I’ll never forget when my homegirl said she was done with BET. Although there could have been a myriad of extremely valid answers to my inquiry, I ventured, ‘why?’ She began to explain…
‘Because what happened to old LL? What happened to Lost Boy’s Renee? Even when it’s time to get romantic it’s like nobody knows how anymore.’
‘hmmmm, go on’
‘Ok. When it’s time to shake my ass I’ll do that; When its time to fight, it’s time to fight; But when it’s time to love I’m tryin’ to love, but new-age Hip-Hop and R&B, these songs, they’re fucking it up. Ever since I turned on BET and Pretty Ricky was singing, like really singing, ‘But if she want me to beat up/Then dammit I’ll beat it up’, I never turned back to that channel again. I mean, is it me or does that line make you think more about slapping a man in his face than scented candles?’
‘I think I see where you’re going.’
‘Yeah, Salt ‘n Pepa were proppin’ up men; Common said he was gonna be by Badu’s side, with The Light; Lauren Hill & D’Angelo sang’ ‘nothin’ even matters’. Now its just stupid ‘drop it low’ shit, and, you gotta play the oldies when you’re in the mood – Boys II Men, Babyface, Blackstreet. They’re mixing partying and fighting music with love music. Soon it’s gonna be like ‘Yeah girl, Imma strangle you, then Imma laugh oooh baby you
about to get strangled’.
‘That would be extremely awkward’
‘Exactly (in an exasperated tone). You shouldn’t be talking about ‘droppin’ it like it’s hot’ if the love thing is fa-real, that’s just weird and makes no sense. You’re supposed to be on some Hey Lover, Don’t Leave Me Girl, Real Love tip if that’s what the mood is. I can’t watch BET anymore because they only endorse things that make everyone cynical and unfeeling’
What an interesting concept. In interpreting art as a reflection of cultural discourse, why is there so much lack of romantic love in modern day lyrics? In accordance to understood melodic structure and historic presentation of adoration-inspired music, why is the word ‘love’ (spoken as a positive) uttered so little in, what should be, a love song? My man said it’s because the music industry is a money making business and since people have no idea what real love is anymore, artists paint the distorted picture that cheating, betraying, and a lack of meaningful connection is fun when in reality it’s borderline pathetic, especially when you’re about forty and still talkin’ ‘bout pimpin’. That makes sense’ but if the lack of love talk in current music selections is based on the fact that being in love doesn’t sell, then I have to ask, why doesn’t it sell? In my mind every human on planet earth wants to love and be loved. I have not met a sane person who does not sing along to Weak. Is our courtship process just different? Has our trust been substantially damaged?
To be fair, some artists still believe. Usher wanted to make love in a club and, although I don’t think that’s what my friend had in mind, at least he said ‘make love’ not – well you know. Maxwell is the best thing that ever graced the face of the earth and he’s all about monogamy. Neyo rightfully entitled himself a gentleman. See, there’s still some love out there, and although I type the words and partially believe, a voice still hesitantly says, ‘I wonder if these are the exceptions? Are we really are moving closer towards ‘oooh baby imma strangle you,’ than towards ‘meet me at the altar in your white dress’.
Maybe this is just the cultural tide, and like auto-tune, we will soon sing, ‘goodbye,’ replacing the fear that we’re gonna get hurt or lied to (so we might as well do it first) with good old fashion Jagged Edge, Soul For Real love, and the like.
