Spotify racially profiles explicit content
EBENEZER SCROODE
MARCH 03, 2024
The 1998 smash hit song Too Close and the 2001 cover version which also topped charts worldwide has exposed Spotify’s racist approach to explicit content categorisations.
The original track by US R&B group Next reached number one on the US Hot 100 in 1998 and contained highly sexualised and strongly suggestive lyrics sung by the three African-American members - Robert "R.L." Huggar, Terry "T-Low" Brown and Raphael "Tweety" Brown.
Some of the most memorable lines from the song, which reminisce about dancing at a night club, include poetic verse such as: “Baby, when we're grindin', I get so excitedOoh how I like it, I try but I can't fight it”
The three bards employ subtle double entendre in the following stanza:“Oh, you're dancin' real close, 'plus it's real, real slowYou're makin' it hard for me” In this instance, “hard” refers both to the difficulty level of enduring such an intimate dance from an attractive lady, but also to the tumescence of their collective nether regions. Next’s version of Too Close is categorised as ‘explicit content’ on Spotify and marked with the boxed ‘E’, helpfully warning listeners of the adult themes and sexual references contained in the song’s lyrics.
However, in searching for Too Close on Spotify, this journalist also found the 2001 cover version by British quartet, Blue, listed in the returned results.
The original track by US R&B group Next reached number one on the US Hot 100 in 1998 and contained highly sexualised and strongly suggestive lyrics sung by the three African-American members - Robert "R.L." Huggar, Terry "T-Low" Brown and Raphael "Tweety" Brown.
Some of the most memorable lines from the song, which reminisce about dancing at a night club, include poetic verse such as: “Baby, when we're grindin', I get so excitedOoh how I like it, I try but I can't fight it”
The three bards employ subtle double entendre in the following stanza:“Oh, you're dancin' real close, 'plus it's real, real slowYou're makin' it hard for me” In this instance, “hard” refers both to the difficulty level of enduring such an intimate dance from an attractive lady, but also to the tumescence of their collective nether regions. Next’s version of Too Close is categorised as ‘explicit content’ on Spotify and marked with the boxed ‘E’, helpfully warning listeners of the adult themes and sexual references contained in the song’s lyrics.
However, in searching for Too Close on Spotify, this journalist also found the 2001 cover version by British quartet, Blue, listed in the returned results.
What initially began as curiously intriguing but has escalated into justified indignant outrage is that Blue’s version, performed by three white men and one black man, contains identical lyrical content in verses, chorus and bridge and yet it is not marked with an ‘explicit content’ warning symbol. The track is consequently available for streaming even when parental controls are applied to the Spotify account.
In investigating the apparently contradictory application of classification between the two songs, this journalist assumed Spotify had simply made an algorithmic error. However, upon further investigation, it has become evident that two common aphorisms apply: ‘the medium is the message’ and ‘context is everything’.
Greek-Italian music historian and cunning linguist, Con Traversi, says the overtly sexual lyrical content such as:“All the slow songs you requestedYou're dancing like you're nakedOh, it's almost like we're sexing” and “The way that you shake it on meMakes me want you so bad sexually”and“Step back you're dancing kinda closeI feel a little poke coming through on you”all have a lexical range of meaning depending on who is singing it and who is being addressed by the crooners.
“Anyone with the most rudimentary understanding of the differences in human biology across races knows that a little poke coming through on a black man is obviously equivalent to a full-blown erection for a white man and so therefore is more sexually explicit,” Professor Traversi explains.
“Likewise, when Next sings ‘Baby, us dancin' so close ain't a good idea, ‘cause I'ma want you now and here’, this is because a black men’s sexuality is by nature aggressive compared to the relatively emasculated and sexually ambiguous white man.
“This is what makes Blue’s seventy-five percent white man cover version acceptable to be played at weddings, bar mitzvahs and even suitable for children to dance to at Year 6 discos. A white man singing so candidly about his lust is not threatening. Rather, it’s a mixture of cute and confusing – like a Labubu doll.”
Professor Traversi insists he is not exacerbating racial stereotypes.
“Heavens no! Rather, it is the only logical interpretation of how Spotify could so dichotomously categorise two lyrically identical songs on their steaming service,” Professor Traversi insists.
“Here is one final example – when Next sang that in dancing intimately with a woman in a club, ‘Oh, it's almost like we're sexing’, the implication is obvious – a white woman receiving a dry humping from a black man will, for her, feel like a full-on clitoral-engorging, g-spot stimulating, orgasmic sexual intercourse experience, such is the black man’s size and virility compared to the mediocrely endowed Anglo-Saxon gentlemen she is used to being with,” Professor Traversi reveals.
“Conversely, even full penetrative sex from a white man will merely feel like timid second-base to a black woman.”
Greek-Italian music historian and cunning linguist, Con Traversi, says the overtly sexual lyrical content such as:“All the slow songs you requestedYou're dancing like you're nakedOh, it's almost like we're sexing” and “The way that you shake it on meMakes me want you so bad sexually”and“Step back you're dancing kinda closeI feel a little poke coming through on you”all have a lexical range of meaning depending on who is singing it and who is being addressed by the crooners.
“Anyone with the most rudimentary understanding of the differences in human biology across races knows that a little poke coming through on a black man is obviously equivalent to a full-blown erection for a white man and so therefore is more sexually explicit,” Professor Traversi explains.
“Likewise, when Next sings ‘Baby, us dancin' so close ain't a good idea, ‘cause I'ma want you now and here’, this is because a black men’s sexuality is by nature aggressive compared to the relatively emasculated and sexually ambiguous white man.
“This is what makes Blue’s seventy-five percent white man cover version acceptable to be played at weddings, bar mitzvahs and even suitable for children to dance to at Year 6 discos. A white man singing so candidly about his lust is not threatening. Rather, it’s a mixture of cute and confusing – like a Labubu doll.”
Professor Traversi insists he is not exacerbating racial stereotypes.
“Heavens no! Rather, it is the only logical interpretation of how Spotify could so dichotomously categorise two lyrically identical songs on their steaming service,” Professor Traversi insists.
“Here is one final example – when Next sang that in dancing intimately with a woman in a club, ‘Oh, it's almost like we're sexing’, the implication is obvious – a white woman receiving a dry humping from a black man will, for her, feel like a full-on clitoral-engorging, g-spot stimulating, orgasmic sexual intercourse experience, such is the black man’s size and virility compared to the mediocrely endowed Anglo-Saxon gentlemen she is used to being with,” Professor Traversi reveals.
“Conversely, even full penetrative sex from a white man will merely feel like timid second-base to a black woman.”
In related news, it’s been reported that another cover version of Too Close with the exact same lyrical content recorded by Korean pop group BTS will be included in the upcoming Kung Fu Panda 4 sound track. This announcement only exacerbates stereotypes about the perceptions of non-threatening Asian male sexuality and comparative genitalia size.
Meanwhile, a remix version with Snoop Dogg rapping the very same lyrics of the song’s bridge has also been recorded. However, the MPAA ratings board has stated that if this track is included in the film’s on-screen soundtrack, they will reclassify the family friendly film from a light PG to a heavy NC-17, only available for viewing in Amsterdam after midnight on weekends.
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