Final Project Paper: \"Blame It\" by Jamie Foxx PDF

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Blame it on the Alcohol Blame it on the alcohol was a song released on January 26, 2009 and immediately became one of the most popular and most played songs on the radio. It skyrocketed to number 2 on Billboard's top 100 list. This song is very catchy and a relatable song for many adults who feel they could resonate with the lyrics. With heavy rotation on radio and impressive sales in digital downloads, "Blame It" began to pick up some awards as well. The song walked away with the 2009 Soul Train Music Award for Record of the Year. The accolades didn't end there for Foxx, who hosted the 2009 BET Awards, where he performed "Blame It," and the song took away the award for Best Collaboration. That was followed by the Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals in 2010 (where Foxx, along with collaborator T-Pain and guests Doug E. Fresh and Slash, performed the song live). Despite the whirlwind of popularity that this song accumulated, many people did not like the message that it was sending to people and younger audiences. While the song is catchy it also has a dangerous message that it delivers. “You can blame it on the goose, gotcha feeling loose. Blame it on the ‘tron, catch me in a zone. Blame it on the a-a-alcohol”. These lyrics in particular are encouraging people to merely “blame it on the alcohol”. People will often blame the use of alcohol and their intoxication as an excuse if they engage in otherwise unacceptable behavior. I have often heard people say “i was so drunk i didn't know what i was doing” and and do not hold themselves accountable for their actions. He might be trying to blame liquor for the choices he makes and the consequences that follow those choices. This is a scary song to be released into our society especially with our problems with sexual assault that we face. In class we read an article called “Asking for it” by Kate Harding. In this article she is talking about how women in society and the alarming rise of rape culture. This song contributes to rape culture by telling listeners to blame behaviors on alcohol. When a girl has been sexually assaulted many unfair questions arise according to Harding like, “what was she wearing and how much did she have to drink?”. These questions seem unnecessary because what does it matter if a girl had 1 drink or 10? She is still entitled to her freedom and should not feel scared about being drunk around men. Comments like “if she hadn't been drinking it never would have happened” are unfair and we should be shifting the blame from the alcohol and the victims to the people who commit the crimes, whether they are intoxicated or not. In one particular article we read in class we learn why rape is so popular on college campuses. In the Armstrong, Hamilton and Sweeney sexual assault reading the article states that “A recent report by the U.S. Department of Justice defines party rape as a distinct form of rape, one that “occurs at an off-campus house or on- or off-campus fraternity and involves playing a woman with alcohol or targeting an intoxicated woman”. In the song blame it on the alcohol not only does it have a bad message about blaming your actions on alcohol, it also tells people that drinking and being drunk will make girls “easier” and basically is saying to target drunk women. In the first minute of the song T- Pain sings “Just one more round and you’re down I’d know it” and another minute into the song he says

“couple more shots,You open up like a book”. These lyrics imply that they are encouraging this girl in the club to keep on drinking so she is down and opens up which is not a good example of how to seduce a women. You should not have to be drunk to have a sexual encounter with someone. For example, men’s disrespectful treatment of women is normalized by the idea that men are naturally sexually aggressive. Similarly, the belief that women “ask for it” shifts responsibility from predators to victims. This is also shown in the song when Foxx sings “Fill another cup up, feelin’ on your butt what”.

LYRICS Blame it on the goose, gotcha feeling loose. Blame it on the ‘tron, catch me in a zone Blame it on the a-a-alcohol Blame it on the a-a-alcohol She said, she usually don’t But I know that she frontin ‘Cause shawty know what she wan’t She don’t wanna to seem like she’s easy I ain’t saying what you won’t do But you know what we’re probably gon’ do What you been feenin’ deep inside Let it out now, girl what you drinkin’, gon’ let it sink in Here for a weekend, thinkin’, we can See where we could be if we press fast forward Just one more round and you’re down I’d know it Fill another cup up, feelin’ on your butt what You don’t even care now, I was unaware How fine you was before My buzz set in, my buzz set in.Blame it on the goose, gotcha feeling loose.Blame it on the ‘tron, catch me in a zone.Blame it on the a-a-alcohol.Blame it on the a-a-alcohol Blame it on the vodka, blame it on the henny Blame it on the blue tap, got you feeling dizzy Blame it on the a-a-alcohol Blame it on the a-a-alcohol Ooh see, she spilled some drink on me And now I’m knowin’ she tipsy She put her body on me And she keeps staring me right in my eyes No tellin’ what I’m gon’ do Baby, I would rather show you What you been missin’ in your life when I get inside Girl, what you drinkin’? Don’t let it sink in Here for the weekend, thinkin’, we can See where we could be if we press fast forward Just one more round if your down, I’m fallin’ Fill another cup up, feelin’ on your butt what You don’t even care now, I was unaware How fine you was before My buzz set in, my buzz set in Blame it on the goose, gotcha feeling loose Blame it on the ‘tron, catch me in a zone Blame it on the a-a-alcohol Blame it on the a-a-alcohol Blame it on the vodka, blame it on the henny Blame it on the blue tap, got you feeling dizzy Blame it on the a-a-alcohol.Blame it on the a-a-alcoholGirl, I know you feel good Just like you look, couple more shots

You open up like a book, I ain’t trippin ’cause I’ma read yaShawty, I ain’t trippin’, I jus’ wanna please ya I’ma take a shot of Nuvo, shawty, then you know It’s going down, we can go kick it like Judo You know what I mean Shawty got drunk, thought it all was a dream So I made her say I, Now she got her hand on my leg Got my seats all wet in my ride All over my ride She look me dead in the eye Then my pants got bigga She already knew what to figga Had her lookin’ at her boyfriend like, “F**k dat nigga” Blame it on the juice, gotcha feeling loose Blame it on the ‘tron, catch me in a zone Blame it on the a-a-alcohol Blame it on the a-a-alcohol Blame it on the vodka, blame it on the henny Blame it on a blue tap, got you feeling dizzy Blame it on the a-a-alcohol Blame it on the a-a-alcohol Now to the ballas poppin’ bottles With they henny in they cups screamin’ Money ain’t a thing, if it ain’t throwin’ it up in the sky Hold your drinks up high And to my independent ballas Who can buy they own bottles If you lookin’ like a model When them broke fellas holla, tell ’em, bye Hold your drinks up high You can blame it on the goose, gotcha feeling loose Blame it on the ‘tron, catch me in a zone Blame it on the a-a-alcohol Blame it on the a-a-alcohol Blame it on the vodka, blame it on the henny Blame it on the blue tap, got you feeling dizzy Blame it on the a-a-alcoholBlame it on the a-a-alcohol

Analysis of lyrics: She said, she usually don’t But I know that she frontin ‘Cause shawty know what she wan’t She don’t wanna to seem like she’s easy I ain’t saying what you won’t do But you know what we’re probably gon’ do What you been feenin’ deep inside

Girl, I know you feel good

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Implies that the woman rejecting his advances/being hesitant is just her playing “hard to get” He thinks he has the power to know what she truly wants and decide for her

Just one more round and you’re down I’d know it Fill another cup up, feelin’ on your butt what You don’t even care now, I was unaware How fine you was before

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Using alcohol as a way to make women vulnerable and incapacitated - coerce them into sex or sexually assault them

Now to the ballas poppin’ bottles With they henny in they cups screamin’ Money ain’t a thing, if it ain’t throwin’ it up in the sky Hold your drinks up high And to my independent ballas Who can buy they own bottles If you lookin’ like a model When them broke fellas holla, tell ’em, bye Hold your drinks up high You can blame it on the goose, gotcha feeling loose

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Blaming alcohol for sexual assault/rape Taking responsibility off of the perpetrator Glorifying drinking and these behaviors

MUSIC VIDEO https://youtu.be/rfjtpp90lu8 Analysis & Imagery: ●

Objectifying women ○ Focus on their bodies, promiscuity, sexuality ○ Multiple women love him ○ Women kissing each other for male entertainment ○ We don’t get the woman’s perspective

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Is she consenting? Competent when this assault happens? Implies that women have no sexual agency

Coercion ○ Has her up against a wall for a large part of the video ○ Woman is pictured as passive and accepting of his advances ○ Imbalance of power ■ Physically ■ He is supplying her with alcohol ■ Intimidation - he is wealthy, etc. ○ Depicts sex as a power struggle Glorifies men who do this ○ Getting out of a nice ride ○ Throwing money in the air ○ Dressed well

Reviews & Critiques: https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/columns/the-sexist/blog/13117984/jamie-foxx-andrape-vs-rapey -

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“Did any sexual abuse occur in the song? No—-this joint ends before they leave the club. That's why I describe Foxx's song as "rapey"—-in my opinion, it encourages and even glamorizes tactics of date rapists. In other words, it lays out a scenario that could likely lead to a date rape. What tactics does Foxx use that could lead to jail time? a) Not taking no for an answer: willfully denying the woman's expressed verbal "unwillingness" to have sex ("she said she usually don't / but i know that she front") b) Attempting to alter her state of consciousness in order to have sex with her ("I ain't saying what you wanna do / but you know we probly gon' do" . . . "ooh see, she spilled some drink on me / and now I'm knowing she tipsy")”

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“If Foxx and this woman did later have sex, he could be in trouble if a judge, jury, and an alcohol toxicology expert witness confirmed that she either a) was passed out, b) wasn't passed out but didn't know what was going on, c) wasn't passed out but couldn't communicate that she didn't want to have sex, or simply d) did not expressly consent to the act. It doesn't help that Foxx clearly announced his intentions prior to the act in order to coerce this woman into bed with alcohol (remember, if you attempt to commit any of the above offenses, you can be liable as well)” More problematic, however, is the fact that we don't hear from this woman—-and that her actual inclination to fuck Jamie Foxx doesn't seem to matter to Jamie Foxx (or to, you know, the recording industry in general). Instead, Foxx places this woman in an outdated model of female consent that allows him to fuck her in the easiest way possible, (before the weekend is over, and he skips town)—-whether she wants it or not The model Foxx choses is a familiar one: Woman says no, man coerces her with the aid of alcohol until she says yes. Implicit in the Foxx Model is the idea that women are never allowed to fully, enthusiastically, and SOBERLY consent to sex. If Jamie Foxx approached a woman, asked her to have sex, and she consented on her own terms, that would make her "easy." And so, Foxx insists that the woman find outside force to "blame" for her promiscuity (in this case, henny, vodka, and tron). That way, she never has to admit that she desires to experience any sexual pleasure (and she doesn't get to blame Foxx, either). This is why the song is so problematic: under the Foxx model, the opinion of the woman he chooses to target is unimportant. If the woman doesn't want to have sex with him, he assumes that all she needs is more alcohol to overcome her "coyness." If she does want to have sex with him, he still assumes she needs more alcohol—-to cover for her "sluttiness." Either way, Foxx's interest is in devaluing the woman's right to choose—-even if the choice is to fuck Jamie Foxx.

https://barcc.org/blog/details/blame-it-on-the-rapist -

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Lyrics like “Just one more round and you’re down”, “couple more shots you open up like a book”, and “Shawty got drunk thought it all was a dream”, are so blatantly celebratory of rape that it’s almost shocking how much play this song gets in clubs (or not, depending on your familiarity with the pervasiveness of rape culture). And while some people - i.e. commenters on websites like Buzzfeed - insist that we’‘e reading too much into these lyrics, they shed light on an incredibly prevalent theme in our society. Namely, women don’t want sex (“girls play hard to get”), and have to be persuaded into it by any means necessary. In other forms of media, this message is perhaps a little less blatant but still unmistakable: in the song “Blame It On The Alcohol”, for instance, you can find the following lyrics: “She say she usually don’t, but I know that she front cause shawty know what she want, but she don’t wanna seem like she easy”. The implication being: of course she wants sex, but she doesn’t want to seem like a slut, so you have to get her drunk first to get rid of those pesky inhibitions. After which point, “no telling what I’m gonna do” (seriously, this song should be put on the sexual predator watch list)...The message this reinforces with young men is, don’t look for a yes, because you’ll never get it. Just try to get past a no, whether by dulling a woman’s ability to voice “no” with drugs and alcohol, or just ignoring her because let’s be honest, you know what she wants better than she does.

Connections to course material: -

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Course Theme #1: Campus Sexual Assault ● Rape culture, sexual assault, consent ○ “Asking For It” - Kate Harding ● Rape on college campuses ○ Armstrong, Hamilton, and Sweeney Course Theme #2: Violence in Masculinity -

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Brett Kavanaugh, alcohol’s role in sexual assault - https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/9/27/17906838/brett-kavanaughalcohol-sexual-assault-allegations http://www.technicianonline.com/opinion/article_963ff3ac-73d8-11e6-b6d883465372f440.html

Guidelines: The first part of the project is descriptive in nature. Discuss what appears to be the overall point and themes of song. Describe if there are any instances of violence (subtle or explicit or implied). Discuss if the violence is vital to the story or if it appears to be a minor background element to the overall point. The second part of the project is analysis. Relate the song to class material. State what themes are directly related to your project. Highlight connections to at least two different course themes (aka, two different weeks) and four different assigned readings discussed in the course. The third part of this project is critique. Discuss whether the violence depicted in the song is helpful or harmful in nature. Is the violence adding an important or overlooked narrative to discussion? Or is the violence romanticized, where it is idealized and not properly handled? For example, violence that is just portrayed, not actively thought out through the artists, where it could be taken the wrong way.

References and bibliography: Your discussions should report the sources of information and arguments throughout the project by using in-text citations. Moreover, you have to list all of your sources at the end of your project as a bibliography. To avoid plagiarism, you must specify the sources for all of the information included in the project. If you copy the wording of other authors, you must put the borrowed text in quotation marks, if the text is short (not a full sentence or takes less than three lines). Longer texts should be typed as a separate paragraph and indented five spaces from the left margin. All quotations should be followed by a citation that includes the name/title, date and the page number. For group presentations, each group will have 10-12 minutes to cover all three parts of their project. They may utilize resources such as powerpoints, google slides, and youtube, if they wish....