Ladies: Would you Prefer a Minute Man?

Back in the 90s and early 2000s many rappers and singers had NO chill when it came to singing about sexual experiences. They believed in detailing their lyrics as much as possible to grab people's attention. Missy Elliott, a famous rapper and recording artist, is known for the explicit content she sings about. In my opinion Missy is GENIUS for doing this because it got people to constantly be talking about her appearances and music. This made her career only grow stronger and has left an everlasting impression on her fans and society. One of the first songs I ever listened to was “One Minute Man” which featured Ludacris (hip-hop artist) and Trina (rapper). This single completely blew me away by the profound lyrics they sing. When listening to the tune you may feel different emotions based on what they’re singing. I think most of us can assume what the hit is about by just reading the title alone. One minute you may laugh, cringe, or catch yourself jamming out in your room all based on the lyrics and instrumental. This song is just an example of how straightforward musicians were in the past, and the comfort they found in making music considering they loved to sing whatever they wanted.

So basically, Missy Elliott isn’t fond of men who don’t last long while having sexual intercourse. This brings her a feeling of dissatisfaction and frustration. I believe we can all agree that many women feel this way, but Missy took one for the team and wrote a song about it. What I find funny about her lyrics is that she completely sh*ts on the idea of patriarchy. Missy also flips the meaning by instead claiming a man can be seen as a sexual object by a woman.

Ludacris is the only male in this song so you can assume his verse has a strong sense of machismo. He claims “I'm big dog, havin women seein stripes and thangs; they go to sleep, start snoring, countin sheep and sh*t” explaining to the listeners that he is very experienced when it comes to sex, and the advantages that come along with it. The message he is projecting is to NOT provide a bad performance to a lady you’re interested in. He believes if a man shows courage and masculinity to a woman they will build attention towards them...but the best way to keep them around is if you please their sexual needs in a proficient way.

Trina provides the same message that Missy does, but also shows how overconfident she is and what she expects from a guy. She’s straight-forward and to the point in her verse because she wants men to know what women as a whole are looking for as well. For example, Trina claims “but if I put this thing on ya, can you stay hard? If not, you better keep your day job; cause I'm looking for a man to make me say God”. In my opinion, Trina may be trying to make certain men think deeper about this type of topic. By her being so demanding in her verse, this may be intimidating and will make a man want to rethink their ways in the bedroom.

All 3 artists are claiming it’s the cultural norm to be good at sexual activity. This may make people feel doubtful and self-conscious about themselves, but maybe the singers thought the song would be motivational to these types of people. It is interesting that music today is not nearly as explicit as this example. Personally, I believe the more straight-forward a song can be, the more eye-opening it is to a person. Overall, props to these artists for expressing their feelings to the public about one of the most controversial topics our world will never stop talking about:

Priscilla Z.