Reykjavík Grapevine - 24.06.2005, Blaðsíða 9

9
What if I told you that raping, degrading and beating
people up wasn’t in any way wrong? What if I told you
that not only is it OK to promote sex slavery, violence
and derogatory slang, it’s actually a cool and manly thing
to do? If I told you that women are nothing but mindless
sex objects, pieces of meat who are only after men for
their money, would you believe me? More importantly,
would you elevate me to superstardom and make me
filthy stinking rich for airing these opinions to your
children?

50 cent and Snoop Dogg are examples of hip hop/rap
artists (depending on who you ask) whose lyrics often
show little or no regard for human life, and in particular,
an extremely chauvinistic outlook on women. Not only
does the modern day consumer culture condone this
behavior, we actually reward 50 cent and Snoop Dogg
by buying their material in millions of copies. Both of
these artists are popular in Iceland. In fact, they’re so
popular here, it actually pays off to import them and sell
expensive tickets to their concerts in our biggest musical
venues. Their message to the people? Here, 50 cent
speaks for himself in his hit song P.I.M.P. :

Bitch choose with me, I’ll have you stripping in the street
Put my other hoes down, you get your ass beat
Now Nik my bottom bitch, she always come up with my
bread
The last nigga she was with put stitches in her head…
…Hoe make a pimp rich, I ain’t paying bitch
Catch a date, suck a dick, shiiit, TRICK

Now, let’s look at this from another angle. What if I
told you that black people deserved nothing better than
to sell their bodies on street corners, and to have their
teeth kicked in if they refused? What if I told you that it
was not only fair to humiliate black people, you should
disregard them as intellectual beings? I’ll tell you what
would happen. I’d most likely get publicly attacked,
ostracized, brought to court and sentenced for defaming
black people. All of which I’d fully deserve. However,
these exact statements are being made about women in
today’s popular music, seemingly without consumers as
much as blinking an eye. This brings me to a poignant
question: Do women deserve less protection under the
law than minority groups?

Whether we like it or not, the message of popular
music is getting to kids before they have the maturity to
understand that someone like 50 cent is making harmful
generalizations about women. However, attacking him
for the content of his material is not going to solve the
problem. As consumers, we’re responsible for the success
of people like 50 cent. We made him the megastar he is.
Therefore, we’re every bit as guilty as he is for each time
a twelve year-old sings along with the lines: Man this hoe
you can have her, when I’m done I ain’t gon keep her / Man,
bitches come and go, every nigga pimpin know…

Snoop Dogg, who will perform in Iceland in three weeks,
collaborated with rapper Xzibit on a song called Losing
Your Mind, released in 2002. There, the duo described
subjecting women to violent and crude sexual acts, even
suggesting rape.

Back for more, watch me score (with what?)
With any whore that wanna explore (with what?)
The ups the downs, the ins the outs (then what?)
Kicking that ass, dick in your mouth (so what?)
Piss on ya chest, and put it on tape (now what?)
Have all these bitches calling it rape (and what?)
Slicker than that, so pump your brakes (and what?)
Indite it, fight it, settle the case (w-w-w-w-what?)

Snoop Dogg may have found himself deeply regretting
his part in the recording of this song, as he was recently
accused of gang-raping a woman along with his
entourage. It is safe to say that the lyrics above could’ve
proven seriously harmful to him in a court of law. If
nothing else, he became a man of his word, as he did
“settle the case” by paying his accuser off.

The people responsible for importing Snoop Dogg in
Iceland have kept quiet about the rape case against him,
although the settlement only took place five months ago
and is still fresh news. The Icelandic media hasn’t made
an effort to raise the public awareness to it either. If we,
as consumers, had been aware of this case, or looked
critically at Snoop Dogg’s lyrical message, would the
online tickets to his show have sold out in merely two
hours, as was the case? To put an even more disturbing
note to the whole thing – there’s not even an age limit to
Snoop Dogg’s concert. Time to start thinking, folks.
Column by Þórdís Elva Þorvaldsdóttir Bachmann
Use yo’ head, bitch!
By Þórdis Elva Þorvaldsdóttir Bachmann
Shopping
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