Drop and Gimmie 50: The Consequences of Listening to Hip Hop

The phrase "drop and gimmie fifty" sounds like one you would hear a drill sergeant yell at a military training camp as punishment for a mistake.  Or you may even hear a disgusted coach scream it to one of his players on a football field during practice.  It is a very authoritative phrase. Some might even find intimidating.  So why is this statement along with others like "drop it like it's hot", "bust it wide open", and “make it rain” common in today's hip-hop music?  I love hip-hop.  Always have.  But how did we go from the positive lyrics of the 80's and early 90's - Public Enemy's "Fight the power", Queen Latifah's "Ladies first", and Tupac's "Keep ya head up" to the stupid misogynistic lyrics of the 21st century. 

You would think with the derogatory language directed toward women in this new breed of rap that we would be offended and disgusted by it.  But we’re not.  We love it! Not only do we listen to it, we follow the directions and carry out the ridiculous demands like a new Army recruit receiving orders.  For instance, "drop and gimmie fifty" refers to women, preferably strippers, dropping to floor into a split and gyrating fifty times. And with the speed of Jamaican Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt, we sprint to the center of the dance floor as soon as we hear the beat. We’re not ashamed either. We'll drop and give him seventy-five or a hundred.  Not just fifty.

To make matters worse, the instructions in the lyrics are ambiguous and get more outrageous with every new single released.  "Put your right hand in the air.  Put your left hand in your underwear" is what one particular song, that was played every thirty seconds across radio airwaves a few years ago, instructed listeners to do.  Okay, then what?  Shake something? My hair or my butt, maybe? Be more specific. I even asked my son DeAndre’ for the next step in this sequence. "Ask Mike Jones", (the artist) is what he advised me to do because he didn’t know either.

Many hip-hop fans, especially teenagers, claim they “only listen to the beat". But is it possible to just listen to the beat? You cannot tune out the filth and stupidity that oozes through the speakers. The lyrics have gotten so bad that I only listen to old school hip-hop and a select few artist like T. I., Common and Kanye West.  Ask my son, my radio station stays tuned to smooth and mellow R&B or classic hip-hop.  Yes, I am a huge hip-hop fan just as the character Sidney Shaw in the 2002 movie “Brown Sugar”. I really am. But I cannot get with these new lyrics. And I’ll give you three reason why: I refuse to drop and give anybody anything, the only thing I will bust wide open is a cold frosted 12 or 16 oz Dr. Pepper, and the only person I want to make it rain is God himself!

Mikki Zimmerman is a writer, Louisiana native and proud sports-crazed member of the "Who Dat Nation" - supporting the New Orleans Saints since the age of 8.  She is an animal lover, preferable cats and dogs, who is a dreamer with a HUGE imagination.  Currently she is a graduate student working towards an MBA with a concentration in Marketing.  Her first book - Can I Get a Witness? 21 Frustrations of Black Women (Including Me) is available online @ Xlibris.com, Amazon.com or by calling 888-795-4174. Email her at mikki.zimmerman@forharriet.com