Now that my ears aren’t ringing and my bones aren’t vibrating, I’d like to write about Bearstock.
I enjoyed the event overall: musical festivals are fun! I also love getting to hang out in the best of Macon’s weather with friends.
However, I have some issues with one of the bands present: Travis Porter.
If you search for Travis Porter’s lyrics and look at some top songs, I hope you can see why I’m writing.
Let’s take “Ayy Ladies” for example: “Know the pussy stay wet, I need all dat / Tattoos on the back, I see all dat / You already got a man, I ain’t tryna be all dat.” So she’s got a man, but the writer wants to hook up with her anyway. I see.
Here’s another bit from the same song: “When I hit it from the back, don’t fuss, don’t fight / When I put it in ya mouth, don’t scratch, don’t bite.” That’s not okay. In fact, it sounds like rape.
Sometimes it’s hard for me to fully realize just what these songs are saying.
If it helps make it more real to you, try addressing these lines to someone you know. (I wouldn’t do it out loud—they might hit you.)
Here’s a few lines from “Bring It Back”: “Got a police bitch on a short leash / Got good mouth like she got no teeth / She a slut, she a dog, she a bitch with it / Man you see the way she work she super thick with it.”
Here’s a question: Is this music respectful to women? Is it portraying women as complex human beings, or simply collections of body parts? If the lyrics are disrespectful, is this a message what we want blaring at Bearstock? It’s worth mentioning that I saw a girl younger than ten years old dancing to some of these songs, and I don’t think she was the only kid there. Were these lyrics good for her to hear?
If the lyrics are extremely negative, then who should take responsibility for people hearing the music?
As college students, we can choose to attend a concert or not. If we choose to listen to a song or band, and it turns out to be a bad decision, we can’t blame someone else for making it available.
However, when children go to a concert, it’s the parents’ responsibility to check out the bands and make sure that they are appropriate.
Regardless, organizers for events like Bearstock know that families will come even if the lyrics are explicit. I think it is Quadworks’ responsibility to take a few minutes for each band and read some of the song lyrics. Partially for families’ sakes, but also to carefully choose the message Mercer sends through its events.
Not only did Mercer invite Travis Porter to Bearstock, allowing them to play for a large crowd, but Mercer probably shelled out a lot of money to get them here. Here’s my point: Mercer supported Travis Porter.
If I may mention one part of the stage performance which I found offensive apart from the genre, Travis Porter would play gunshots at the end of songs and between songs. As one of my friends mentioned: this is inappropriate in Macon. There were probably people at the concert who had been hurt by gun crime in some form. Bringing that issue up over and over again at a public event is really insensitive.
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