That girls some bitch you know - she keep calling my phone - don't leave me alone - just moan and groan - keep ringin me at home - these days I don't answer my phone

In Matt's post today he asks, "What does it say that lyrics (and there are many more on this CD [Outkast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below], which, again, I enjoy) can be universally accepted and enjoyed but harassment lawsuits are all over the news?"

Well, it says that context is important. It says that the rules for interacting with women in the workplace are different than the rules for interacting with them socially and far different than what is acceptable in a pop song. And they should be. I can hardly imagine that Andre 3000 and Big Boi walk around and drop rhymes from their songs when they meet girls as Matt's post suggests. Does Mick Jagger walk around and shout "I can't get no satisfaction" at girls? How would they react if he did?

What is really weird is that Matt singled out this album as such a glaring example of misogyny when it is actually one of the more liberal and progressive hip hop albums ever made. For every sex fantasy on there you can find a tribute to single mothers or a rumination about the difficulties of commitment. Equally strange is Matt's assumption that he is the only one that's actually read (or listened to) the lyrics. As if all the prim and proper girls he knows would never like this if they actually knew the lyrics. I kind of doubt that. I know girls that love this album (cough - five faces down from mine) and far more sexist albums and probably know every word. Is that surprising? Misogyny in pop music is well documented and goes way back*

Why wouldn't Matt quote one of the Top Five (not really just the first ones I could think of) absolutely huge artists/groups that were/are way more misogynistic than Outkast

5. The Beastie Boys: Let's start with the cover of Licensed to Ill which, when it is opened up, reveals itself as a thinly disguised portrayal of a sex act. There are plenty of crude lyrics that it would be fun to quote, but I'll have to go with

the first rap lyrics I ever knew from Ad Rock's rap Paul Revere:

I'll ride with you if you

can get me to the border

The sheriff's after me for what I did to his daughter

I did it like this - I did it like that

I did it with a whiffleball bat

I'm sure lots of people would be quick to point out that the Beasties cleaned up their

act in regards to how they discussed women (as well as violence and drugs) sometime

around Check Your Head, but it's pretty much endeniable that starting with that

album each of their albums has been worse than the last (which isn't to say they're bad

).

4. NWA - From "Gangsta, Gangsta" where Ice Cube discusses how he and his

friends would pick up girls:

then we headed right back to the fort

sweatin all the bitches in the biker shorts

We didn't get no play from the ladys

with six niggas in the car are you crazy?

She was scared and it was showin

We said "FUCK YOU BITCH" and kept goin"

3. Snoop Doggy Dogg - again, all sorts of crazy sexist shit on "Doggystyle, but

I'll just cite Snoop's rap from the killer posse cut "It Aint No Fun if the Homies Can't

Have None:

Guess who back in the motherfuckin house

With a fat dick for your motherfuckin mouth

Hoes recognize, niggaz do too

Cuz when bitches get skanless and pull a voodoo

What you gon do? You really don't know

So I'd advise you not to trust that hoe

Silly of me to fall in love with a bitch

Knowin damn well, I'm too caught up with my grip

Now as the sun rotates and my game grows bigger

How many bitches wanna fuck this nigga named Snoop

Doggy, I'm all the above

I'm too swift on my toes to get caught up with you hoes

But see, it ain't no fun, if my homies can't get a taste of it

Cause you know I don't love em

2. The Rolling Stones - Less explicit than the others in this list, but no less

domineering. Check out the lyrics for "Under My Thumb

Under my thumb

The girl who once had me down

Under my thumb

The girl who once pushed me around

It's down to me

The difference in the clothes she wears

Down to me, the change has come,

She's under my thumb

Ain't it the truth babe?

Under my thumb

The squirmin' dog who's just had her day

Under my thumb

A girl who has just changed her ways

It's down to me, yes it is

The way she does just what she's told

Down to me, the change has come

She's under my thumb

Ah, ah, say it's alright

Under my thumb

A siamese cat of a girl

Under my thumb

She's the sweetest, hmmm, pet in the world

It's down to me

The way she talks when she's spoken to

Down to me, the change has come,

She's under my thumb

Ah, take it easy babe

Yeah

It's down to me, oh yeah

The way she talks when she's spoken to

Down to me, the change has come,

She's under my thumb

Yeah, it feels alright

Under my thumb

Her eyes are just kept to herself

Under my thumb, well I

I can still look at someone else

It's down to me, oh that's what I said

The way she talks when she's spoken to

Down to me, the change has come,

She's under my thumb

Say, it's alright.

Say it's all…

Say it's all…

Take it easy babe

Take it easy babe

Feels alright

Take it, take it easy babe.

1. Guns N' Roses - again examples abound, "You Could Be Mine," "You Ain't the First," "Back Off Bitch," "Pretty Tied Up" you can find crazy misogynistic shit all over Apetite

for Destruction, but two songs came immediately to mind, the first is Welcome to the Jungle which finds Axl demanding "Feel my my my serpentine - I'm gonna make you bleed." The song "Anything goes" finds him both cruder and more descriptive:

Panties round your knees

with your ass in debris

doin that grind with the push and squeeze

tied up, tied down, up against the wall

be my rubbermaid baby, we can do it all

*For any peeps interested: The Sex Revolts by Simon

Reynolds and Joy Press deals with misogyny, rebellion and various gender issues in popular music (truth be told, I nicked the "Under My Thumb" example from it). Highly reccomended.