50 CENT, “Candy Shop.” Music Review. CYS.

 

 

 

OVERVIEW

Many people don’t know it, but 50 Cent’s real name is Curtis Jackson.  50 Cent grew up in Jamaica, Queens, where he was raised by his grandmother because his mother passed away when he was eight and his father left soon after.  He grew up in a broken home, where his teenage years were full of selling drugs and watching violence.  Luckily, after the law came into his life, he found that rapping was where his passion was. 

His break came in 1996 when he met another rapper, who gave him a tape of beats and asked him to rap over it.  He was extremely impressed, and signed him to a JMJ record label.  With only a few small-time singles under his belt, he showed he loved the rapping style of music, and his lifestyle and image was one that came back to haunt him.  He was the East Coast looking rapper who was big, buff, and talked the talk.  His style of rap resembled his run-ins with violence, stabbings, killings, and especially shootings. 

On May 24, 2000, an assassin tried to take 50’s life, shooting him nine times with a 9mm pistol.  One shot hit his cheek, one his hand, and the other seven, his legs.  Nobody wanted 50 after this incident, and it took a couple years until Eminem came along and snagged 50 with a record label.  This was the major beginning of what 50 has created over the past several years. 

It is this information about his tough background that explains with why 50 has the different lyrics that he does.  Over the past year, he has gone from the violence, killing, and shooting, to extremely sexual lyrics and music videos. 

 

50 Cent’s latest CD is called “Massacre.”  The CD cover is a picture of 50, looking very powerful with definite muscles.  This image gives the youth, especially males, the perception that being buff is the best way to have power.  By having titles like “I’m Supposed to Die Tonight,” “My Toy Soldier,” and “Position of Power,” 50 shows an extreme of violence, power, and sex.  It is his lyrics to these specific songs that back that statement up.  To many, the biggest impressions that 50’s songs and lyrics give are those of hurt, pain, and confusion as to what life is truly about. 

 

 

EXEGESIS

          50 Cent’s song, “Candy Shop” has a certain cultural and social message that is surrounded with sexual implications.  With a song that is completely filled with inappropriate lyrics, ranging from “In the hotel or in the back of the rental on the beach or in the park, it's whatever you into got the magic stick, I'm the love doctor,” to “Give it to me baby, nice and slow climb on top, ride like you in the rodeo,” you can start to understand how youth listen to this and think sexual acts are alright no matter the circumstances surrounding them.  This song is number two right now on MTV’s top forty, and is in the top five in most popular songs of the month.  This postmodern culture of teenagers today is all about experience, and it is songs like these that give youth another reason to want to experiment sexually.  The cultural value portrayed here is that sex is good, rough and should be experienced with as many different women as possible.

          The only longing this particular song expresses is for more sex.  It claims that the harder, the longer, and the dirtier the sex is the better.  For these reasons, it should be concerned that this song and many others like it are played several times a day on many different radio stations, and are listened to by a large number of youth daily.

 

          To put it quite abruptly, this is just about as far from spiritual insight as one can get.  Someone would truly have to dig deep to try and find any good coming from 50 Cent’s song ‘Candy Shop.’  Every lyric is dirty, sexual, and completely outrageous.  The sad part is, this should not come as too much of a surprise.  The culture we live in today is accepting these sorts of things more and more.

 

 

USE FOR MINISTRY

This would not be a good song to use in a youth group or club setting.  The lyrics in this song are so sexually explicit that playing this song to a group of high school students is sure to send the wrong impression.  With that said, this song could have a powerful impression if played during a parents’ meeting or a youth leaders training day.  As far as parents are concerned, it is safe to say that many parents would be shocked to find that their son or daughter regularly listens to music with such explicit sexual content.  With relaxed censorship standards allowing more and more controversial content to be aired on the radio waves and on television, it is important for parents to know what their children are being exposed to. 

          The sad truth is that many parents have absolutely no idea what their children or watching or listening to the majority of the time.  When the average student spends several hours a day listening to music or watching music videos and only a couple minutes each day talking to their parents, it is easy to see how musical artists like 50 can have more influence in the lives of these students.  For this reason, it is important for parents to know the content of what their children are listening to and have conversations with their child about the topics that are brought up in the context of their music.

 

          It is important for parents to realize that while they may not feel especially comfortable talking with their children about sex, there are many pop culture icons that are.  It is probably unrealistic to think that a parent can control what their child listens to the extent that they would never hear a song such as “Candy Shop” by 50 cent.  It can also be questioned whether having such extensive control is desirable in the first place.  However, by talking about issues such as sex in an open and honest way, parents can help their children see that there are different perspectives about what kind of sexual activity is desirable for a junior high or high school age student.  Parents can also help their children realize that there are some negative consequences to the sexually promiscuous behavior which is promoted in songs such as this one.

 

 

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND REFLECTION

1. Why do you think Middle School and High School students find this song so appealing?

 

 

2. Do you think the average student who listens to this song is influenced by the lyrics at all?  Why or why not?

 

 

3. If you came home from work and found your child watching the music video to this song, what would be your reaction?  How would your child react?

 

 

4. What concerns you most about this song?

 

 

 

5. Does your child know your beliefs about sex?  Do you know your child beliefs about sex?

 

 

IMPLICATIONS

1. Artists like 50 cent spend much more time communicating with Middle School and High School students than parents or youth workers do.  If a student spends a couple hours listening to 50 cent for every half-hour talk they hear from their youth leader, it is only natural that the student would be more drawn to model their life on the teachings of 50 cent.

 

 

2. Songs such as this present a philosophy of sex that is far removed from the way God originally envisioned it.  Songs such as “Candy Shop” do not promote healthy sexual relationships in a monogamous setting between two people who care deeply for one another and have been joined together by God in an act of marriage.  They promote the opposite.  Youth leaders need to be aware of this fact when they develop programs with the aim of educating students about sex.

 

 

3. The use of the word “candy” in the title can be seen as an appeal to younger and younger audiences.  Students are experimenting with sexual activity at an increasingly younger age, meaning youth leaders will need to combine their talents and energies with children’s ministers in order to effectively minister to students.

 

 

4. Songs such as “Candy Shop” offer a distorted perspective of manhood and womanhood.  Rather than seeing men and women as complementary creatures who should submit to one another in a spirit of humbleness, this song severely limits the roles of both men and women and encourages each gender to develop relationships solely for the sexual pleasure which they provide.

 

 

5. Songs like this may be a stumbling block to many committed Christian students who are struggling to determine what sort of sexual boundaries they should establish in their own life.  While many students may have committed themselves to abstaining from sexual intercourse outside of the context of marriage, songs like this may present students with challenging dilemmas as they try to determine if other sexual acts, specifically oral sex, should be avoided as well.

 

 

6. The music video to this song presents a value system that is greatly at odds with the value system promoted by Christian youth leaders.  Not only does the video promote an understanding of sex in which multiple women have the sole purpose of satisfying the desires of one man, but the video also gives the impression that one’s self worth is based on material issues such as the type of car one drives, the size of house one lives in, the amount of jewelry one wears and the type of body one has.  To help students gain a more Biblical self-image, a youth leader must first challenge many prevailing stereotypes.

 

 

Brandon Comella, Mark Schmor, Copyright 2005.  CYS