Guest writer: Erica L. Tolbert – I attended the Birmingham Magic City Classic over the weekend and I stopped at one of the tailgating spots where they were playing the current popular songs. One song that stood out in particular was the “Aint worried about Nothin” song by French Montana. I looked around and everyone was bobbing their heads along singing “Nigga I ain’t worried about nothin”. I remember watching “Immortal Beloved,” and the one line that stuck with me from that entire movie was when Ludwig Van Beethoven said, “It is the power of music to carry one directly into the mental state of the composer the listener has no choice it is like hypnotism.” So let’s see what French Montana is hypnotizing us into believing:

Now I must admit I had to listen to this song over and over to see what he isn’t worried about and even after I listen to the song I had to google the lyrics. He starts his first line with saying he has a brown bag with work (That is the new saying for selling drugs) and he is riding around with his Nina. He has two bad B’s with him molly (the new popular drug) and aquifina (which can be vodka or a woman with a wet vagina). Then he says he ain’t worried about nothing like a thousand more times. He later goes on to say he is riding around with several guns from a Nina to a SK.

He even states that he ain’t worried about money, and Females don’t mean nothin’. I never knew that reading would kill brain cells but reading these lyrics made me put on some Vivaldi for restoration. Now what is this song hypnotizing us to believe, that we aren’t worried about nothing. We shouldn’t be worried about anything in this world. Now as a Christian, God tells us not to worry but let’s be honest this song is FAAAAAR removed from Christian beliefs.

Now I’m going to discuss a few of my issues with this song. As of October 16, 2013 there were a total of 350 murders in Chicago alone. We are losing our young blacks at a rate that some compare to pre-civil rights. Our neighborhoods are at war with one another. And I can only imagine if music hypnotizes a person, this song is teaching young children not to value life.

The unemployment rate in Black America as of September 2013 is 12.9%. Maybe that is why he is riding around with work because he cannot get a job. We face such inequalities in this country until everyone should be worried. I’m beyond worried when I think about the injustice system it not only worries me but it scares the crap out of me.

And my favorite top, the criminal justice system. I have my B.S in criminal justice and the bulk of my papers were on the disparity and in justice of the system. I can easily throw out numbers and stats but I won’t bore you with them. It’s no secret that a black man will go to jail for 10 times faster than his white counterpart. If a black male teen steals a car its grand theft if a white male teen he was just joy riding. Since we all know this why do we continue to give them a reason to lock us up?

French Montana says he is riding around with at least 2 different drugs and a few guns. Then somebody will set up a free my n* French Montana Page after he goes to jail.

What I want readers to realize is we need to worry. Worrying is why Harriet Tubman started the Underground Railroad, Worrying is why Nat Turner rebelled, and worrying is why Dr King

started marching and protesting. And since everyone seems to be bobbing their heads saying they aint worried about nothing, I have a list of things that you can worry about since you are worried free. The voter’s right bill the highest court passed, The Republican Party led by the Tea Party extremist, Global Warming, Monsanto, Fukushima just to name a few. We have no strong leadership within our community and for that we all should be worried. Now there are several other things that are horribly wrong in this song and there are more issues that we should be worried about, these were just a few. Next time you are listening to a song always remember what the artist is trying to hypnotize you into believing.

Erica L. Tolbert