One aspect of the "Man-Box" is that men must be sexual beings that don't know how to control their hormones. Men are supposed to be continuously on the hunt to have sex with many partners and then brag about their "conquests". Music is a great way for musicians to open up about their sex lives and their own sexuality. This particular blog will continue with the theme of men's story-telling through music. The two songs that are being discussed in this particular post will deal with this issue of how men hyper-sexualize themselves through their music.
Hip-hop music is a great example of how men portray their sex lives and their expectations for other men's sex lives. It has been commonly known for the way it subjectifies women and further builds the walls of the "Man-Box". Instead of picking the obvious choices of Ludacris or Plies, I've decided to focus on an underground hip-hop artist that goes by the name of MURS. His song, entitled "Freak These Tales" is about a few of the women that he had sex with in the past.
While starting this blogging project of mine I have become a fan of MURS. His songs aren't the cookie-cutter formulaic versions of hip-hop songs coming out today. The stories he tells through his music are more about what rappers were rapping about when hip-hop music emerged in the 80s. This song, though, comes close to this pattern of rappers telling of their sexual conquests. He raps about his experiences from the time he lost his virginity, a lesbian, an aspiring female rapper, a Korean woman, a "hood rat", a stripper, a latina woman, and a few others. It isn't so much of what MURS says about these women that bothers me, as much as it is the chorus of this song:
"Once upon a time in a land around the way
There lived a couple girls that would never give me play
Used to wear tight shirts and shorts skirts everyday
Everytime I tried to hit it, they say no way
Until one fine day, in this land of LA
One finally slipped up and she let me have my way
She kinda turned me out, changed my life I must say
Cuz I haven’t stopped chasin these broads to this day"
It's a glimpse of the age-old myth that just because a woman is wearing revealing clothes, she is looking to have sex with every man they walk by. Other than that small complaint about this song, I enjoy how blunt he is about his experiences with these women. He admits that he doesn't have sex with every woman that crosses his past. He also admits that he isn't a rockstar in the bedroom, so to speak. As far as hip-hop music goes (I hardly listen to it any more, thanks to my introduction to the world of feminism) I won't hesitate to listen to MURS again. A big thanks goes out to my ex who told me about him.
On the complete other side of the subject of this blog is a song written and performed by a band named Franz Ferdinand. Their first self-titled album, Franz Ferdinand, has a mix of your
typical pop-like, indie rock, dance tunes about women and love is a song that surprised me the first time I heard it. I was a senior in high school when this cd first came out. I fell in love with their #1 hit "Take Me Out" and rushed to buy their album. Upon first listening to this album I heard the song "Michael". "Michael" is a song written by the lead singer about his two of his friends' debauched night at a dance club.
While I was completely fine with homosexuality, it was still a taboo subject within high school-aged children. I had gay friends who had just came out during a time when coming out as a homosexual was still unheard of and risky. When I first heard this song I blushed and felt weird listening to it (and loving it!) Most of Franz Ferdinand's heterosexual male fans felt weird for loving this song too. None of the members of Franz Ferdinand have not come out as being homosexual to my knowledge. It is refreshing to see a once-popular male band sing about homosexuality just as if they were singing a song with heterosexual lyrics.
Hip-hop music is a great example of how men portray their sex lives and their expectations for other men's sex lives. It has been commonly known for the way it subjectifies women and further builds the walls of the "Man-Box". Instead of picking the obvious choices of Ludacris or Plies, I've decided to focus on an underground hip-hop artist that goes by the name of MURS. His song, entitled "Freak These Tales" is about a few of the women that he had sex with in the past.While starting this blogging project of mine I have become a fan of MURS. His songs aren't the cookie-cutter formulaic versions of hip-hop songs coming out today. The stories he tells through his music are more about what rappers were rapping about when hip-hop music emerged in the 80s. This song, though, comes close to this pattern of rappers telling of their sexual conquests. He raps about his experiences from the time he lost his virginity, a lesbian, an aspiring female rapper, a Korean woman, a "hood rat", a stripper, a latina woman, and a few others. It isn't so much of what MURS says about these women that bothers me, as much as it is the chorus of this song:
"Once upon a time in a land around the way
There lived a couple girls that would never give me play
Used to wear tight shirts and shorts skirts everyday
Everytime I tried to hit it, they say no way
Until one fine day, in this land of LA
One finally slipped up and she let me have my way
She kinda turned me out, changed my life I must say
Cuz I haven’t stopped chasin these broads to this day"
It's a glimpse of the age-old myth that just because a woman is wearing revealing clothes, she is looking to have sex with every man they walk by. Other than that small complaint about this song, I enjoy how blunt he is about his experiences with these women. He admits that he doesn't have sex with every woman that crosses his past. He also admits that he isn't a rockstar in the bedroom, so to speak. As far as hip-hop music goes (I hardly listen to it any more, thanks to my introduction to the world of feminism) I won't hesitate to listen to MURS again. A big thanks goes out to my ex who told me about him.
On the complete other side of the subject of this blog is a song written and performed by a band named Franz Ferdinand. Their first self-titled album, Franz Ferdinand, has a mix of your
typical pop-like, indie rock, dance tunes about women and love is a song that surprised me the first time I heard it. I was a senior in high school when this cd first came out. I fell in love with their #1 hit "Take Me Out" and rushed to buy their album. Upon first listening to this album I heard the song "Michael". "Michael" is a song written by the lead singer about his two of his friends' debauched night at a dance club.While I was completely fine with homosexuality, it was still a taboo subject within high school-aged children. I had gay friends who had just came out during a time when coming out as a homosexual was still unheard of and risky. When I first heard this song I blushed and felt weird listening to it (and loving it!) Most of Franz Ferdinand's heterosexual male fans felt weird for loving this song too. None of the members of Franz Ferdinand have not come out as being homosexual to my knowledge. It is refreshing to see a once-popular male band sing about homosexuality just as if they were singing a song with heterosexual lyrics.
In the next blog I plan to continue this theme of sexuality and how men express it. My next blog will focus more on this idea of ambiguous male artists, such as Franz Ferdinand. I will be focusing on masculine and feminine versions of ambiguity and what I mean by masculine and feminine ambiguity. Until then I shall be listening to this man boombox!
