[View a full-sized version here].

I’ve been writing a lot about date rape in popular culture lately, particularly in music. Most of my treatment has involved parsing the lyrics of popular songs with rape-scenario undertones: Asher Roth’s soft indictment of college date rape; A Tribe Called Quest’s anti-date rape, menstruation-joke opus; Slick Rick’s anal-themed rape song. But do the songs at least sound good? And does that make them worse?

Read More “A Hierarchy of Date-Rape Jams” »

Take It With a Grain of Assault: Palmer finds humor in her rape.

Hint: Frat boys, check; Victims, no.

Amanda Palmer’s new single, “Oasis,” is a sunny tune about a tumultuous time in a teenager’s life. After enduring rape, abortion, and a schoolwide slut-shaming, the girl receives an autographed headshot of her favorite band—Oasis—in the mail, and everything is again peachy. On her blog, Palmer posted a note from her British record label, Roadrunner, saying the video—which features a brief comic rape scene—had met with “fierce opposition” from the U.K.’s major music networks:

Meanwhile, back home, Jamie Foxx’s latest single, “Blame it (On the Alcohol),” is currently No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Its video, featuring Ron Howard, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Samuel L. Jackson, enjoys a heavy rotation on U.S. MTV—despite an equally frothy date-rape theme. The song details Foxx’s pursuit of an increasingly drunk lady. The track also features T. Pain, who chimes through his hallmark vocoder: “Couple more shots you open up like a book.” The song is, essentially, an attempted date rape by a movie star and a dude who sounds like a robot:

Who is allowed to make light of rape?

Read More “Who Can Make A Rape Joke?” »

Date Rape Anthem: Asher Roth’s “I Love College”

Relevant Lyrics:

I can’t tell you what I learned from school but
I could tell you a story or two, um
Yeah, of course I learned some rules
Like don’t pass out with your shoes on (get the sharpie)

And don’t leave the house ’til the booze gone (no we’re not leaving)
And don’t have sex if she’s too gone
When it comes to condoms put two on (trust me)
Then tomorrow night find a new jawn

Why It’s So Rapey: On the surface, Roth’s love-letter to undergraduate debauchery condemns date rape (”don’t have sex if she’s too gone”). So why would this Village Voice detractor call the Morrisville, Pa. rapper’s first album “nothing more than a soundtrack for date rape”?

Read More “Date Rape Anthem: Asher Roth’s “I Love College”” »

Via Bitch:

The video . . . features a host of bikini-clad women being covered with buckets of viscous white paint, most of which ends up on their faces.

. . . In the end, it’s not that Roth is any more misogynist than many other guys in hip-hop, and I think there’s more than a hint of racism in holding Roth to a higher standard than a lot of black or latino rappers.  Still, Roth’s cluelessness is insufferable, and to see him sail to success using the novelty of his own suburban upbringing and pale skin tone — even in the face of lackluster flow and weak rhymes — is quite frustrating.

In other words, it’s not just the video that’s masturbatory.