A Legacy of Lunacy

(originally posted August, 2006)

A funny thing happened on the way to Rockville with my sista Wicked and the crew on Sunday. We got to talking about music, because in her vehicle she’s got XM and some gangsta rap station was on, which we quickly changed because her 7 y/o niece was riding along with us. Then we got to laughing about a conversation that she was having with her honeybun, because he said that the “oldies” for our kids were just going to be a bunch of bullshit.

Can you imagine, folks sitting at work in 30 years listening to “the good old school” and nodding their heads to “Laffy Taffy”, going “hell yeah, that was the joint!” I mean… are their still songs left out there that you can still play at your desk without getting escorted to the door??? I’m not even just talking about regular rap music either. I’m talking about slow jams too?

Remember when slow jams weren’t just about cheating on your man or woman with his or her best friend, or some wacked out, farfetched story about a cheating wife, a preacher husband on the DL and a thug in the closet? OOOOHHH but’chall don’t HEA-ME-DOH! Remember songs you could listen to in front of and sing for your mom and dad? Remember basement parties and slow grinds and lyrics that were hot like fiyah even though nobody’s clothes came off? There is NOTHING left to the imagination anymore. I hope nobody’s wondering why we’re now a nation of 35 year old grandmothers.

I remember watching a YouTube video that was circulating of a seemingly late teenage girl encouraging a little girl to dance suggestively to whatever rap song was blaring in the background. It’s not that I’m even all that conservative – I don’t necessarily think that the government needs to get involved (trust it’s only going to take a little more in the vein of folks exercising their right of expression before we all get shut down and find ourselves living in a police state, but that’s another blog) – it’s more a sense of responsibility in the home…

… aaah.. now I might be on to something.

It’s kind of like laughing at our children when they do horrible things. They begin to think it’s okay because it was entertaining… and then the ugly cycle begins. We dress our little girls like junior poleclimbers and street walkers and by the messages we send them in the media it becomes normal to sell yourself to the highest bidder.

(On a slightly unrelated note, am I the only one glad that BET Uncut was finally removed from their lineup?)

I know it’s not just me and other folks in my peer group. I also know that the entertainment industry is driven largely by demographics. What we see and hear is largely geared toward males between the ages of 16-24 (and gee, we all know where THEIR minds are).

I tell you, we as a society are rapidly sliding down a very slippery slope. The question is, exactly how deep will we have to sink before we realize that there is nowhere to go but up? Will there ever be a rock bottom?