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Ludacris is a Mook (but he doesn’t have to be)
By Jeremy | February 12, 2007
Now little Lisa is only 9 years old She's trying to figure out why the world is so cold Why she's all all alone and they never met her family Mama's always gone and she never met her daddy Part of her is missing and nobody will listening Mama is on drugs getting high up in the kitchen Bringing home men at different hours of the night Starting with some laughs -- usually ending in a fight Sneak into her room while her mama's knocked out Trying to have his way and little Lisa says 'ouch' She tries to resist but then all he does is beat her Tries to tell her mom but her mama don't believe her Lisa is stuck up in the world on her own Forced to think that hell is a place called home Nothing else to do but get some clothes and pack She says she's 'bout to run away and never come back.Who wouldn't feel for little Lisa after hearing her story? Or the song's other characters, 10-year-old Nicole and 11-year-old Erika? The problem with this song isn't the message. Stories like these need to be told. And they're even more powerful coming from neighborhood prophets who've lived among the shattered lives they reflect. The problem is that this particular storyteller is more profit than prophet and has zero credibility when it comes to girls who've been exploited sexually. Ludacris -- not to mention half the music industry -- has made a fortune exploiting girls' sexuality. A sampling of his other songs include titles such as: + Girls Gone Wild + Pimpin All Over the World + Move B!+@# + Ho + Hoes in My Room + Freaky Thang Worse, perhaps, than the lyrics themselves, are the nearly naked video girls allowing testosterone-crazed men to objectify their sexuality, degrade their dignity, and treat them as playthings. Sadly, the image Ludacris portrays in most of the rest of his act, whether voluntarily or not, is that of a classic MTV-stylized Mook. PBS Frontline's Merchants of Cool documentary exposed the Mook as:
"... what critics call the crude, loud, obnoxious, in-your-face character that can be found almost any hour of day or night somewhere on MTV. He's a teen frozen in permanent adolescence. There's MTV's Tom Green of the "Tom Green Show." And the daredevils on "Jackass" who indulge in dignity-defying feats like poo diving. The Mook is also found in the frat boys on MTV's ubiquitous "Spring Break" specials. And, the Mook has migrated to MTV's sister network, Comedy Central, where he's the cartoon cutouts of "South Park," or the lads on the "Man Show." ... Media analyst and correspondent Douglas Rushkoff says that there's no Mook in nature, "He' s a creation of marketers, designed to capitalize on the testosterone-driven madness of adolescence. He grabs them below the belt and then reaches for their wallets."More on "Mooks, Midriffs, Myspace and More" here.
Topics: grammys, ludacris, midriffs, mooks, mtv, music, youth, youth culture | No Comments »
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