Lil Wayne's dumb choice at BET Awards angers viewers

June 30, 5:20 PMNew Orleans Literature ExaminerNordette Adams

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Sunday night, June 28, at the BET Awards 2009, New Orleans rapper Lil Wayne set off a firestorm when he performed "Every Girl" with fellow rappers Drake and Young Money. Many viewers found not only the words offensive, but also the presence of what appeared to be preadolescent girls, tweens, onstage with the men.

The New Orleans Literature Examiner has looked at Lil Wayne and his lyrics before because rap, whether traditional poets like to hear or not, may be classified as poetry. To acknowledge this in no way defends what comes out of any rappers mouth, especially Lil Wayne's. His rap is like that of his peers, often misogynistic and offensively raw. Nevertheless, while more refined listeners and music lovers cringe at the messages and the images of many Hip Hop stars, some scholars of performance art realize that artistic expression, by nature, may sometimes offend. Rap offends daily.

At the website Jezebel, a writer's posted video of  Lil Wayne's BET performance with the young girls twirling around him, Drake and Young Money.  Following these two paragraphs are the lyrics to "Every Girl," as posted at Jezebel. While the lyrics show the "f" word, the rappers said  "love" instead on BET, but other words needed to be censored for a family audience, and the network's "bleep" seemed to be on delay.

As the Jezebel writer indicates, the words to "Every Girl" become doubly disturbing with the inclusion on stage of very young girls that could be young fans or family members. It's unclear how this lapse in judgment made it to the stage. If put into context of Lil Wayne's own sexual experience that some view as sexual molestation at an early age as well as other unusual behavior, astute observers may conclude the rapper is sexually confused. (See "Lil Wayne, Hip Hop, and how life informs art, part 1")

Every Girl
Lyrics/rap by Lil Wayne

I like a long haired thick red bone
Open up her legs then filet Mignon that pu**y
Ima get in and on that pu**y
If she let me in Ima own that pu**y
Gon' throw it back and bust it open like you posed' to
Girl I got that dope d*ck
Now come here let me dope you
You gon' be a dope fiend
Your friends should call you dopey
Tell em' keep my name out they mouth if they don't know me
Huh
But you can't call me tunecha
I'll f**k the whole group
Baby I'm a groupie
My sex game is stupid
My head is the dumbest
I promise
I should be hooked on phonics
haha

But anyway I think you're bionic
And I don't think you're beautiful
I think you're beyond it
And I just wanna get behind it
and watch you

(back it up and dump it back-
back it up and dump it back)

[CHORUS:]
Cause' we like her
And we like her too
And we like her
And we like her too
And we like her
And we like her too
And we like her
And she like us too

I wish I could f**k every girl in the world
I wish I could f**k every girl in the world
I wish I could f**k every girl in the world

(partial of Lil Wayne's lyrics as posted at Jezebel)

You may read all the lyrics if you choose at Jezebel. At BlogHer.com, a women's blogging site, Megan Smith has a round-up of complaints from black viewers of the BET Awards show. They are not only angry over Lil Wayne's performance but at overall production of the show that the network promoted as a Tribute to Michael Jackson. Her post links to a list at SoulBounce.com entitled "The Top 10 Reasons Why the BET Awards Made Me Want to Vomit."

Lyrics such as "Every Girl" could make many trained poets or untrained but dedicated poets heads nearly explode, especially those who believe poetry should be if not beautiful words then at least an elevation of human thought. "Every Girl" meets only the minimum requirement of poetry in any form, alliteration and perhaps repetition, and sinks to the lowest of rap. The question on the mind is "Does Lil Wayne think what he does is art or poetry?"

The answer is mixed. When it's convenenient rappers want to have the same respect as other creative artists and poets. When it's inconvenient they want to be called business people. 

"Every Girl" should  be lamented in the vein of spoken word artist Taalam Acey's lamentation of certain rap artists' depictions of black life and black women in his piece "Market 4 Ni$$as."  The problem is that those rappers who are willing to cater to that market appear to lack the social conscience, artistic accountability, and intellectual fortitude to deliver a higher message.

Jay-Z's "Death of the Auto-Tune," which was also performed at the BET Awards 09, is an artistic statement. Lil Wayne's "Every Girl" is the uncreative howl of young men jacking off to the Id, limited talent required.

Photo Credit/Caption: Lil' Waynes performed at BET Awards 2009  (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Realted Links:

• Lil Wayne, Hip Hop as art, part 1
• Lil Wayne, Hip Hop as art, part 2
• Lil Wayne, Hip Hop as art, part 3
• Lil Wayne's ex gets reality show
• Documentary about Lil Wayne, The Carter, went to Sundance Film Festival 09