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"F--- You" from the Music Industry
Townhall.com ^ | December 7, 2010 | Dennis Prager

Posted on 12/07/2010 5:12:07 AM PST by Kaslin

The nominees to receive the most prestigious awards in the music industry, the Grammy Awards, were just announced. Among the five nominees for Record of the Year is a song titled "F--- You," with the F-word, of course, spelled out and pronounced.

Here are the song's opening lyrics:

"I see you driving 'round town

With the girl I love and I'm like,

F--- you!

Oo, oo, ooo

I guess the change in my pocket

Wasn't enough, I'm like,

F--- you!

And f--- her, too!"

The next lyrics add the S-word:

"I said, if I was richer, I'd still be with ya

Ha, now ain't that some s--t? (ain't that some s--t?)

And although there's pain in my chest

I still wish you the best with a

F--- you!

Oo, oo, ooo."

And shortly thereafter, the N-word:

"I pity the fool that falls in love with you

(oh, s--t, she's a gold digger)

Well

(just thought you should know, n----)

Ooooooh."

It is also worth noting that the video of this song includes children who appear to be under 12 years of age and all the performers are black -- a point I will address later.

I have long believed that MTV has done more damage to America's young people than any other single institution. I am referring to the music videos, in which most images or scenes are shown for less than two seconds and thereby numb kids' minds, and to the sexual imagery and sex talk that permeate the music videos and much of the rest of MTV programming.

But while MTV should be singled out for the damage it has done to America, the music industry in general has been equally guilty.

How does a song replete with expletives, whose very title is "F--- You," get nominated for a Grammy Award as Record of the Year?

The answer is that the music industry, from producers to artists, is largely populated by people who regard social and cultural norms as stifling. Their professional lives are dedicated to lowering that which is elevated, destroying that which uplifts, and to profaning that which is held sacred.

There is no better explanation for "F--- You" being nominated as Record of the Year. It has little, if any, redeeming moral, social or artistic (to the extent that this word retains its original meaning) value. The lyrics are as vapid as they are obscene; the video further degrades that part of black life that is already too lacking in elevation; and there is the participation of children in a profanity-filled video.

For most of American history, a child who used such words was punished by his parents, and society instinctively knew how important it was not to expose children to obscenities. Today, adults in the music industry reward children for participating in videos laced with obscenities.

Nor is the nomination of "F--- You" as Song of the Year an aberration. Two of the other four nominees are rap "songs" whose lyrics are also vile.

Here are typical lyrics from the Eminem's nominated "Love the Way You Lie:"

"And I love it the more that I suffer

I suffocate

And right before I'm about to drown

She resuscitates me

She f---ing hates me

And I love it."

And later on:

"If she ever tries to f---ing leave again

I'ma tie her to the bed

And set the house on fire."

The third nominee is an ode to New York City, "Empire State of Mind," performed by black rapper Jay-Z and Alicia Keys, and which also contains the N-word. It is worth recalling that when white radio-show host Laura Schlessinger used this word solely in order to condemn its use in inner-city black life, society's elite poured such wrath on her that it forced many of her sponsors to abandon her, and she decided to leave radio. But when Jay-Z uses it, he is rewarded with the nomination for the highest award in the music industry.

Two examples of the N-word use:

"Say what's up to Ty-Ty, still sippin' mai tais

sittin' courtside, Knicks and Nets give me high five

N----, I be Spike'd out, I could trip a referee

Tell by my attitude that I'm most definitely from. ...

You should know I bleed blue, but I ain't a Crip, though

but I got a gang of niggas walkin' with my clique though. . . ."

For the record, the fourth nominee, B.o.B's "Nothin' on You," is another rap song with something of a melody behind it. This song has a decent message of a young black man who, though tempted by other women, only wants his woman. And the fifth nominee was a lovely song, "Need You Now," by the country music group Lady Antebellum.

How deep is the decay in the music industry?

According to the Los Angeles Times, these Grammy nominees were "decided on by about 12,000 voting members of the Recording Academy."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: classicalmusic; music
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To: Kaslin

The Grammy Awards are a joke. There are no real singers, just entertainers. There was a time when a singer only needed a microphone and a band. They didn’t need any back up dancers, singers,lighting displays and enhanced sounds. It was pure talent, and the bands had musical arrangements. Had my mother been alive she would say; “What is this dreck I’m listening to?” If each generation is identified by its music, where has the music gone?


41 posted on 12/07/2010 6:06:46 AM PST by Bringbackthedraft (The candidate they smear and ridicule the most is the one they fear the most.)
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To: 668 - Neighbor of the Beast

And here I’m listening to Bobby Vinton of all people.

Life is strange business.


42 posted on 12/07/2010 6:08:41 AM PST by BenKenobi (Obama's book of the month, Herman Melville's Killin' Whitey)
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To: Kaslin
FWIW, there is a radio edit "Forget You".

The Video

It is really catchy if not the best song of the year. And to anyone who thinks Cee Lo isn't talented, you are sadly sadly mistaken.
43 posted on 12/07/2010 6:10:35 AM PST by Mr. Blonde (You ever thought about being weird for a living?)
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To: sauropod

home


44 posted on 12/07/2010 6:11:15 AM PST by sauropod (The truth shall make you free but first it will make you miserable.)
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To: sauropod

home


45 posted on 12/07/2010 6:11:25 AM PST by sauropod (The truth shall make you free but first it will make you miserable.)
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To: sauropod

home


46 posted on 12/07/2010 6:11:33 AM PST by sauropod (The truth shall make you free but first it will make you miserable.)
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To: Kaslin

“Showbiz kids makin’ movies ‘bout themselves, they don’t give a f**k about anybody else”


47 posted on 12/07/2010 6:12:56 AM PST by NRA1995 ("In [Mexican] border, we are asking, who are you?" President Calderon of Mexico)
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To: GodBlessRonaldReagan
The Grammys suck. I’ll never forgive them for passing over “Good Vibrations” for “Winchester Cathedral” for Song of the Year. C’mon!!!

You have discovered the essential truth of the Grammys. It's not about talent or musical quality, it's about how much cash flow was generated.

48 posted on 12/07/2010 6:19:36 AM PST by Fresh Wind
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To: Kaslin

bump


49 posted on 12/07/2010 6:21:40 AM PST by Christian4Bush (One countdown ends, the next begins. Less than 718 days until we vote out the jackass.)
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To: Kaslin
The Grammy Awards are a true testimonial to how far our country, our ethics and morals have fallen. They should be renamed to the Third World Bolshevik Awards.
50 posted on 12/07/2010 6:22:14 AM PST by SlightOfTongue
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To: I cannot think of a name
Being of the older generation, please explain to me why the “C” is silent in rap?

Ebonics, they drop a lot of letters.

Unlike British blacks, it's too much trouble to learn the native language.

51 posted on 12/07/2010 6:22:27 AM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (Celebrate Republicans Freed the Slaves Month)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

Perfect post, I almost lost some coffee.


52 posted on 12/07/2010 6:24:25 AM PST by allmendream (Tea Party did not send the GOP to D.C. to negotiate the terms of our surrender to socialism.)
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To: Kaslin

And I see that Rev. Al is going to picket the FCC to get
‘Rush LUMbaugh’, as he calls him, off the air. He is a perfect example of finding some cause against ‘whitey’ while black culture continues it’s self combustion of destruction. Unfortunately, this garbage they call music has plagued all cultures in America.


53 posted on 12/07/2010 6:24:30 AM PST by Matt Hatter
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To: I cannot think of a name
"Being of the older generation, please explain to me why the “C” is silent in rap?"

Ebonics......man....word of the street......(heavy enough sarcasm for you? ;-)

54 posted on 12/07/2010 6:24:50 AM PST by sniper63 (Did you plug the hole in the border yet daddy........)
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To: Kaslin

This is a play off a popular meme:

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/rageguy-fffuuuu


55 posted on 12/07/2010 6:25:24 AM PST by Only1choice____Freedom (FDR had the New Deal. President 0bama has the Raw Deal.)
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To: Mr. Blonde

You have got to be kidding. Yeah, the public hears the radio version with ‘forget you’ and the kids download the ‘f-you’ version. Talent? LOL!! Call me ‘sadly mistaken’ I suppose.


56 posted on 12/07/2010 6:30:35 AM PST by Matt Hatter
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To: Kaslin

There is a chapter in here, The Putrified Pop Culture’s Pick that does explain what MTV has done to this country.

http://www.amazon.com/Obamanutz-Leader-Takes-White-House/dp/1448653436/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291731765&sr=8-2


57 posted on 12/07/2010 6:38:56 AM PST by jazminerose (o)
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To: Matt Hatter

OK, you are sadly mistaken. Cee Lo has had success in a variety of styles of music. He had one of the biggest songs in recent memory with Crazy. I don’t know what you consider talented, but writing, producing and singing hit songs isn’t easy. Doing it for 15 years is even harder.

I have no idea what the download statistics are for the songs. It isn’t impossible that the radio edit becomes more popular. The Black Eyed Peas “Let’s Get It Started” is considerably more popular than the original “Let’s Get Retarded”. To the point that I bet most don’t even know the original.


58 posted on 12/07/2010 6:39:40 AM PST by Mr. Blonde (You ever thought about being weird for a living?)
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To: Puppage

Glad I’m not the only one old enough to rememvber that song.

Just heard it the other day, in fact. I could have lived without it.


59 posted on 12/07/2010 6:40:37 AM PST by jazminerose (o)
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To: Kaslin
How 'bout a reprise of Unchained Melody...

Time goes by so slowly, and time can mean so f*****g much...

Beautiful, eh?

60 posted on 12/07/2010 6:42:28 AM PST by badgerlandjim
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