After pressure from the public and a lukewarm apology from Rick Ross, Reebok has decided to drop the rapper over his song UOENO and take a firm stand against date-rape related lyrical content in media.
Good for you Reebok! You’re really showing your moral fiber!
Except, of course, for the fact that they support things equally heinous with no issue whatsoever.
In the aforementioned rap, Ross boats,
Put Molly all in her champagne, she ain’t even know it. I took her home and I enjoyed that, she ain’t even know it.
It appears Ross is promoting date rape, but a closer look at the street name of “Molly” would reveal it’s the strongest form of ecstasy available. Is dropping ecstasy in a woman’s drink reprehensible? Yes. Is it date-rape? That would depend on your ability to consent under the influence of the drug.
But, that isn’t even the point.
Here are some of Ross’ lyrics from his songs.
From Hustlin’
I’m in the distribution, I’m like Atlantic
I got them motherfuckers flyin’ ‘cross the Atlantic
I know Pablo, Noriega, the real Noriega
He owe me a hundred favors
Hey, it looks like Rick Ross is either straight up dealing cocaine or appears to be heavily in favor of it. That can’t be good for Reebok’s PR, right?
How about this excerpt from Mafia Music?
Love my handgun, but my choppa still the shit
Banned in 1994 but I’m too legit to quit
Wait a minute, Ross is boasting about owning illegal guns. That’s a hot button issue. This is not what Reebok wants to appear to be supporting, right?
Ross has countless lyrics that reference marijuana, cocaine dealing, murder, and outright misogyny, but Reebok has been mute. If Reebok supported all those lyrics, then who gives a shit? It’s not even rap music, it’s entertainment. No one listening to a gangster rapper believes he’s actually dealing coke, busting guns, and generally murdering whoever attempts any sort of interaction with him. If the stories Ross tells in his music were thought to hold any weight in truth, the feds would’ve locked him up years ago. Did he actually drug someone with a date-rape drug, or is he flashing his bravado thug persona in his music? The dude used to be a corrections officer, he’s about as fake gangster as they come.
Reebok cares about money. Reebok doesn’t give a shit about women or their rights. If it made them money, Ross could backhand women in his free time as long as no one spoke out against it. Why would they say anything? But amidst a protest from angry white people calling for the head of a big black dude and threatening to boycott your product and bottom line? Whoa, now they’ve grown moral fortitude?
Either support it all, or support none of it Reebok.
Can you say anything in America anymore without someone getting their panties in a bunch? Is it really a serious issue, or is it a case of more white people with nothing better to do than protest against rap music for a mean lyric that hurt their feelings? Ross wasn’t advocating rape, nor did he insinuate that young black males should go out and start raping white bitches WHOLESALE, but the reaction from the detractors would have you believe otherwise.
Where is freedom for artistic expression? Ross is in the entertainment business, not the mentoring young children and speaking out for the rights of fellow Americans business. In a country that seems to celebrate characters like Charlie Sheen, it’s strange for picket signs to rage and for white people to cower from song lyrics. This is the price you pay for living in a culture where hurting someone’s feelings is taboo. The real man is William Leonard Roberts, the persona is Rick Ross. He owes no one an apology.
Sorry Reebok, it’s a little too late to take a morality stand.
The post The Hypocrisy of Reebok appeared first on The Daily Rotation.