Explicit

The music today??  Somebody please help me with this.   Y’all, I love music and I never thought I would be the parent/mom to utter the words, “turn off that MUSIC!”  I mean my own mother never said such a thing.

Besides I don’t bark orders, I actually YELL them! (I’m from a long line of yellers!)  Usually I yell something to the effect of, “turn that nasty “C-Rap” off on the pronto.”  I’m referring to the highly popular EXPLICIT (mostly rap) music that is running ramped in the teenage circles.

Hear me out.  I repeat, I love music.  I totally dig and appreciate all different kinds of music and I also have high regard for old-school rap.   I was a big fan of the late 80’s and early 90’s rap such as Fresh Prince,  Beastie Boys, Slim Shady,  aka EMIMEN, Run DMC, Ice-Cube, T-bag, T pain, etc.  I jammed to “Boys in the Hood” like nobody’s business.  The difference is…most of what I listened to was semi-CLEAN! Caaaleeen!  Don’t quote me boys but I ain’t said  BLEEEP!    Back then artists had the common decency to bleep out or sensor language with a silent expletive. Yes, music has long time insinuated sex and sexual connotations some more than others but the language was MOSTLY DECENT!

As a gym owner there is nonstop music playing in the foreground.  I have uptempo  music blaring to keep the workout warriors invigorated.  Last week I had an urge to update and refresh my gym playlist.  I took a moment to browse Spotify’s Top 50 U.S. Hits.  Out of the 50 songs in the list, 39 were labeled EXPLICIT!  39 out of 50 songs have an explicit language label.  This can’t be good.  What happened to plain old pop music?  Classic rock?  Apparently EXPLICIT is the popular trend.  Who knew?

I’m not a goodie-goodie, but come on, 39 songs seems a little extreme.  Can’t we just listen to music without the F word???? Can’t artists, including rap stars, do their artistic business without using four letter words?  It’s bad enough that almost every rated R movie seems to think that the F world is an adjective.  It’s CRAZY!   Do we really have to hear where you stick it and lick it as a melody?  Can’t we just “rock with you…all night,” like Michael Jackson did?  Can’t we “start with a little kiss…like…” Aerosmith and RUN DMC did?  Even Prince liked to party but he graciously gave us extra time and XXXX KISSes….without vulgar language.  I’m a Cyndi Lauper kind of girl., “I just want to listen to decent clean music and have fa – FUN…I don’t want to hear about some rap stars true colors and potty mouth.”  Why does the music today have to take you to the roller coaster with profanities?   

Here is what cracks me up….the EXPLICIT label is supposed to be a warning to parents and teens that the song has foul language or explicit connotations but that doesn’t make it okay.  RIGHT?  Just because a song heeds a warning DOES NOT justify the contents!!

In the quiet of my mind I think I came up with a fool-proof plan to rid my teens ears and my house of any more EXPLICIT tunes.   I have a plan for all of this explicitness!  Perhaps my exposed breasts or butt cheeks will do the trick?  Who knows, maybe a streak in my underwear might work.  Sounds crazy right! ?!? Sounds as crazy to me as explicit profane four letter cuss words in a top 50 HITS song.

Here is my brilliant idea.  Next time I hear that filthy junk I’m going to waltz into the teen queens room with my boobs (almost) like pertruding and obnoxiously hanging out.  Like really expose the cleavage as best I can using a push up bra and a plunging V type low cut look.  Along with parading my chest I will carry a warning sign…an air bubble on a stick, reading “EXPLICIT.”  When the teen queen freaks the flip out and looks at me like I have three heads, I will simply tell her…”Oh honey don’t fret, it’s all good and LIT, I have the warning label right here.”  From the moment I hear the sound of a crude lyric I will have permission to wear inappropriate clothing not limited to cheeky daisy dukes so long as I follow it up with an explicit disclaimer.  That way it will be ok!  What do you think?

I don’t want to fight the war on rap.  That can be someone else’s job.  I care more about  teaching teens and training their spongy little minds.  I want to instruct my kid on the evil ways of the world.  I want to teach her that while we are in the world as CHRISTIANS aka CHRIST FOLLOWERS, we are called not to be of this world.  Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to this world, BUT be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may descend what is the will of GOD, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”  We are instructed to protect our minds!  Basically we should protect our ears and our eyes for that matter.

So what that the world accepts an EXPLICIT label?  It still don’ts justify listening to the C-RAP music.  It’s not good food for our brains.  As a personal trainer, what if I had a small sign in the corner of my gym saying EXPLICIT. This would give me permission every time a new client came it in to use profanity. It wouldn’t fly.  Just because the movie industry and the music industry allows a per diem of cuss words per movie doesn’t make it right in casual conversation.

The more I watch movies with jive trash talk the more inclined I’m to use it or let it slip out.  The more my teen queen hears the F bomb and the P word and all the other nasty language the more numb she becomes.  Hopefully my little escapade will do the trick.  A horrific visual of her mom in skimpy sleazy apparel may be a visual that haunts her for a super long time.  Enough of a graphic to make her stop listening to c-rap.  I want her to see my hooker like vision every time she hears a not so lady like lyric.  Or maybe Mr. Chicken Fry in a pair of tighty whiteys!!!!  Omgoodness yes!!!!  

I love music but some of the songs are just not Kingdom material.  It’s hard to tune out the looney tune language. (No pun intended) It’s bad, real bad. Have a listen for yourself.   Give it a go, search Amazon Music or Itunes or Spotify…it’s an eye opener.

Like Gloria Estefan said, “get on your feet, get up and take some action, ” I’m going to do whatever it takes to keep the bad language c-rap at bay!   And as far as the music in my gym….we will keep it CLEAN and real like Van Halen says,  we are “running from the Devil.”

 Thoughts?  Giggles?  Support?

Love, do what you got to do, and keep up the groove!

Angi xo