This song has been hot on YouTube for like a week now, and I wanted to share it here. I really like it, and I think it takes an interesting perspective.

I thought this might spawn some good discussion...

Very repetitive.

Why is this popular again?

I liked it... It's got a good message, and he's got a great voice.

Tadpole, Where is http://www.defendingthetruth.com/music/

Go to the main forum menu, and find
the thread on the menu. Also if it was why wasn't Chocolate
Rain on that thread?

What does Chocolate Rain have to do with Affirmative Action?

It has to do with race issues. I posted it as such, not as a focus on music.

The music section is under "Off Topic" it's very easy to find, or you can just use the link I provided!

A Race issue? What about the song...Play that funky music white boy?
Or lets go back to the old school...what about Don't call me Nigger
.....Whitey...Don't call me Whitey...Nigger? Is Purple Rain a racist song?

Prince isn't a racist by no means, due to the fact that he has
a few good white Musicians backing him up. I am sure that
there's a bunch of White artists who have put out racist songs.

Don't get me wrong I have a bunch of White artist in my record
collection. Artist that you may not even be aware or heard of,
and here is a few names David Bowie,Traffic,The Doobie Bros,
Dr John, Bob Seger, and my girl Janis Joplin. These artists get
a bunch of respect from Blacks.

Maybe we should take this to Entertainment/Music.

1) I am not calling anyone a racist. I posted this song here to open a discussion.

2) This thread is not moving. Period.

3) I really like this song, I think you are misconstruing my intentions or you are trying to create a victim where there is none.

4) Play that funky music white boy is not really dealing with any serious racial issues, though I do love the song. And I have never heard of those other songs except for Purple Rain, which I do not recall well enough to say if it deals with any racial issues... None of these songs have ANYTHING to do with this thread so I don't see your point.

5) Discuss the subject at hand please. Or leave room for those who wish to.

I disagree. Even though the song IS a bit repetitive, it does touch on racial behavior and belief. Listen to the lyrics that come between the "chocolate rain" repetition, and there is a healthy bit of depth.

I think that this song would have been better done as performance poetry without the frequent refrain.

I'm going to have to listen to it again before I comment on the points raised.

I guess if this subject needs discussion, I can tell you of a conversation my late-dad, then writing sports for the Arizona Republic in Phoenix, had with Willie Mays back in the 1950's when the New York Giants were in Arizona for spring training.

Willie was talking to my dad about a conversation he had with the Brooklyn Dodgers' Roy Campanella during a game in one of the previous seasons, anywhere from 1951 to 1954.

Campanella, catching behind the plate, jokingly asked Willie: "Willie, do you see that man out there (pointing to Dodgers' pitcher Don Newcombe)? That's big Don Newcombe. He hates ni**ers."

So Willie proceeded to hit a homerun off of Newcombe anyway. I guess the point is that ballplayers like Campanella and Mays can share a few laughs together about their race, even the racists in those days had other names for them, especially once Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier.

It speaks to a general attitude of fear.

I don't get his comment 'worse than swearing, worse than calling names.' Is he addressing the fear that some hold of black people, or is he addressing the general difference in social privelidge that comes with the different colors of skin in American society? Related, but not the same.

The social differences have not just 'gone away.' They still clearly exist on many levels. Obviously, ignoring it has not produced and results, so what are we, as a society, to do to address it?

I don't think that anyone would argue that being a person of color works against you in the criminal justice system. The sentences are consistenly higher if you are black, hispanic etc...

'turn their bodies into GDP' - I think that is true of ALL of us regardless of race. Gross Domestic Product is what the corporations consider us all.

Indeed... In the way that we treat each other around the world, the angels cry and shake their heads in shame.


I can't believe that this dude is 25. He looks like he is 15 or 16!