It's 2013, but if you've been listening to new music, you might not know it.
The unavoidable outcry on the Internet over the ill-advised Brad Paisley/LL Cool J collaboration "Accidental Racist" suggests that the song has a take on race relations that most of us like to think we've put behind us.
Meanwhile, Ray J's diss track "I Hit It First," aimed at Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, though a subject of less controversy, is no less outdated or ignorant in its take on gender and sexuality. Both of these songs couple their archaic insights with musical styles that are equally stale.
Both songs came out at roughly the same time, but Ray J did not get nearly as much press Paisley and LL did for "Accidental Racist." Though the coverage varies, the most common takeaway is that the song's exploration of racial tensions and Southern pride is at best misguided and at worst racist.
Putting the lyrics aside for a second, the song is just not good. At almost six minutes long, it's a painfully slow diatribe that mixes the most boring and unoriginal country music riffs with some of the least inspired and most desperate "rap" contributions of the 21st century. This model didn't work in 2004 in Nelly and Tim McGraw's "Over and Over," but apparently that's another memo that Paisley and LL didn't get.
There's been plenty of valid criticisms of the lyrics in the song, most of which are sometimes ignorant and usually offensive.
One part of the lyrics that hasn't gotten much attention, however, are the last words, barely uttered by LL as the track fades out: "It's real, it's real/It's true."
The importance of these lines is that, unfortunately, for Paisley and many of his fans, the "struggle" he faces in the song, trying to embrace Southern pride without being racist, is real. That's not to say it's a valid struggle. It's not. It's something that most of us came to terms with a long time ago.
We no longer feel that symbols associated with slavery are necessary to show our love for the south or Lynyrd Skynyrd, and we don't think that retiring those images and the pain they can cause somehow discriminates against us.
We don't think that judging someone for wearing a do-rag is the same as judging someone for wearing a Confederate flag. We understand that one is a fashion choice which draws racist criticism and one is a symbol of slavery, racism and oppression.
Paisley, though, apparently does not understand this.
And it's not entirely his fault. Country music has been dodging the issue for decades, so Paisley is "progressing" the genre by having this discussion.
Unfortunately, he's progressing the genre to a point that a lot of us, especially those outside of the country music paradigm, reached 15 years ago or more.
To have this "conversation" play out on our airwaves in 2013 is frankly embarrassing. Music has the potential to spur social progress, and it often has, but popular music today is behind the curve, not only in the national discussion on race, but also issues of gender and sexuality.
The same week that "Accidental Racist" came out, Ray J released a new track called "I Hit It First," a diss track aimed at Kimye. It combines of one of Ray J's signature vapid, annoying hooks with plenty of bragging about his sexual relations with Kardashian.
If you couldn't tell by the title, there's no shortage of misogyny, objectification of women and plain immaturity in this track.
Though it's less out of left field than "Accidental Racist," it's still a ridiculous song in which Ray J, apparently too nervous to talk to his former hookups, speaks exclusively to Kanye, talking about Kardashian as though she isn't a sentient being.
There are plenty of songs motivated by bitterness when someone doesn't call you back, but this one is particularly bad. Ray J just digs himself deeper throughout the song, revealing his childish bitterness in every adolescent, numbskulled verse.
Also, as a tip to Ray J or any future diss track writers, if you're going to try to diss the man at the top of the rap game right now, at least try to do so over a beat that doesn't sound five years old.
smeehan@theeagleonline.com
