F*ck Da Soulja Boy

Excuse the vulgarity of the title, but it is difficult to address rap music without being exposed to vulgarity.

This post is my take on the current outcry over Soulja Boy's lyrics in Let's Be Real. Specifically, everyone is in an outrage over "Fuck All Da Army Troop." There is even a movement to have Soulja Boy's music boycotted in military exchanges.

Can there be any doubt that he is disrespecting the military? I remember, during the younger Bush presidency, Democrats commenting on the low the intelligence and education of military members. How they were innocent puppets of Bush, culled from the economically impoverished, coerced into fighting for his oil empire.

There was a great outcry that, hate the war, but support our troops. Now that Obama is in office, there is not even much of an outcry over the wars, all of which are still ongoing and another log has been thrown in that fire.

Culturally, it has become taboo to criticize the military. You can tell that it is this cultural taboo at work because, by examining the entire line we see he says "Fuck Da FBI and Fuck All Da Army Troop." I have looked at hundreds of comments throughout the Internet and news articles and Facebook posts and no one says "How dare he say anything against our FBI agents!"

Ten years ago, we would have said "You should thank God you are in America, where you have the freedom to criticize the military and the government." My how times have changed. It is both taboo to thank God and to criticize government.

But is he really criticizing the military? The FBI? Maybe indirectly and certainly not intentionally (confirmed by his own apology). The next line, and many more after confirm that this song is not meant to criticize anyone directly, but rather prop up his own image. "Fighting For What Bitch, Be Your Own Man." It comes around now, to the same rhetoric we heard during the Bush years. The troops and agents are not fighting for their own cause, just jumping at the master's whip.

He even goes on to say he is no Obama. Interpreting lyrics can be tricky, specially when they don't seem to even be written in your language, or any known language. What I take from his song is Soulja Boy's expression that he is his own man, working to his own purposes with his own followers. He doesn't jump through someone else's hoops for someone else's gain. He is more his own man than even President Obama.

Of course, the fact that he was cowed into apologizing shows he jumps through hoops for the same master as every other American, the Holy Dollar.

Some of my own thoughts:

• It is not surprising that military dependents and some civilians would attack the wording. What surprises me the most is that military members have become so enamored of themselves that they would vehemently attack someone whom they think is speaking out against their profession.
• If Soulja Boy would have said "Fuck All Da McDonald's Troops" would there have been a similar uproar? Would McDonalds stop selling him Big Macs? If the line targetted Wal-Mart cashiers, would Wal-Mart stop selling him blank CDs to put his music on?
• I've listened to some samples of Soulja Boy's songs. How is it enough people listen to this garbage that it is even an issue?
• As a 20 year veteran and an American citizen, I dislike his music but support his rights to express himself and I see no intended offense leveled against anyone.
• For current news that is deliberately meant to be offensive, check out Ben and Jerrys new flavor, Schweddy Balls. It was funny 13 years ago when the comedy was flirting with it's 'unintended' offensiveness. Now it is real and on purpose.