Giddy Up, Rude Boy

I listened to Rihanna's "Rated R" for the first time and immediately noticed a lot of questionable lyrics in many of the songs. But even more than that, I noticed how strongly I resonated with the music on many of tracks. I really, REALLY enjoy the music on this album. So I'll probably end up willfully ignoring the laughable and, at times, alarmingly objectionable content in the lyrics.

This compromising of my principles reminded me of a quote from Aldous Huxley's Brave New World Revisited which states: "Nonsense which it would be shameful for a reasonable being to write, speak, or hear spoken can be sung or listened to by that same rational being with pleasure and even with a kind of intellectual conviction."

Yup, that's me. Especially when it comes to the song, "Rude Boy."



I'm a bit of a preppy and I have somewhat high standards when it comes to lyrical content. Lyrically-speaking, "Rude Boy" has to be one of the stupidest songs I've ever heard. But dammit if the music doesn't smack the prim and proper out of me and have me twerkin' like I ain't got no sense! My favorite part of the song is probably the dumbest line in the entire album where she sings, "I wa-wa-want what you wa-wa-want. Give it to me, baby like boom boom boom. What I wa-wa-want is what you wa-wa-want. Na na ah." (My head hangs in shame as I type this.)

Just to raise the bar on contrived ignorance, she employs the ebonics-inspired "Is you," as in "Is you big enough?" (Take a wild guess at what that means.) And if that level of idiocy weren't enough, she entices her "rude boy" to "ride her" with the ever-enchanting eloquence of "Giddy up!"

Why is she cavorting with a self-proclaimed "rude boy" and why is she being so crass and unladylike about it? Who cares! Have you heard the down beat in that song, especially the way it synchs up with the bass returning to the low note? That alone makes it easily my all-time favorite song of hers. And yes, this "rational being" won't hesitate to sing and dance to this nonsense "with pleasure and even with a kind of intellectual conviction."

Giddy up!