Every afternoon, there is a man in the street who sells candies, and good candies they are, which attract many customers. But you also know that when night falls, he sells another type of ‘candy’, which attracts a group of customers as well—he is a drug trafficker.
Question: If you had a child, would you let him go near this man, let alone buy candies from him?
I’ll leave you to think about that, as I attempt to expose a repulsive phenomenon in today’s entertainment world.
Definitions
Dictionary.com defines ‘lewd‘ as such:
- inclined to, characterized by, or inciting to lust or lechery; lascivious.
- obscene or indecent, as language or songs; salacious.
- Obsolete.
- low, ignorant, or vulgar.
- base, vile, or wicked, esp. of a person.
- bad, worthless, or poor, esp. of a thing.
It is interesting that definition number 2 made very specific references to ‘language or songs’, and it even pointed to a synonym, ‘salacious‘, which is defined as such:
- lustful or lecherous.
- (of writings, pictures, etc.) obscene; grossly indecent.
Similarly, the above definition makes very specific references to ‘writings’ and ‘pictures’.
(With these definitions thus clarified, we can see that pornography will no doubt fit well into the definition of lewdness. Although my article will be focusing on the lewdness that is present in songs and their accompanying videos, it would certainly not be difficult to extend a similar argument in rejection of pornography.)
The ‘culture’
What these definitions bring to mind is a ‘culture’ that permeates popular music and entertainment today.
This ‘culture’ is a loose mixture of the influences of hip-hop, rap and contemporary R&B, with a dash of ‘gangsta’ culture.
Though these elements seem unrelated at first glance, what is saliently common to all of them is the portrayal of highly sexualised behaviours, as I will demonstrate later. As this ‘culture’ becomes more widely known to the public, I strongly believe that it should be a serious concern to all.
Love, desecrated
The title “My Love” would sound decent to anyone, perhaps referring to a much beloved spouse or sweetheart. But watch this video till the very end:
Justin Timberlake - My Love:
What is the predominant theme in it? We see throughout that a woman is dancing erotically around Timberlake himself, such as rubbing her body sleazily against him (3:41, 3:47, 4:00, 4:07) and gyrating her posterior in front of him (2:56, 3:09, 4:09, 4;17). We also see Timberlake ripping off what seems to be the same woman’s stockings (4:12, 4:14). Throughout too, we see many women almost clotheless, commonly in bras and hotpants. If we have paid attention to the lyrics, nothing in it has been portrayed in the video, save some scenes of flying violins and flying rings. The rest of it? Dancing, and lots of sleaze. Unsurprising, however, from someone who associates with obnoxious titles like “Sexy Back” and “Future Sex / Love Sounds”.
My love? This is love? The rap part, distinctly different from the main melody ostensibly to add emphasis, goes (quote):
Listen baby, i don’t wanna ruin your plan
If you got a man, try to lose him if you can
Cause your girls real wild through your hands up high
Wanna come kick it wit a stand up guy
You don’t really wanna let the chance go by
Because you ain’t been seen wit a man so fly
[...]
I’m patient, but I ain’t gonna try
You don’t come, I ain’t gonna die
Hold up, what you mean, you can’t go why?
Me and you boyfriend we ain’t no tie
You say you wanna kick it with an ace so high
Baby, you decide that I ain’t your guy
Ain’t gon lie ,Me in your space
But forget your face, I swear I will
Same mark, same bullet anywhere I chill
Just bring wit me a pair, I will
So love is about attempting another person’s relationship (”try to lose him if you can”) for one’s own sake, and upon failing, threatening to kill off the other person with a firearm (”pair”, “bullet”)?
If we weigh this song as a whole, its lyrics and its video together, the notion of love presented within is animalistic and almost completely sexual. It extrapolates the Darwinist idea of a ‘battle of the fittest’ onto human love, which is in actual fact altruistic and mutual. If we have seen and understood the rotten notion of ‘love’ that is promoted here, we would appreciate that depictions in the song would perfectly blend in and support that notion, or, also deducibly, that that notion is the inspiration behind the song’s lewd depictions.
Let’s take a look at another song. Watch it till the end, if you can:
Akon & Snoop Dogg - I Wanna Love You:
This needs little explanation. A quick research would reveal that the song was originally entitled “I Wanna Fuck You”; the controversial title has been censored and toned down, but the song still retains its lewd content, even under this new title. A quick glance at a verse of lyrics is self-explanatory (quote):
Money in the air as mo feel grad you by your coat tail take you to the motel, hoe sale,
dont tell, wont tell, baby said I dont talk dogg but she told on me, oh well,
take a picture wit me, what the flick gon do, baby stick to me & ima stick on u,
if u pick me then ima pick on you, d-o-double g and im here to put this dick on you,
I’m stuck on pussy n urs is right, wrip ridinin them poles and them doors is tight
and ima get me a shot for the end of the night cuz pussy is pussy and baby ur pussy for life.
Wikipedia writes (emphasis added):
Of course, the song’s name and topic garnered controversy, hence the name change (though the name is not changed for Snoop Dogg’s album). The lyrics and the overall topic remains the same, only slightly altered so that it allows for the song to be played on radio/television, reaching a wider and younger audience.
I believe that the songs that I have reviewed so far and other songs like them are deliberately intended to push out distorted visions of ‘love’ to the public, with greed being a motivating factor. Although we, the consumers of the media, are supposed to make our own rational judgements on this degenerative influence, the fact it is already so pervasive in the media somewhat signals a ‘general approval’ of it, and henceforth, leads to its normalisation, whether we realise it or not. At first, people detest it, soon they dislike it, eventually they tolerate it, and, God forbid, someday they might even embrace it.
It is most alarming when the article above mentioned of the exposure of “younger audience” to such influence, for younger people are more easily impressioned by the ideas contained therein. And this brings to attention how younger people are increasingly being targeted by proponents of this ‘culture’. We next examine the more subtle advances of this ‘culture’, especially towards younger people.
Targeting the young
Of late, a breed of songs and movies has flourished that features hip hop dances, accompanied by hip hop music that is dashed with rap and R&B. The catchy tunes of such music and energetic dances featured in such movies have appealed very much to the younger crowd. Music videos of such songs and clips of such movies have been made easily and abundantly available on the Internet through web sites like Youtube and Dailymotion. Of note is the fact that these songs and movies tend to complement each other, in that the movies often use the songs as part of their soundtrack, whereas conversely, the music videos of those songs feature scenes from the movie.
A clear example is the movie Step Up (2006). This movie, essentially a teenage love story in a dance setting, incorporates songs like Get Up by Ciara (featuring Chamillionaire) and Give It Up To Me by Sean Paul & Keyshia Cole.
Ciara (ft. Chamillionaire) - Get Up:
The sexual theme could not get any more salient when Ciara took off her top and cups her breast (00:13).
Sean Paul & Keyshia Cole - Give It Up To Me
“Get out my head and into the bed girl…”, he says, to set the tone for the rest of the song. “Slap it up yeah…So what is up yeah…You know you got the sinting inna me pants a develop and a swell up and Double up yeah…So gimmie the work yeah cause if you no gimme the work the blue balls a erupt yeah..”. And as previously mentioned, this video features scenes from the movie, “Step Up”.
I will cease to elucidate with reference to specifics.
This whole ‘dance’ culture, commonly associated with, but not limited to, hip-hop music and dance—I swear, it’s not just about the dance. It encompasses all the sex that drives it, from the words being sung, to the clothes (or the lack thereof) being worn, to the erotic moves being clearly executed (Ciara and Timberlake still comes to mind).
I remember another ‘dance’ movie where one of the actresses jiggled her breasts with her hands in front of a man in a disco setting; whilst the movie’s story line was, deceivingly, of a woman who is trying to help an abandoned child. We must note how carefully innocent elements are being mixed with sexual elements, almost to the point of homogeneity where it is difficult to distinguish between the two.
If we continue to accept these deliberate mixtures doled out by the ill-intentioned entertainment people, I believe that children will sooner be influenced by a highly sexual culture that is masked by ‘dance’ and ‘touching’ stories.
For more examples, you may watch Fergie’s “Fergalicious”, where a child is portrayed to blend well into his highly adult environment (00:50):
or Young Jibb’s “Chain Hang Low”, a clear portrayal of ‘gangsta’ culture mixed with some adult elements (e.g., emphases added, “diamonds all blown up yeah sorta like a pimp” and “have blue have red / like my diamonds gang bang“—all this amidst children’s ostensibly innocent singing:
The ‘gangsta’ culture
Why are you so against the ‘gangsta’ culture? Why is the ‘gangsta’ culture so dangerous? So you ask.
Watch this (discretion advised; not for the faint of heart):
50 Cent - P.I.M.P.:
I rest my case.
50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, Young Jibbs—I see no tenable difference between these, and between these and the company of Akon, Ciara, Sean Paul, Chamillionaire, Nelly Furtado, Frankie J, Rihanna, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera et al.—they all export to us the same (emphasise: the same) highly sexualised culture in their works, and they do so in the most deceptive ways, mixing it with ‘love’, ‘gangsta’rism, ‘dance’ and the likes. So what if Christina can sing? She’s almost always almost topless in her videos (I believe there is one instance where her breast is covered only by her hair); the same with Britney, think “Toxic”.
Sex, sex, sex
It does not take a highly sexualised person to recognise the direction in which this certain segment of entertainment industry is heading. Let us not begin to ask questions like “What is sexual?” and “How does one define sexual?” for these are but obvious.
The examples I have presented to you are (1) very clear, and (2) they are very accessible on the Web, usually the top results in searches on Google, YouTube, DailyMotion and other related sites. Where the sexual elements are stark, they are really stark, and where we are inclined to shrug some of them off as mere insinuations recognisable only by the highly sexualised person, it becomes a sign that we are becoming more and more normalised to these elements.
But one undeniable truth is that they are existent, and they are about to permeate every part of our society, especially and most disquietingly, adolescents and children.
Rejecting lewdness
Back to our analogy, we are guardians of our conscience just as we are guardians of our children. Are the candies worth buying, or, in the former case, is the entertainment value worth accepting? Do we let that man come near our children, or, do we let all the lewdness come near our conscience?
And equally relevant: do we let all the lewdness come near our children?
With respect, I invite you to join me in this rejection of lewdness.
–
Note: As a general principle, it will always take more effort to deny truths than to accept them. If you point out the irrelevance of any examples I cite, I am most happy to point out more examples for you. So think before you comment on this post, for I am confident that my ammunitions are copious.
(UPDATE: I once heard Akon’s “I Wanna Fuck You” (yes, the “Wanna Fuck You” version, totally uncensored) played in a Watson’s store here.)
