Maybe it's hard out here for a pimp afterall.
I managed to catch the last few minutes of Hardball with Chris Matthews on MSNBC and he mentioned the Oscars, specifically the song by Three 6 Mafia of Memphis fame. One of his two guests was the Rev. Al Sharpton and some other guy whose name I didn't catch but sounded like he was a conservative. Matthews referenced the song "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" that won the Academy Award, referring to it I believe as "crap". Rev. Sharpton and the other guest both agreed with him. They seemed to be in agreement that it doesn't reflect well on black culture and it was said that one does not want a three year old to be repeating the lyrics.
Since I don't have youngsters at home and since I don't listen to rap, I never really gave the song much thought since Sunday night was the first time I had even heard it. Does anybody else out there feel strongly about this song one way or another? I know my parents really didn't care for the music I listened to as I was growing up, but for the most part, any suggestive lyrics were generally off limits since a radio station would never play it otherwise. On the other hand, some of the songs I grew up with were quite suggestive or alluded to certain things while other songs required the listener to read between the lines.
I'd be curious if people who listen to rap feel that this song should have won the Oscar or if anybody really cares one way or the other.
Since I don't have youngsters at home and since I don't listen to rap, I never really gave the song much thought since Sunday night was the first time I had even heard it. Does anybody else out there feel strongly about this song one way or another? I know my parents really didn't care for the music I listened to as I was growing up, but for the most part, any suggestive lyrics were generally off limits since a radio station would never play it otherwise. On the other hand, some of the songs I grew up with were quite suggestive or alluded to certain things while other songs required the listener to read between the lines.
I'd be curious if people who listen to rap feel that this song should have won the Oscar or if anybody really cares one way or the other.
posted by Joe Larkins at 7:19 PM
3 Comments:
"Hard Out Here for a Pimp" joins good company. It's not the best rap song, but it goes with the movie. Look at previous winners in that catagory: "My Heart Will Go On" (Titanic)... not a great song. "Under the Sea" (Little Mermaid)... not a great song. The list goes on and on. At least this Oscar was earned by Memphis artists. Congrats.
Hi Joe,
The song itself and its lyrics are no so disturbing to me as the possibility that this song might one day be deemed a "classic" as are so many other Oscar-winning soundtracks. Will my grandchildren be watching TV one day in the future and see a McDonalds commercial with some fellas at the drive thru window singing, "It's HARD to be a pimp!" as they scramble for enough change to purchase their Big Macs?
True story. When I was younger, my dad picked up one of the albums I'd just bought to see what his son was listening to. He was shocked! Songs about masturbation, lesbians, getting drunk and fighting, wearing flashy clothes, odes to gangsters and dead women. He couldn't believe it and thought it depraved.
That album? I kid you not: "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," by Elton John. So I take all these cultural kerfuffles with a grain of salt.
Don't forget that no less a musical genius than Frank Sinatra thought rock and roll was just a bunch of punks.
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