Crank dat ignorance
By The Elahater
Let’s take a moment to examine Soulja Boy’s “Crank Dat.”
Let’s.
And this is aside from whether or not this is a catchy club-banger, with an equally appealing dance. My discussion here has nothing to do with “Crank Dat” being played in the club (I mean, that’s where the “Whisper Song” is most played, right?).
Our 17-year-old friend, Soulja Boy, aka Ramone Cortez Way, released “Crank Dat” in September 2007, and within weeks, it spread to every club floor and gym floor in the country. It’s a favorite of high school pep rallies, elementary school pep rallies, and awkward people who like to post videos on YouTube. This article examines the “new” dance craze sweeping the nation, and it’s the best selling digital song in history.
And thank you CNN, for making sense of this craze that confuses us so!
Dance fever!!
What the stories neglect to acknowledge, however, is what this song means. So let’s look at the lyrics:
Soulja boy off In this hoe
Watch me crank It
Watch me roll
Watch me crank dat Soulja Boy
Then Superman dat hoe
Now, watch me, Yoooouuu.
Crank Dat Soulja Boy
Soulja boy off in this hoe? Superman that hoe? OK, I won’t quote what that means here, but I’ll merely link it here, here and here.
Um, one word: gross.
Okay, I know, I know, there are many catchy songs with deplorable lyrics that people dance to. But none that I can remember that are this sexually explicit (I don’t care if you censor “hoe,” you still have “superman” in there), and that such a large number of people dance to in situations that they shouldn’t be, like:
Students at pep rallies getting excited over superman-in’ hoes in order to win the big game (“I’m gonna superman all over their defense!”).
Teachers at Catholic schools trying to soulja boy off in a hoe (note cross in the background—WWJD?).
Seven-year-olds in a ballet class supersoakin hoes and such.
Babies whose first words include “superman that hoe.”
Some countries have even employed the dance as a unique form of punishment in their penal system.
Wait… I am the one supermaning or the one being supermaned?
Here are more lyrics:
Aim to clean off in this hoe
Watch me crank It
Watch me roll
Watch me crank dat Roosevelt
And super soak that hoe [x10]
And meanwhile, we have newspapers and TV newscasts reporting about this craze, talking about how much fun and swell and neat it all is, and “dissecting” it without explaining how disguisting the song is, or even noting what it’s about at all.
Billly, I loved the superman comics as a kid. Dance on kiddo, dance on.
Remember when Dave Chappelle said he couldn’t wait for white people to figure out what “skeet skeet skeet” meant?
Yeaaaaaaah! … I mean, I do remember that.
I can’t wait until mass media figure out what “Crank Dat” means. Or wait, people probably don’t care.
My problem isn’t necessarily with Soulja Boy (although I am sad a 17-year-old is already supersoakin hoes—son, wait until college for that) or with just the content of this song, because to be fair, I’d have to talk about every other disgusting song. But this one is so popular, in part perpetuated by radio (Clear Channel) and the powers-that-be who tell youth what should be popular or hot. Why must all club bangers be so ignorant? People get down to reggae, Afrobeat, and songs from other countries that have deep, political meanings. Why can’t we? People can’t even really hear what Soulja Boy is saying anyway—why can’t you keep the catchy beat but rap about selling Superman comics on Ebay or something?
I just became a power seller! (what better time for someone to want to dance?)
Shoot, it’s not that bad if you want to have a good time and don’t want to dance to something so serious, even something slightly ignorant. But at least leave the ignorance where it belongs:
It’s dark in there for a reason.
But sadly, as a country, our collective sense of shame is so low that we prefer ignorance everywhere, and we don’t care if nuns or 5-years-olds superman till the break of dawn.
What’s next, America?
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“Uncle Sam wants yoooooooouuuuu to crank dat for America! “—-New armed forces recruitment poster
I wish I could tell some of these people what it means, just to see the look on their faces – especially that catholic school teacher. His head would probably blow up like the KKK members during Dave Chappelle’s white supremacists skit. That was a good one!
I’m with you for the most part on this. I didn’t know what a Superman was (I assumed it was dirty) but knowing, I realize how out of hand it is. I can’t find much to disagree with.
However, while Soulja Boy is responsible for his content so are some other people: parents/legal guardians. As his name indicates, he is a boy. He’s 17. He’s a kid. You can say that 18 makes you an adult legally but the majority of 18-year-olds are not even close to self-sufficient or nearly mature enough. Even if you’re in college, you’re probably living off your parents or loans or both. And that typically lasts two to five years. The reason the drinking age is 21 is because there’s strong evidence to support that your brain is still developing until then. Maturity and wisdom take longer to bake than people think. Middle-aged people and senior-citizens tend to vote for less strict legal punishments for teens because they know how stupid they are.
Which brings me back to Soulja Boy. If you’re 16 or 17 and like to rap and are probably not on your way to Yale in the Fall, what would you do when a rich guy comes to get you in an Escalade or limo, shows you a professional studio, buys you shit and says we’ll pay you to keep being a kid, albeit a naughty one? The law even knows how disadvantaged he is as a youth. At 17, he can’t even sign his own contracts. We have to hurl some of the criticism at his keepers.
Educators and other concerned adults do the work that they do because they know that young people often don’t have the capacity to understand their own ignorance. And when those young people are in bad situations, it makes it worse. It’s like the dilemma of the aspiring entrepreneur: If I had money, I could be rich.
If you’ve never been pushed to grow up, why would you?
“People get down to reggae, Afrobeat, and songs from other countries that have deep, political meanings. Why can’t we?”
The problem with this is that the countries where that music comes from often have a lot worse political situations believe it or not. Also they tend to have a more homogenized population where nearly everyone has the same history. Another angle is that when you do try to “get down” to those songs, usually the community that supports it gets mad and says you’re cheapening the message. Additionally, why would I come to the club (a place people go to get drunk and laid) to be intellectually stimulated? The music’s usually to loud for you to understand anyway. At that volume you could play college lectures over break beats and still not permeate a single skull.
Excellent parallel to the “skeet” issue. I’m sure if enough people read that post we would be hearing, “My God, what have we done!?”
My real beef with Soulja Boy is the fact that he stole his name from the Mo Thug Family rapper Souljah Boy who is a much better rapper. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HV6T71fW7M
I always enjoy your work little hater.
I especially enjoyed how CNN needed a black woman to come on and explain this dance craze to the oblivious white news anchor – Poor Lola, she seems so intelligent and this is the type of stuff they cast her to talk about.
I was upset she didnt do the dance
This the main source of what drove me away for radio. Kids say crap like this I wish my cousin would do something dumb like this dance in front of me so I could hand slap’um TV has told america what to do CNN should be breaking do the lyrics instead of giving this dumbed down adolesent saying any credit and it’s sad that two women are excited about how popular it is they should be the ones denouncing it. I could say more, but for now I won’t i’ll just watch the world fall and laugh when you want to be saved cuz you did this to yourself instead of reading a book or trying to pay attention to something that effects a nation or the world for that matter.
yes, youuuuu hit the nail on the head with that ‘skeet skeet’ part, i was just thinking that while reading this.
Good read. and Honestly i think people are attracted to songs they cant quite decipher, probably the same reason why i listen to Korean rap … :-\
This is the song that does it for me… ugh!
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/trillville/somecut.html
~M
wow, if i think right, that woman who appeared on cnn is the same woman who repeatedly criticized hip hop lyrics on bet for their crudeness and objection of the female sex…
What a bunch of self-righteous,self-serving hypocrites!! You whine about song lyrics while countless no-talent skanks and drug-addled rock stars who beat their wives are glorified and worshipped in this country. And you brought up ‘other’ songs that are disgusting too they why are THEY never criticized?!! Or Howard Stern or ‘Girls Gone Wild’ or ‘The Girls Next Door’[talk about ugh!!] or Paris Hilton you all whine about racism and double standards yet RUSH to perpetuate them yourselves.
Does anyone knows what should we expect in 2010? they promise more problems on wall stree? I are heading toward dipression?
marvellously remorseful if the pole in the diabolical dispose but did you see Susan Boyle sing? OMG!!! parallel with SIMON was in throw for a loop! This lady is amazing! God glorify her!!