Who knew four people could cause so much trouble…
This week’s artist of the week wins the award not because they have recently released a new song, but because that one simple song has managed to attract a world wide hatred towards the group. Play-N-Skillz, Redfoo, Lil Jon and Enertia McFly are a group of rowdy men who have succeeded in causing an aggravated reaction across the globe for their music.
Released on October 30, the song Literally I Can’t by Play-N-Skillz, featuring Redfoo, Lil Jon and Enertia McFly, has caused more controversy and discussed worldwide than any song should. With the song’s lovely chorus is “shut the f**k up”, it has been considered by the public as the rudest, sexist and most offensive song to have been released. The song has already been tweeted and posted almost over a million times on Twitter and Facebook, with more than 1.6 million views on Youtube.
2Day FM said on their website: “If you’re looking for the most sexist, repulsive and derogatory song of 2014, Redfoo and Lil Jon’s new track Literally I Can’t is a hot contender.”
The song and its accompanying video portrays a group of girls from the LIC (Literally I Can’t) sorority as the bad guys. The girls enter a frat party and are asked to join in the festivities. In addition to misusing the word literally, the girls have the audacity to say no to drinking, dancing and girl on girl action. How rude. They turn down these oh-so irresistible offers with the chorus “Literally, I can’t”. Which then gets shut down with the girls being yelled at by the frat boys who yell the phrase “shut the f**k up”.
Some other obscene lyrics that appear during the song include Redfoo’s line, “I said jump on the pole, I didn’t mean your opinion. Giiiirl, I’m sippin’ on this drink tryna see what ya got not hear what ya think.” This remark isn’t alone in the world of inappropriate. One scene of the video depicts the girls of LIC being thrown into a pool and uploaded to Redtube as they wrestle their way out.
But how did the masterminds of such heartfelt lyrics get started in the music industry?
Stefan Kendal Gordy, commonly known as Redfoo, is an American singer, dancer, record producer, DJ and rapper who got his start as part of LMFAO. In 2006 he formed the duo with his nephew Sky Blu. They released two albums, Party Rock in 2009 and Sorry For Party Rocking in 2011. Soon after in 2012 Foo split off from the group to embark on his solo career. Foo released his first solo single, Bring Out The Bottles, in December that year. This was followed by other singles such as Let’s Get Ridiculous in 2013, which debuted on the charts at number one, and his latest single New Thang which was released August this year.
Play-N-Skillz are an American record production and rapping duo, consisting of the brothers Juan “Play” Salinas and Oscar “Skillz” Salinas. In 2009, the brothers signed a joint venture deal with their own label, G4 Muzik. Between 2003 and 2009 they released a number of albums and mix tapes, including, Texas 2 Da World in 2003, The Best of Lil’ Flip and Play N Skillz in 2004, The Album Before The Album in 2005, The Process in 2005, The Titaniq Prequel in 2007 and Recession Proof in 2009.
Lil Jon is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur and international DJ. He was a member of the group Lil Jon and The East Side Boyz. The group was formed in 1997, and released several albums between then and 2004 including Put Yo Hood Up in 2001, Kings of Crunk in 2002 and Crunk Juice in 2004. He separated from the group in 2006 to work on his solo career where he released the album Crunk Rock in 2010.
And finally, Enertia McFly. Unfortunately the name does not ring a bell for anyone. The Newsroom have searched high and low for information on Enertia McFly and have come up with nothing more than a Twitter, an Instagram and a Facebook page.
These artists joined together and created something… something that the majority of people are considering distasteful and disgraceful. However, despite the world wide hatred directed towards this song, I have to admit, the tune and chorus is quite catchy. And even if the song doesn’t become a world wide sensation, I have a feeling people will soon be singing this song at parties ironically.
But what do the artists have to say in response?
Redfoo has jumped to defend himself and the song. He spoke to fans via Twitter to try and prove his point. He released his initial statement claiming that he is the actual victim in this scenario.
There is now even a Twitter hashtag (#ShutTheFooUp) dedicated to the petition that is trying to have Redfoo removed as a judge and mentor from the Channel Seven show The X Factor.
Enertia McFly’s response was to re-tweet Redfoo’s tweets on the subject, while Lil Jon and Play-N-Skillz have left the whole matter alone and are keeping out of the backlash spotlight. Play-N-Skillz have only tweeted the success of the song reaching it’s one million mark.
Poor Foo. He has suffered the majority of the blow due to his connections with Channel Seven’s The X Factor. Over the past few months, Foo hasn’t had a great run after someone brought out their own bottle and tried to glass him during his last visit to Australia. – Isabel Williams
Top screenshot from the official music video.
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