Yes, Arab is another rapper and a friend of Soulja Boy Tellem (not to be confused with another, older Soulja Boy). Also, slang does grow and change, I love etymology. Words are fun!
On the contrary, not fun things: 6 year olds, who do not know what hoe and bitch mean saying it in the first grade. Aww, its adorable when they shock parents and teachers alike. A 13 year old who sneaks out if the house in her Halloween costume in the middle of November, because she remembers how the boys were so "hot" for her because of the miniskirt she wore to the Halloween dance. No big deal, though, really.A little boy pummeled within an inch of his life over dropping the N bomb, on the way home from school, because they heard it on TV. He had it coming though, he should've known better.
But some say it's not anybody's fault when this happens, but the parents. Be fore you lay blame any one place remember "it takes a village to raise a child." Parents try to watch over their kids, and bring them up right, but cannot control what they see or hear through other people at school or on the street. Kids are told by their parents not to smoke, curse, drink, have premature sexual relations, fight or steal. Many will rebel on principle and do it. They will rationalize it as them being more in tune with modern youth culture. Rebellion doesn't change from generation to generation.
I enjoy all music, I like rap from time to time. The more surprising and thought provoking, the better. When I was younger, my parents wouldn't let me listen to any rock/rap/hip-hop radio stations and I hated it! I cheated. I watched MTV when they were sleeping; I tuned my walkman (not tape/CD walkman, just radio) to the party stations. They wouldn't let me buy music that they hadn't approved, so my friends made me mix tapes that I would listen to at my other friends’ houses, or wait 'til my parents left to use their tape deck.
I'm a nanny, now, and I know that small children and young teens do pick up on (and even make up their own) sexual innuendo and acts of violence in music. Hell, when I was in elementary, most of the students at my school were certain that Adidas (sports wear brand) stood for "all day I dream about sex" this was just before I started listening to Korn, whom had produced a song by that title.
Many rap artists are persecuted by parents for negative influence on children. You know, sometimes there is a reason for this, i.e., featuring small kids dancing to music in the music video, giving parent's the cue that this music is kid friendly, or mentioning/featuring children in the song itself. On that token, I also disagree with the Kidz Bop franchise. They, without consideration of lyrics of popular music have children sing top selling singles and compile albums. This has happened for so long that we don't, as a society notice. I was 12-13 when Kidz Bop came out, and was offended that they would market this stuff directly to kids. At least try to maintain the illusion that adult themed songs are for adult consumption. Especially songs about sleeping around on your marriage partner ("Follow Me," Uncle Kracker), being "fucked up and feel[ing] alone"(Rob Thomas on Matchbox 20's song "Unwell"), or a softened version of one of the most offensive songs I have ever heard [one I was particularly fond of until I heard the 'real' version in a strip club] ("Let's get Retarded", Black Eyed Peas), all of which have appeared on Kidz Bop albums. Before you go back to the argument about it not being the artists' problem to deal with, I site the issue of Kidz Bop 10. Wherein Pete Wentz, of Fall Out Boy, prevented the Kidz Bop Kids from singing his band's song "Dance, Dance" because of the heavy sexual overtones to the song.
The point is that, being aware of the intended audience for the product, the band acted accordingly. By refusing to provide objectionable content to small children, they were taking responsibility for what they had created. Which is what I feel is at the heart of the criticism here. Soulja Boy's fans are not willing to recognize potential effects on youth that aren't fully prepared or capable of processing the information they are taking in.
Your arguments that we should just let the lyrics and interpretations of "Crank Dat" slide. Being as we just don't understand the culture or modern etymology, doesn't prove positivity at all. A child who doesn't know the hip-hop culture could take it just as much "the wrong way" as any teen or adult like myself. Only their misunderstanding is worse, because they would see this positively.
My current family has raised their boys to be feminists and educated about what sex is and why they should not be having it yet, at the ages of 10 and 11. They report their thoughts and views and enjoy being kids, watch cartoons, play videogames, and often monitor their own consumption of pop-culture and correct people who use offensive language. Even so they still rebel from time to time, or take things the wrong way. They are still learning, these kids are like sponges and suck up everything they come across.
Remember this also: "it only takes a single child to raze a village."
Yes, Arab is another rapper and a friend of Soulja Boy Tellem (not to be confused with another, older Soulja Boy). Also, slang does grow and change, I love etymology. Words are fun!
On the contrary, not fun things: 6 year olds, who do not know what hoe and bitch mean saying it in the first grade. Aww, its adorable when they shock parents and teachers alike. A 13 year old who sneaks out if the house in her Halloween costume in the middle of November, because she remembers how the boys were so "hot" for her because of the miniskirt she wore to the Halloween dance. No big deal, though, really.A little boy pummeled within an inch of his life over dropping the N bomb, on the way home from school, because they heard it on TV. He had it coming though, he should've known better.
But some say it's not anybody's fault when this happens, but the parents. Be fore you lay blame any one place remember "it takes a village to raise a child." Parents try to watch over their kids, and bring them up right, but cannot control what they see or hear through other people at school or on the street. Kids are told by their parents not to smoke, curse, drink, have premature sexual relations, fight or steal. Many will rebel on principle and do it. They will rationalize it as them being more in tune with modern youth culture. Rebellion doesn't change from generation to generation.
I enjoy all music, I like rap from time to time. The more surprising and thought provoking, the better. When I was younger, my parents wouldn't let me listen to any rock/rap/hip-hop radio stations and I hated it! I cheated. I watched MTV when they were sleeping; I tuned my walkman (not tape/CD walkman, just radio) to the party stations. They wouldn't let me buy music that they hadn't approved, so my friends made me mix tapes that I would listen to at my other friends’ houses, or wait 'til my parents left to use their tape deck.
I'm a nanny, now, and I know that small children and young teens do pick up on (and even make up their own) sexual innuendo and acts of violence in music. Hell, when I was in elementary, most of the students at my school were certain that Adidas (sports wear brand) stood for "all day I dream about sex" this was just before I started listening to Korn, whom had produced a song by that title.
Many rap artists are persecuted by parents for negative influence on children. You know, sometimes there is a reason for this, i.e., featuring small kids dancing to music in the music video, giving parent's the cue that this music is kid friendly, or mentioning/featuring children in the song itself. On that token, I also disagree with the Kidz Bop franchise. They, without consideration of lyrics of popular music have children sing top selling singles and compile albums. This has happened for so long that we don't, as a society notice. I was 12-13 when Kidz Bop came out, and was offended that they would market this stuff directly to kids. At least try to maintain the illusion that adult themed songs are for adult consumption. Especially songs about sleeping around on your marriage partner ("Follow Me," Uncle Kracker), being "fucked up and feel[ing] alone"(Rob Thomas on Matchbox 20's song "Unwell"), or a softened version of one of the most offensive songs I have ever heard [one I was particularly fond of until I heard the 'real' version in a strip club] ("Let's get Retarded", Black Eyed Peas), all of which have appeared on Kidz Bop albums. Before you go back to the argument about it not being the artists' problem to deal with, I site the issue of Kidz Bop 10. Wherein Pete Wentz, of Fall Out Boy, prevented the Kidz Bop Kids from singing his band's song "Dance, Dance" because of the heavy sexual overtones to the song.
The point is that, being aware of the intended audience for the product, the band acted accordingly. By refusing to provide objectionable content to small children, they were taking responsibility for what they had created. Which is what I feel is at the heart of the criticism here. Soulja Boy's fans are not willing to recognize potential effects on youth that aren't fully prepared or capable of processing the information they are taking in.
Your arguments that we should just let the lyrics and interpretations of "Crank Dat" slide. Being as we just don't understand the culture or modern etymology, doesn't prove positivity at all. A child who doesn't know the hip-hop culture could take it just as much "the wrong way" as any teen or adult like myself. Only their misunderstanding is worse, because they would see this positively.
My current family has raised their boys to be feminists and educated about what sex is and why they should not be having it yet, at the ages of 10 and 11. They report their thoughts and views and enjoy being kids, watch cartoons, play videogames, and often monitor their own consumption of pop-culture and correct people who use offensive language. Even so they still rebel from time to time, or take things the wrong way. They are still learning, these kids are like sponges and suck up everything they come across.
Remember this also: "it only takes a single child to raze a village."