Willow Smith, Repetition, Soulja Boy, Repetition

I hate songs that repeat the same line over and over such as Soulja Boys Guicci Bandanna, Swag O.D, and Pretty Boy Swag or ANY of his other songs. It sets a bad example for today's hip-hop. All one needs is a mediocre beat and a line to repeat over and over. Seriously it's pretty ridiculous. When i was still working in the classroom, you wouldn't BELIEVE how much my students worshiped him. All the time I would hear "She gotta donk, she gotta donk, she gotta donk" or "wa me dew ma bird walk, wa me dew ma bird walk, wa me dew ma bird walk" repeated over and over. Repetition




They'd always come up to me and tell me they wrote a new rap. I've heard several raps over the years. One kid wrote about how his brush gives him waves. It went like this: "My brush give waves, my brush give me waves, my brush give me waves (repeat 10x)." Another girl made a song about her stunttin' in the LV. It was called stuttin in the LV. It went like this "stunttin in the LV, stunttin stunttin in the LV (repeat 10x)."



I wish I was making this stuff up. These urban kids living in poverty turn to rappers for their motivation to make it big in the world. When they see people like Soulja Boy driving in expensive cars and wearing blinged out chains, they want they life. And who wouldn't really? I told a group of kids that things like planes, cars and jewelry are often rented for music videos and they called me a liar. They said I was just jealous that I didn't have all that like ____ did. You try telling these kids that the money doesn't last. He's only 20 and blows through it like it's nothing.


So these poor black kids are going to become poor black adults with horrible music on Youtube or Myspace calling themselves rappers. And what gets me about Soulja Boy is that he talks about taking his time to write these "masterpieces." If it took him time to write swag O.D over and over, then I have zero faith for the future of hip-hop. Next up, Souldja Boy of Love.


The repetition in music doesn't stop or start with Soulja Boy.I know why people love it when words are repeated in songs; It's because the songs become catchy. That's pretty obvious. I truly hate anything when it's repeated over and over. I even hate when I have to repeat myself. But there is one song I just can't get out of my head and that is Whip My Hair by Willow Smith..

I hate that I love this song. I'm sure liking this song negates everything I just said about songs with repetitive lyrics but something about a catchy pop song just does it for me. I think the only difference between a Willow Smith song and a Souldja Boy song is that Willow Smith probably doesn't write her own songs since she's 9. It's almost inevitable for the Smith kids to become famous like their parents (despite both Will and Jada smith saying they didn't want their kids growing up in the spotlight.)


I kind of look at Willow the same way I look at Raven Symone and Miley Cyrus. She's young and starting her career with music, she'll then gradually move onto acting in kid friendly movies or TV shows like Raven (although, Raven started out on TV and moved to music). After her stint as a teen idol, she'll either take the Raven route or the Miley Route. She'll want to keep her good girl character and continue to do modest movies and TV shows like Raven, or she'll want to leave all of that behind and let it all hang out like Miley Cyrus is doing now.

Which ever she chooses, I'm going to love it while it lasts.