Outkast
Album: The LovebBelow
Song: Hey Ya
Reviewed by: Krystal Burns
The Band
The hip-hop duo, Andre and Big Boi, are based in Atlanta. They’re known for creatively combining hip-hop with rap, jazz, and funk. They released their debut platinum album in ’94 called Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik.
The Music
“The Love Below” recently won three Grammy Awards including, Album of the Year, Best Rap, and Best Urban/Alternative Performance for “Hey Ya.” The diversity of the album is impressive with songs like “Church,” “Where Are My Panties,” “God,” and “Vibrate.” Andre and Big Boi are able to tell you go to church in one song, then turn around to encourage violence and sex in another. They manage the rolls of pimps, preachers, lovers, and haters all on one album—truly a postmodern accomplishment.
The Song
“Hey Ya” is a catchy song that introduces hip hop with a ’60s flare. Whenever I hear it, I find I’m hard pressed not to join in the “Heeeyyy… Yaaaaaaaaaaa” chorus or at the very least tap my foot. What can I say? It makes you want to move, so its popularity should not come as a huge surprise.
What is surprising is the message behind the beat. The guy begins by questioning his girlfriend’s fidelity. “My baby don’t mess around/ Because she loves me so… Uh, but does she really wanna?” It’s an unhealthy relationship full of doubts and insecurities. He goes on to affirm that he doesn’t really know what it takes for a relationship to survive, while implying it’s a thing of the past anyway. “I thank God for Mom and Dad/ For sticking through together/ ‘Cause we don’t know how.”
I’ll give them credit that relationships are hard—even more so in a marriage. Even the apostle Paul says, “Those who marry will face many troubles in this life…” (1 Corinthians 7:28). It takes a lot of self-sacrifice and commitment to make it solid. But it’s not impossible. God created marriage to be something beautiful and glorifying to him. And fortunately, he left us some great tips on marriage (Eph. 5) and how to love one another, which should be the foundation of any relationship. One of the most famous passages on love is 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” It is easy to see in this song that there are some issues with the trusting, hoping, and persevering.
The song wouldn’t be so bad if it stopped right there, but the first verse just sets the stage for what they really want to say--since relationships don’t work out, they just want sex. “Don’t want to meet your daddy/ Just want you in my caddy/ Don’t want to meet yo’ mama/ Just want to make you cumma/ I’m just being honest…” And again, “Now I wanna see ya’ll [the ladies] on ya’all’s baddest behavior/ Gimme some suga’…” They encourage sexuality outside of any type of commitment, because they don’t want to be bothered with the work that goes into making a relationship the way God intended.
The Bible has a lot to say about sexual promiscuity. God created sex to be something wonderful between married couples. We are warned against sexual immorality, including but not limited to pre-martial sex, repeatedly (see Matthew 19:9, 1 Corinthians 10:8). “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body” (1 Corinthians 6:1). From this passage we gather that sexual sins are particularly harmful and we are literally to run away.
Next time you get the urge to “shake it like a Polaroid picture,” just think twice about the messages being put in your head.
So What Do You Think?
1. Do you like hip-hop? Why or why not?
2. Is it okay to listen to songs if you don’t really know or understand
what the artist is saying?
3. What are some things that keep relationships healthy in God’s eyes?
4. Why do you think God doesn’t want us to have pre-martial
sex?