 2010 When you turn on your radio do you feel proud to be associated with music today? Will we look back in twenty years, thirty years, maybe even forty years and with a twinge of nostalgia yearn to live in yesteryear? Will we put on our "oldies" in an effort to recreate the ambiance of the new millennium, tapping our feet in rocking chairs to Lil Wayne's "Lollipop?" Dear God I hope not. If K Earth 101 is still in existence decades from now I shudder to think what will be played on it. T. Pain's inexplicably successful, "I'm In Love With A Stripper?" Or maybe Eminem's "Shake That," in which he describes his ideal woman, saying specifically, "tonight I want a slut." I apologize for even taking finger to keyboard and typing this but do you realize there is an actual song by Three 6 Mafia called "Ass and Titties?" Ass and titties?! Only out of sheer curiosity did I youtube this song when I heard of it. Believe me when I tell you that the lyrical value of the song is all in the title. Literally, that is the entire chorus, just repeating that phrase over, and over, and over again. But of course they occasionally threw in "and big booty bitches," or else how would we understand what they meant? When our mothers marched for equal rights, I don't think this is what they had in mind. There is nothing shameful about sexuality, but the video-vixen industry has morphed into something unrecognizable. Music videos today are no longer about Tawny Kitaen doing a sexy dance on the hood of a car, its about getting as many girls as you can fit into one shot dressed as provocatively as possible and having them grind away until they run out of film reel. The sexual revolution was supposed to empower women, not turn them into ass-shaking robots. Of course, we can't forget to cut to the talented rappers sitting around and generally doing nothing except watching the girls and mouthing along to their own lyrics. I'm not saying the entire music industry today is screwed; there are many modern bands, rappers, and R&B artists that are truly creative and talented. But the they seem to be completely outnumbered as of late. I suppose when it rains it pours, and right now, there is a hurricane of disgusting, vulgar lyricism and imagery. What I worry about most of all is the next generation. What we put out into cultural media will forever reflect on us, no matter how much we regret it (and let's all hope that we get there someday). I remember in high school my favorite dress up days/dances were the era-related ones. Particularly, I loved 80's Day and Disco Day. How will the New Millennium Dance go? How will our children look back on the era? One time I wore a barely above knee length skirt around my grandmother and she seemed so disappointed. Shortly thereafter, she went on a tangent about how back in her day girls my age NEVER would have dreamed of wearing something so suggestive. Oh, and I was going to church. It may have been Christmas Eve as well (which would perhaps explain why she started to cry). I'm slightly saddened that I'll never be able to say this much to my children or grandchildren. Because I think at this point, we've pretty much pushed the limits as far as shock value goes. But hey, maybe that's the silver lining in this situation. At least there's nowhere to go but up. -- Alex Hendricks Questions for the author? Want to comment on the blog? Email us at nicolais@sonoma.edu and we'll post your questions and comments. | |
