What Puts the 'Kracka' In "Ritz Kracka?" My latest FB share.

Without any thought as to the subtle implications and undertones of the post below made by "The Mind Unleashed" FB page, I chuckled at the comparison, its truth, and promptly shared it on my  page:

The Mind Unleashed - Zeppelin vs. Minaj

 A couple of hours later, it hit me, like the proverbial "ton of bricks":  the white males wrote the "meaningful lyrics" while the black female wrote the "mindless" lyrics.  And why were these examples chosen? Well, for starters, and I hate to make a$$umptions, but I think it is safe to assume that the author of  "The Mind Unleashed" is most likely white, and probably a white male. 

I believe that one's taste in music, as well as one's larger world view, its heavily influenced by the culture in which they were raised.  Sometimes this falls along color lines, sometimes not.  I was raised by middle-class white folks, in a predominately middle-class white city, went to a predominately middle-class white high school and listened to my fair share of white rock-n-roll bands growing up.  I sang along to the Beatles steadily by the age of 10, and Zeppelin was one my favorites.  It wasn't until my last year in high school, when I joined one of the premier track and field teams in the country (the members of whom happened to all be black), that i was exposed to hip-hop, the art of rap, and  R & B.  I was also exposed to my own light-skin privilege, as well as to the fact that "mean" comes in all colors. 

And so it is that my middle-class-caucasian-influenced psyche does not recognize the subtle racism (yes, I said the "R" word) inherent in the post above.  With a little thought, the examples used could have been one of my all time favorite acts, The Pointer Sisters (from Oakland!), with these lyrics from their song "Yes We Can":

"And try to find peace within
Without stepping on one another
And do respect the women of the world
Remember, you all had mothers"

or these from Billie Holiday, from her song "God Bless the Child"

"Them that's got shall have
Them that's not shall lose
So the Bible says and it still is news
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that's got his own, that's got his own"

....versus these lyrics from the pop band One Direction's song "Tell Me a Lie"

Tell me a lie
(Oh, oh, oh)
Tell me a lie
(Oh, oh, oh)
Tell me a lie
(Oh, oh, oh)
Tell me a lie!

...oh. except that One Direction doesn't write their lyrics.  And Nicki Minaj does.  And some of them, even I have to admit, are pretty damn funny.