Southern Girl in the City

I’m probably going to get so much flack for this post, but I kinda don’t care.

Robin Thicke, one of my white boy crushes, has finally garnered a #1 hit with his newest single “Blurred Lines”.  But apparently, you can’t have success without a little negativity surrounding you.

From the beginning, Thicke received criticism for the – shall we say scantily clad – women in his uncensored video.  With women being or appearing to be naked and dancing and grinding on the crooner, not to mention the sign that reads “Robin has a big ____!”, numerous people had issues with the video. Robin stated the video was about having fun.  Also, the lyrics of the song have been questioned, and I’ve heard/read in at least a few different places that this song borderline promotes some type of sexual assault, which I think is ludicrous.  His performance with Miley Cyrus at Sunday’s MTV VMA’s not withstanding, the major story now about Robin is that he ripped off the beat from Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give it Up” for his new hit.  And what’s even crazier is that Robin, along with Pharrell Williams and Clifford Harris (aka T.I.) are suing Gaye’s estate, sort of as a preemptive strike before they could be hit with a lawsuit.

Personally, all of the hoopla, besides him suing Marvin’s estate, is really ridiculous.  I have to admit, the beat caught my attention first.  It’s catchy, fun, and makes you want to move.  (Pharrell put his foot in the music.)  Then I started listening to the words.  Honestly, I really didn’t pay this song any attention until my linesister/BFF was in the car with me, and she started singing, “Hey Hey Hey!”  Now, honestly, whenever the song comes on, I think of her dancing in the passenger seat of my car.  Anywho, I personally do not think this song is demeaning to women, it does not promote any type of sexual assault, and I think the notion that the music is taken from a Marvin Gaye song is a bit of a stretch. Is the song influenced by Gaye?  Heavily.  But I would not go so far as to say that anything is taken from the late crooner.

I like to think of myself as a music connoisseur, someone that enjoys music from many different genres, so I like to think I somewhat know what I’m talking about.  Would I allow my (imaginary) young, impressionable child to listen to this song? Probably not.  But there have been shows, movies, songs, etc. that have been around since the beginning of the time that parents have shielded their children from.  

One last thing, I’m not a parent, but I have been around and have worked (volunteered) with children for years, so I kinda feel like I can say what I’m about to say.  If parents did the job they were/are supposed to do with their children, they would not be so easily influenced with the images they see on tv or by the music they hear.  I know times are not the same as they were when I was growing up.  But because of the values and principles my parents instilled in me, I was not easily influenced by my peers or even by the music I heard or the television I watched.  I could watch “New York Undercover” and not want to shoot someone.  I could watch “Friday” and know that doing drugs was a bad thing.  Parents cannot expect outside forces to raise their children.  It does take a village to raise a child, but it’s not the teacher’s, after school counselor’s, or the television’s job to raise children.

I apologize for going off on a tangent.  The moral of the post is- Lay off Robin.  There are many more things that are going on in this country that need our attention and our focus.  Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” isn’t one of them.  Until next time, I’m just a Southern girl…in the city.

Related articles

• Marvin Gaye’s Family Refused Robin Thicke’s Six-Figure Offer (essence.com)
• Marvin Gaye’s son implies Robin Thicke will ace lawsuit (nydailynews.com)