Lost in Exploitation
Last week, Ana and I spent two nights at a hotel in the main tourist section of Barcelona, which meant we got to watch a great deal of German-language television. (The same thing happened when we visited Zaragoza, another popular destination for Germans, apparently.)
One of the programs we caught more than once was an MTV program which consisted of nothing more than commercials for ringtones. At first, it looked like a standard music video countdown only each clip was branded with the SMS code required for purchasing a polyphonic ringtone of the song being shown. The videos were then ranked according to their sales.
One of the top three was a song called “Happy Birthday” by Flipsyde. It’s a standard, mainstream rap song and neither it nor the video, which is black and white, would catch your attention.
Unless, of course, it’s the first English you’ve heard in a long time — which was our case. And then you start to pay very close attention.
At that point, this song/video/ringtone reveals itself to be something quite extraordinary: either a very stupid and selfish lament or a truly revolting piece of calculated, insidious pandering.
The second verse:
I’ve got a millon excuses to why you died
Bet the people got their own reasons for homicide
Who’s to say it woulda worked, and who’s to say it wouldn’t have?
I was young and strugglin’ but old enough to be your dad
The fear of being a father has never disappeared
Pondering frequently while I’m sippin’ on my beer
My vision of a family was artificial and fake
So when it came time to create I made a mistake
Now you’ve got a little brother maybe he’s really you?
Maybe you really forgave us knowin’ we was confused?
Maybe everytime that he smiles it’s you proudly knowin’ that your father’s doin’ the right thing now?
I never tell a woman what to do with her body
But if she don’t love children then we can’t party
Think about it every year, so I picked up a pen
Happy birthday, love you whoever you woulda been
Happy birthday…
Touching.
You might be wondering where Flipsyde are from since, as Ana suggested, they haven’t heard of this new technology called CONDOMS.
Unless there are two or more Flipsyde’s currently making the rounds, it appears this group is from Oakland, California though they’ve got quite the international management team.
Because at the same time this “anti-Unborn Baby-Murder” hit is climbing the charts in Germany and neighboring countries — prompting one Swiss chatboard poster to remark “Guter Song, mit bewegenden Lyrics” (good song with moving lyrics) — Flipsyde is getting mainstream attention in the U.S. for selling their inspirational song “Someday” to the NBC Winter Olympics.
I believe this is what the critics call “commercial music,” no?
Of course, commerce is now global, making it possible to “sell out” in 20 languages. In this case, as “Happy Birthday” continues to move the hearts and minds of Austrian, Swiss and German youth, I can’t help but think there is a little bit “orientalism” at work here — or, in this case, occidentalism.
Do German kids understand and/or savor the irony of participating in a saccharine anthem for the men’s rights movement in the U.S. — an irony no doubt sweetened by the fact that the singer is cast as a struggling Black man, making his way against the current of mainstream (white) American society?
If this strikes you as idle speculation on my part, there’s one more detail I want you to consider. The second time we caught the video, we watched it through to the end. Mostly in shock.
Just below the giant, omnipresent banner for purchasing the ringtone, the following information flashed on the screen:
“Flipsyde featuring t.A.T.u..”
Yes, that t.A.T.u.
Remember them?