Re the Imus Thing: A Brown Sugar Memory
By Kristasphere
Something came to my memory from childhood that I think speaks to this issue with Imus and Rutgers. When the Rolling Stones came out in 1971 with one of their signature hits "Brown Sugar", I remember to this day my parents hitting the roof over it. I also remember the first time I went around singing the lyrics, innocently enough for a small girl; I was prone to sing anything because I loved music; back then my tastes ran to the Jackson 5 mostly.
"Do you know what they are saying? Do you know they are talking about black women?" my mother intoned.
I remember standing there stunned, not fully comprehending what she meant, but I remembered the intervention to this day. More than that, I remembered the feeling and the tone. I also got the message from my parents, and I deduced quickly to take that out of my heavy rotation of radio favorites. Why? Here are the lyrics, according to lyrics365.com:
Brown Sugar(M. Jagger/K. Richards)
Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields
Sold in a market down in New Orleans
Scarred old slaver knows he's doing alright
Hear him whip the women just around midnight
Brown sugar how come you taste so good?
Brown sugar just like a young girl should
Drums beating, cold English blood runs hot
Lady of the house wonderin' where it's gonna stop
House boy knows that he's doing alright
You shoulda heard him just around midnight
Brown sugar how come you taste so good, now?
Brown sugar just like a young girl should, now
Ah, get along, brown sugar how come you taste so good, baby?
Ah, got me feelin' now, brown sugar just like a black girl should
I bet your mama was a tent show queen
Had all the boyfriends at sweet sixteen
I'm no schoolboy but I know what I like
You shoulda heard me just around midnight
Brown sugar how come you taste so good, baby?
Ah, brown sugar just like a young girl should, yeah
I said yeah, yeah, yeah, woo
How come you...how come you taste so good?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, woo
Just like a...just like a black girl should
Yeah, yeah, yeah, wooDoes the album this comes from "Sticky Fingers" have a Parental Advisory sticker? Is it edited or bleeped when it's played on classic rock stations? Is it banned anywhere?
The reason I bring this up is, I'm very disturbed by the black intelligentsia, Oprah, et al buying into the notion that the reason Don Imus said what he said 2 weeks ago is because of hip-hop. It's "our" fault. This seems to me like the victim of any form of abuse saying "I provoked it. I made them angry. etc." Now, before you think I'm letting hip-hop entirely off the hook, it is well documented that those who are abused will often turn and abuse others later in life. Hence we see more explicit, but no less harmful, lyrics out of 3-6 Mafia, Snoop, Eminem, etc. Now, Brown Sugar came out in 1971. Imus was on the radio then, hip-hop wasn't invented yet. So who do we blame for these heinous lyrics, Oprah? And this is just one example. The historical references of rape and beatings in this song are accurate, even for Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, the songs' writers. Also interesting when you consider the mothers of 2 of Jagger's daughters, including his eldest child are women of color - Marsha Hunt (Karis) and Bianca Jagger (Jade). By the way that's Karis Jagger standing next to her dad in the photo above when Mick was knighted, along with her grandfather and younger sister Elizabeth.
No doubt many people probably didn't know what the lyrics were outside 'Brown Sugar' in the chorus, because Mick doesn't enunciate too well on it. My question is, why are the black media, activists, and Oprah running to make Mr. Imus feel better by saying, "No, it's our fault."? Imus' pointing the finger at hip-hop is the media version of the 'devil made me do it' defense.
Back to my parents. When I was growing up, the lessons I learned on lyrics were:
1. Think for yourself. I wasn't allowed to bring vulgar music in the house. If something came on TV or the radio my parents' mantra was "You let that go in one ear and out the other, you understand?"
2. On the rare occasion I tried to sneak something objectionable in, and my parents caught me, I had to sit down and listen to it with them. THEN get a detailed explanation from them on what the song meant. Parents,trust me, any child or teen would rather be seen holding their mother's hand at the mall than have to sit down and listen to a record with their parents.
My Conclusion:
Hip-hop may be the latest culprit in vulgarity,disrespect of women, and disrespect of African-Americans, but society had a 370 year head start on it.
3 Responses to Re the Imus Thing: A Brown Sugar Memory
I couldn't agree more, and it sounds like your parents where strict, but in the cool way.
Krista,
Can we explore a bit?
Do you feel the point of the Stones song was to draw attention to the predatory manner in which slaves were sexually objectified and abused, in order to raise social awareness and accelerate cultural reform? Or do you feel the song glorifies and extols that exploitation?
Or was it just something to sing about to sell records, and they had no social agenda?
My point would be that context matters. I think you make a fine and articulate point. I don't know what to think about the song. It would be safest not to have written it, nor performed it. Then it would not be an issue. But, it is an issue because of the actions and attitudes in the past that perhaps inspired it. I don't find anything redeeming in what Imus said. I don't believe he said those things for the purpose of getting society to evaluate itself. I think he said those things because he thought he was being cool and edgy. He was offensive, and people took offense.
In some regards, I put him in with Howard Stern in the "shock Jock" category. These guys make their careers pushing the envelope, stirring things up. Stern has been continuously degrading of women in general.
Do we really need this kind of thing? I say no. But obviously people listen to it, and they sell ads and airtime - there is a busines around it. In this case, the backlash became economically unviable to keep him - so they kicked him to the curb.
I don't know how successful the hard core ganster rap would be if it didn't contain the content that it did. If they rapped about ranbows and sunshine, even done well, I don't think that would play well to an adolecent audience. As a society, we are producing a product that we secretly want.
I.e. People like to eat at McDonalds. I like Big Macs. They are bad for me, and if I eat enough of them my arteries will clog, and I'll need unpleasant medical attention or I'll die. But they make them, and I buy them.
Who is ultimately accountable? Is it McDonalds? Is it me? I take responsibility and try not to eat too many, but I still like the fact that they exist.
I think I feel the same way about Rap / Hip-hop, whatver. For example, I like Mix-a-lot's "baby got back". I think it's humorous, and maybe he's being a bit satirical, all the while being verbally clever and talented. But, I don't objectify women in the way the video serves up the material.
I guess my ultimate point is that people should treat each other with respect, and we should reserve space under the category of entertainment to poke fun, and treat some subject matters lightly.
It is our collective responsibility though, when the music stops, to speak and treat each other with respect, no matter our race, greed, gender, or any other distinction.
My personal views only.
Thanks for being brave to post on this, and to spark a discussion.
Hi, found your post through OhWord...very interesting, especially in tracing the roots of "degrading" language coming before hip-hop.
However, you should probably put 'Brown Sugar' back in rotation because it's clearly written in voice and/or satirical. The Stones also have song 'Under My Thumb' that is incredibly misogynist, also a persona.
The album after 'Sticky Fingers' is 'Exile on Main Street' and features a song about Angela Davis called 'Sweet Black Angel'. In the liner notes, scrawled on one of the pages is "I gave you the diamonds, you gave me the disease" obviously a reference to colonialism in Africa.
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