There are some things I will never understand about women. Why do you go to the bathroom in groups? Why do you ask for my opinion if you don’t have any plans on taking it in to consideration? Why do you listen to and enjoy rap music?
The last question is the most perplexing to me. I enjoy an awkward conversation at the urinal and at least you want me to feel included, but rap music, seriously?
Last year I was on a date with my girlfriend. It was a warm summer day, we were planning on going for a hike and I thought everything was good in the world. After five minutes of an unusually quiet car ride I asked if everything was okay. It wasn’t.
That day happened to be our seventeen week anniversary and I was an “idiot” for forgetting. As I was in the middle of apologizing, she turned on the stereo, plugged in her iPod and our conversation for the ride was terminated.
Her choice of song was “Dead Wrong” by Biggie. As we drove down I-205 we listened to Biggie’s descriptive stories of abusing a woman and then stealing her money, bag and clothes.
We followed that up with empowering songs like Lil Wayne’s “Ask Dem Hoes,” Birdman’s “Popping Bottles,” and Soulja Boy’s “Tell’em.”
But in the eyes of my girlfriend, I was the bad guy. Surprisingly, our relationship didn’t work out.
I should have remembered our “anniversary,” but my failure to remember a seventeen week anniversary is nowhere near as offensive as the belittling lyrics women listen to every day in rap songs.
Guys are not the worst things in the world. Sure we skip a shower every once in awhile, we think sitting on a couch for hours at a time watching a football game is a perfectly acceptable use of time and we forget “anniversaries” fairly frequently. But we’re not the enemy.
“I really like the beats” freshman Juliana Weiss said. “I honestly couldn’t tell you the lyrics to half of the rap songs I listen to.”
I listen to rap music. I can’t identify with the rappers, their life stories or the things that they rap about but if “In Da Club” comes up on shuffle, I’m not pressing skip.
But, if I was ever listening to a song that called me stupid, constantly described me as a sex object and belittled any of my aspirations I would change the song.
I don’t blame the rappers for the offensive lyrics. They produce a product and consumers buy it. Is rap music the Taylor Swift for men?
“I don’t listen to rap music if something with a girl doesn’t work out, I nut up,” freshman Trey Chenier said. “I listen to rap music because it’s funny, easy to listen to, and gets me jacked.”
“I get psyched when I hear rap music,” Weiss said. “I don’t think about the lyrics, I just like the passion and intensity of the songs.”
Well, that doesn’t make sense. Rap music doesn’t exactly speak to a woman’s sense of feminism or belief in equality. In fact, rap does everything it can to be offensive, belittling and sometimes disgusting.
I guess I’ll never understand the allure of rap music to women. But there are a lot of things I’ll never understand about women. I should probably start learning soon.