So, let's get the obvious out of the way. This song contains a sample--amply used--of Dead or Alive's hit, You Spin Me Round (Like A Record). Most everyone has heard that at some 80's party or somebody's wedding or whatever else, so it is pretty well known. Many might even say that that beat was pretty catchy and danceable. Well, in typical hip-hop fashion, the catchiness and the danceability has been amped up; sexuality has too indeed increased exponentially. The chorus goes as follows: "You spin my head right round, right round. When you go down, when you go down down." This is repeated once through. At first glance one would not be amiss to assume the double entendre is referring to oral sex. However, as Flo Rida's celebratory dance track continues, we come to find that it is actually more accurately about the strippers he is enamored with at the clubs he attends. The line that talks about 'when you go down down' is actually in reference to these ladies of the night slithering down the pole. I know bad visuals, but this song is chock full of verbal imagery, as well as the story of a "regular" twenty-something male in need of some fun and gratification. All of this is done in a rapid-fire delivery that may make much of this fly over the head of those who 'just like the beat.' As is customary of hip-hop today, there is much mention of carousing, popping of champagne bottles (or other bottles of the alcoholic persuasion), boasting of flashy rides, bling, and sexual prowess. I think the saddest, or funniest (whichever way you look at it) part about the song is how he seems to be happy about the financial hold this lifestyle of spending money on strippers has on him. He portrays himself as someone content and--God help us--lucky to be able to lavish his money on these girls who do not belong to him in a marital way and really are only interested in one or two things from the fellows who frequent: money and more money. So be careful listening to this, or better yet don't. This song is truly an ode--as it were--to going clubbing, but this is strip clubbing, not the regular kind. I also find it pretty hilarious that he is trying to compliment the women and make them feel special about their bodies and the way they can move them....all the while he and his boys are massively objectifying them. I guess it takes talent to simultaneously praise and defame a person and make it seem like its a good thing! For that, he is brilliant. One more interesting observation: as if he discovered a conscience, he appears near the end to be crying for help to quit the habit of overspending on these trysts, yet immediately shutting his conscience down with excuses or reasons why it isn't a big deal. Here's that lyric: "I'm spendin' my money, I'm out of control. Somebody help me, she's takin' my bank roll...But I'm king of the club, and I'm wearin' the crown."
So what if you're the king wearing the crown? You're going broke and pretty soon you'll be relegated to the seediest of seedy strip clubs! Or maybe participating in far worse, as the cycle of sin always goes. Why do it? Because it's cool, says Flo Rida. Well I don't think it's cool, because that is just one reason why men and women aren't in a place of sexual purity today, even in the church. This kind of celebration and advocation of objectifying women and pronouncing strip club hopping 'normal male behavior' only makes it harder for people to say "No it's not, it's not normal, or it shouldn't be." It might help if we stopped listening to people and things that feed us these false ideas and ideals, enticing us to adopt them into our lives.
So, in closing, the song would get a high grade for great club beat, if that were all that mattered. However, it is not, so the grade is far far lower when the content and message are considered. It may not be one of the worst out there, having very little cursing whatsoever, but it is what is contrary to godliness. This popular song's message is one of living it up instead of living for Jesus; spending cash on strippers instead of giving to the poor; making the strippers feel good about what they can do instead of loving them for who God made them--women who need Jesus and His love, who are beautiful in purity; boasting in one's possessions and talents instead of in God's mercy, glory and power; and perpetuating as acceptable the sinful, lustful lifestyle instead of the sinless, holy and righteous-before-God lifestyle of praise.
Sound like a harmless song?
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