Gangsta Cleaning
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Ha ha - man, I’ve been uncomfortable during cleaning time for the last week or so. The students who get to choose the music rotate once in a while, and usually the genre just shifts from bubblegum-sweet J-pop to overproduced poppy ska / punk imitation J-rock. I should be so lucky. This time, however, the lucky soul chose some mix track by DJ Kaori (note: she pronounces it KEori, despite romanizing it as KAori). According to Wikipedia Japan: “DJ KAORI（ディージェイ・ケオリ）はニューヨーク在住のDJである。1992年に渡米。洋邦アーティストの楽曲のリミックス作品を多く発表している。” In English, “DJ KAORI （Deejay Keori) is a DJ living in New York. She went to America in 1992. She prolifically releases remixes of songs by western artists.”
Cleaning time is about 15 minutes long on your average day, and is scheduled for 1:15 - 1:30 in the afternoon. That usually means 3 or 4 songs. But with a remix, you get more. This is bad news here. The track currently being broadcast over our speakers here at school would get me fired in a minute flat in America. They’re not radio edits, either. These kids are happily cleaning to some really raunchy stuff. I’m just lucky that it’s in slang or too fast for even the other English teachers to pick up on it. I’d rather them be ignorant about the filth in the songs, really. Makes me sad.
I talked to my supervisor about it today, just to sound her out. She agreed with me that the kids just like the beat and the overall sound of the music. They have no idea what the words are. I explained the concept of radio edits, “beeping out” and censoring songs, and the fact that it’s part of American culture that makes me feel ashamed. I can’t for the life of me figure out why people get rich rapping about street justice and glitchy moral compasses, the glories of drug abuse, and their myriad disgusting, misogynistic views on women and their reasons for being. I mean, sure, other genres have their dark and shady spots too. But gangsta rap is weird. I just don’t like the juxtaposition of my kids innocently pretending to clean while bopping their heads to this stuff. I’d gladly take the sugary squeaky-voiced pop music and boy bands back. Ugh.