By: Ricza Lopez (Buffalo State College)
Follow Ricza On Twitter
Have you ever watched that episode of Flavor of Love when New York said to Hoopz, “we didn’t make love, we made music”? Who would have known that such a statement is accurate in our demographic? No matter what the day, time or occassion, sex is a topic that really cannot be avoided. It’s on TV, on the radio, in magazines, your friends and peers speak of it. Surprisingly enough, I’m going to touch on a new realm of it and that is in music and lyrics.
Let’s face it, music just like knowledge holds a great weight and power and now more than ever its lyrics are way too sexual. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? It can be seen from both sides of the story for the following reasons. It’s a given that sex sells and that both the record companies and artists need to not only make it big, but to generate profit as well. Don’t get me wrong, we can agree that music that insinuated such sexual activities was more on a sumbliminal tip back in the day. It would take a while before one could decipher what the lyrics really and truly mean. Compare that to now, man oh man, it is way too open.
Refuse to believe it? Ok since our generation gears more towards beats and not towards lyrics take a good look at this carefully… Google it if you need to. First let’s explore rap, one good example is this rap song with Fabolous featuring Nicki Minaj “For the Money” when Nicki says “I’ma put this p**** on your chipped tooth”-excuse me? I was in my dorm cooking when my boy played this off his iPod Touch and when I say that my jaw dropped, it hit the floor. Now let’s move on to R&B. Remember Lloyd’s album “Lessons in Love”? So how about the song “Party All Over Your Body” when he opens up with “Watch me go to dinner/then we hit the movies/ I’ll be back in my crib/ up in the jacuzzi/ I’m kissin’ on your stomach/ feelin’ on ya booty/ I wanna have a party all over your body.”
If you think these lyrics are crazy, you really didn’t get exposed to enough yet. Let’s move on to my Caribbean heads. One of the most poppin’ songs now is “Come into My Room” by Mavado and Stacious and the lyrics go a little something like: “Mi gyal bend ova/mi ah gi yuh from back/ mi have di key, fi yuh padlock/ Mi love a run ova, yuh she baby nuh stop/ yuh sweat til tuh weak, yuh draw fi yuh mop” not I dare anyone say those lyrics aren’t explicit. Now let’s move on to a song by Serani called “Romance” where he says “Rub my belly and play with my hair/Kiss me on my neck, tell me what I wanna hear/ tell me you want me inside you, don’t take your tounge off my ears/ Girl squeeze inside girl ride it tight/ Up and down and side and side/ It’s time to swallow your pride, please don’t be shy”
Now that some examples have been given, just think of some songs you heard at a club or on the radio station that had some form of sexual concept maybe “Say it” by Ne-Yo or “Romping Shop” by Vybz Kartel featuring Spice (mind you on radio stations). Yes sexual lyrics bring in the profit but, is this all that music has to offer now a days? Why can’t these lyrics be much more innovative and not extremely raw and triple X rated? It’s good and all, but for those type of moments , not for the whole world. It’s different if these lyrics represent the artist and the messages they are trying to send and are known for, but seriously, don’t let these lyrics be set the standard for the next generation of music.
If you want some songs for that special or casual moment, follow some friends on Twitter and look at the trending topis this week entitled #songstohavesexto, you’s be surprised at people’s inputs =).
