Saturday, December 27, 2008

Single Men (Put a Ring on it?)

I had a very interesting conversation with a guy friend of mine a few days ago about Beyonce's anthem (yes I said anthem) Single Ladies (Put a ring on it). For whatever reason, guys seem to think that songs like this are having some kind of hypnotic effect on women everywhere. Songs that empower women to take back their lives, or get through a difficult situation some how influence ladies to "hate on" men everywhere. Now this is totally meant to be light-hearted in nature, and is more like a call for thoughts, opinions and the like, then a "go-tell-it-on-the-mountain" preach to the choir kind of thing.
So the question that I pose is this: is there a "Single Ladies" anthem for guys? Like so many of Beyonce's songs about trifling men (and in her defense, she has an equal amount of love songs thankyouverymuch), is there an equivalent out there for men? And on top of that; are there songs by females about doing a man wrong, or where BOTH parties did wrong?
As for the first question, the male equivalent that I can think of would be Lil Wayne's Comfortable that he did with singer/songwriter Babyface. That song even shouts out Beyonce's Irreplaceable in the first verse that Wayne spits. And let's be real here, Babyface probably felt empowered singing the chorus because it seems like Tracy Edmonds may have gotten to Comfortable, but you know this is all just media speculation.

Also, if you haven't seen some of the youtube spawns of the Single Ladies song, check out this article that has collected the best of the best. My favorite is the white guy in the leotard who appeared on Bonnie Hunt. Let's admit it..he brought the house down!
http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/hiphopmediatraining/43357/beyonce-prompts-single-ladies-men-and-kids-to-remake-her-video/

Final thoughts on this subject:
  1. Beyonce was right, you can't get mad when you see your ex out dancing and flirting with another guy. She's single just like you, so chill out.
  2. If you liked it you probably should have put a ring on it. But if you both weren't ready for that kind of life long commitment, no use crying over spilled milk
  3. Guys..a little nugget of advice. If you see your boy's ex-girlfriend out and about doing her thing post break-up, don't tell your boy. No one wants that inevitable "so you're wildin out all over town now" kind of phone call
  4. And last but finally not least..don't act like you don't like when ladies do this dance in the club/bar/lounge/apartment/on youtube/at a party with their girls. Especially the part where Beyonce goes into the pseudo split. Yea, I said it, and I may be wrong for it, but hey it's just music, it's a good time....
If you feel so inclined...leave your thoughts, comments, song ideas (Single Men, Put a ring on it remix with Lil Weezy, Robin Thicke, Ludacris, Raheem DeVaughn, Kanye, and T-Pain perhaps..lol). I especially would love, love, love to hear from the guys!

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