Today’s R&B and the Marketing of Sex to Youth

Op-ed by Adeeba Folami

Every now and then, in flipping channels, I’ll stop on BET and try to make sense of whatever video happens to be on when I land there. Recently, it was a video with Keri Hilson and Chris Brown playing on the show 106 & Park. When the title of the video came up at the end, it was listed as “One Night” but when looking up more information about it online, it’s found that the full title is “One Night Stand,” echoing the much repeated line from the chorus where they sing:

“You should stay another night with me
…..
A one night stand is what I need
Just you and me
You should stay another night with me
…..
A one night stand is what I need ”

Keri Hilson and Chris Brown in a promotional photo

Keri Hilson started out a few years ago with a very “clean cut” image but has transformed into yet another female artist who resorts to seductively gyrating half-naked in her performances and relying  more on sex appeal than talent to remain popular or stay relevant in the entertainment industry. The industry primarily run by men who use today’s artists – male and female – to mass market an over-emphasis on, and infatuation with, sex all over the earth. Hilson sings in the song:

“Tell me how you like it baby
Do you want it fast or slow
Cause I get so excited baby
When you’re taking off my clothes… ”

These kinds of lyrics occur in various forms of music but when it comes to “urban” radio/videos, listening even a short period of time seems only beneficial if you are attempting to “get in the mood” or prepared for a booty call or “one night stand.” Much of what you hear is definitely not aimed at inspiring you to think about too much else.

What made me shake my head the most at the BET show was that the teenage audience was shown cheering the video and the hosts praised it as “great.” Most parents who care, do not want anybody promoting a positive concept of “one night stands” to their children but, even though it would be unacceptable for a stranger on the street, a pastor, a teacher, a close relative, etc. to do so, it’s apparently okay if young people are fed this kind of sexual advertising all day and into the night via the music they are listening to.

Are Chris Brown and other male performers – through their dancing, lyrics and messages contained in their videos and songs – models to young boys on how to act toward females and perform sexually? How many teen males, who lack positive men in their life, will watch or listen to Chris Brown in “One Night Stand” and think this is how they should make their move with a girl they like:

“…Tell me how it feels
When your man don’t please you right
And tell me how it feels after I take you on this ride
Ooh I got the remedy girl
I’ll be your fantasy girl
I’ma kiss you from your head to your feet yeah… ”

“For every cause there is an effect.” What is the effect of young children and teens taking in these types of things, visually and through their ears, daily? Is this why more and more young people are having sex at earlier ages and experimenting with various types of sexual acts even more than adults 5 – 6 times their age? Is this part of the reason sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS/HIV, remain at high levels among young people? Is this why some underage girls get taken advantage of by older males who are deceived by these teens who look much older and dress, dance and act like what they see Keri Hilson and others doing in their videos?

Recently, Minister Louis Farrakhan came under fire after media reports misquoted and misrepresented something he said about Rihanna’s performance at the Grammy Awards. Controversy raged because the false message was put out that he had called the entertainer “filthy” and her fans “swine.” Here is what he actually said: “…Now listen. See if it fits. Try it on. If it don’t fit, it ain’t you. See swines love filth. How ’bout you? I saw my beautiful sister the other night at the Grammy awards, Rihanna. My poor sister and she’s dressed almost like with a pair of draws [panties] and she got her legs wide open and is just grinding away. “Oh look at Rihanna, go on girl.” [He was mimicking how some females react to the entertainer]. If that didn’t revolt you, you’re beginning to be a swine. When you can sit down and listen to somebody and every 3rd word is you “MF” this and they start talking about the act that is done in private [sex] and bring it out in the public and make it so low down and filthy and you sitting there laughing at a filthy damn joke but then the next day you go to church and sing in the choir. You are swine. Tough, ain’t it?….”

Actually, many names could be substituted for Rihanna’s in the Minister’s statement, including Keri Hilson and even Chris Brown (minus the panties), but many young people take these artists almost as “idols” and love and adore them to the point of dressing like them, dying and cutting their hair like them, dancing like them and maybe even trying to be “the bomb” sexually like many of these artists make themselves out to be in their videos. In real life, however, it is doubtful that the highly paid singers can live up to the “fantasy” sexual images they create in their songs and videos.

Have these entertainers and those who enjoy what they do become like spiritual “swine” who love the filth that the masters of the entertainment industry are pouring out non-stop? It is sad to see so many Black artists and entertainers, like willing slaves, allowing themselves to be used by these industry “masters” to spread this sexual and base, (not bass), advertising to all nations and peoples. As though that’s all that Black people in America have to offer.

© 2011 – All Rights Reserved – The Black House News
Unlimited online distribution allowed with acknowledgment of bhonline.org as the source

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