Talk Back: Birthday Song

NOTE: Please share your thoughts and questions about the IDEAS raised in this talk back. Hateful, violent comments about the women in this video will be removed and you will be blocked.

In this Talk back FAAN Mail responds to the radio hit "Birthday Song" by 2 Chainz and Kanye West (owned and distributed by Universal Music Group). Topics explored include consumerism, capitalism, colorism, misogyny, corporate accountability and popular media & children.

Share your thoughts in the comments or join @faanmail, @UMG, @2Chainz & @KanyeWest for dialogue on twitter using the hash-tag #BirthdaySong or #TalkBack.

FAAN Mail (Fostering Activism and Alternatives Now!) is a media literacy/activist project formed by women of color and based in Philadelphia. Together with our allies, we critique and create media with social change in mind.

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  Education

[FAAN Mail]

NOTE: Please share your thoughts and questions about the IDEAS raised in this talk back. Hateful and violent comments about the women in this video will be removed and you will be blocked.

[yarmulkefever]

Thank you for making this video and don't listen to the haters commenting. You women are beautiful inside and out. I am so done with people silencing women's opinions by saying that they are just mad that they don't fit our culture's fucked up definition of beauty. like just no stop you are so done who even asked you jesus.

[hayleybeisme]

Thanks for this. I've found that many music videos feature women's bodies and not their personalities, and its not just hip-hop videos either.

I remember a friend of mine showing me a Nelly video where he's just rapping over women's bodies and only like 7% of their bodies are covered. I felt kind of sick when I was watching it because they didn't even treat those women like they were human.

[butter32466]

Honestly, I would have no problem with this kind of stuff if it existed in a society where these things don't simultaneously reflect a truth about the culture AND act as mechanisms of perpetuating those truths. But that's not the truth. I thought the distinction between option and choice because it really hits the nail on the head: choice implies that there's power and free will there. Free will cannot exist in a culture of racialized sexism and sexualized racism.

[Emily Ihuoma]

Thank you so much for standing up! Many of my friends think i'm crazy for seeing this as degrading. Thank you for representing! For being the voices of the smart, progressive, women!

[biggtk]

"I listen to "mainstream rap" music because its just fun and I understand its just entertainment"

Lol, I'm glad that you are above the nonsense in mainstream rap and that you just see it as entertainment. However, most of populous are not above it, and they don't try to hide the fact that they emulate it. For example, a lot of rappers have suddenly been using the word "ratchet" in their songs. Have you noticed that the mainstream rap audience have been using that word more lately as well?

[biggtk]

"It has nothing to do with racism but the fact that its just fun to listen to and music is a form of entertainment."

Music is not merely a form of entertainment, it is one of the most powerful forms of propaganda. Not only because scientifically speaking, musical notes opens up the listener to the message of a song regardless if they care about the message or not, but also because it's easier for music to brainwash the masses due to people thinking it's a non-influential piece of entertainment.

[biggtk]

And this white supremacist rap is so thorough that it systematically degrades both black men and women. And because "cultural guardians" (aka white supremacist) own these record labels, they are able to make sure that they only the degrading type of rap is prevalent within the minds and consciousnesses of the mainstream audience. That is why for every Lupe Fiasco (a positive rapper) there is 6 Lil' Waynes. That's why you are more likely to hear a song about bad "bitches" instead of good sistahs.

[biggtk]

And yes there is a class struggle within every community. However, for poor white people it pays to exalt the facade of white "superiority" because even impoverished whites can receive some benefits from white privilege. However, because white supremacy is still prevalent and in control of our society, for black folks it pays to exalt the facade of black "inferiority". And that is what most mainstream rap does: It degrades the entire image of the black community.

[John Smith]

There is conflicting class structure in every race. There are just as many white rappers rapping about the exact same things black rappers do. It has nothing to do with racism but the fact that its just fun to listen to and music is a form of entertainment. I'm a college student and I take my schoolwork seriously. I listen to "mainstream rap" music because its just fun and I understand its just entertainment. Making stereotypes about what people listen to is just wrong and hurtful.

[John Smith]

I'm not here to start an argument but I believe its the first response you got about it being just entertainment. Honestly speaking, you are taking this song WAYYYY too seriously. The song is meant to be ridiculous and over the top. Hence the dancing Pakistan guy, beating up the clown, the quadrouplets, eating off of a booty, etc. This music isn't meant for kids hence the parental advisory logo and if they still listen, then it speaks more on the parent not doing their job than the song.

[suwa98]

You girls seem very opinionated, so what do you think about this ad?

watch?v=eyduncFpzl4