Lyrical Analysis: Rihanna's "Rude Boy"

Lyrical analyses are a great way to pass the time on the commuter rail (or as the cool kids call it, the crail). Lately I've been venturing into a musical genre that is characterized by driving dance beats, prominent musical break numbers, and mostly nonsensical lyrics. No, not High School Musical. (Jess- looking at you.) I'm speaking, of course, of the songs that call the top 10 countdown their home. This is music that has been gifted to me by my flatmate and all-around hip music-person, RJ.

The best of these artists, in terms of making time go quicker on the crail, is Barbados-born Rihanna. Rihanna is the girl that moved to the States to pursue a record career when she was just 16 and sang that classic song about rain gear. She has had no less than eleven top-ten Billboard hits in her relatively young 5-year career, which, for a 22 year old, is not just a little bit impressive (and most likely a major contributor to her 'tude).

Rihanna's label, Island Def Jam, released her most recent album in 2009. They named it "Rated R" (Get it? ...Ha.) Off that album comes the recent hit that has been flirting with the number one slot on the Billboard Hot 100, "Rude Boy." Some backstory: a 'rude boy' is an affectionate slang term for juvenile delinquents, originating in Jamaica in the 1960s.

I first heard the song "Rude Boy" in a bar downtown, when everyone immediately flocked to the dance floor. So strong is the power of Rihanna. But as with most top 40 (coughKe$hacough), to be a hit on a dance floor relies less on what the song is saying and more on the rhythm behind it. But even acknowledging that some (...a lot) of pop music today avoids silly little things like lyrical content, I was still a bit taken aback with "Rude Boy." There's an excessive amount of repetition, yes, but mostly it was the feeling that listening to this song was like subjective myself to narrative porn, (but narrative porn set to a compelling reggae-inspired beat, which clearly has a large market in the states).

Keep in mind that this is a Billboard hit song. Therefore, these lyrics are probably being sung by twelve year olds the nation, nay- the world, over. Is it catchy? Of course it's catchy, it's a song by Rihanna, the woman who could make you want to dance to a song about domestic abuse, "Breaking Dishes." Should this song be heard by anyone under the state-dependent age that one can legally consent to sexual relations? Survey says: no. Even with today's relaxed attitude towards sex, the lyrics to "Rude Boy"make it the porno of the mainstream pop world. I liken it to Ke$ha's "song," "Blah Blah Blah" where she uses the line, "Don't be a little bitch with your chit-chat, just show me where your dick's at." Aw, warm and fuzzy feelings all over. Yay American pop.

Back to Rihanna's "Rude Boy." The beginning of the song starts with the chorus, which, if you miss it, is played another 8 times. You have time.

Rihanna's "Rude Boy"
[Chorus]
Come here, rude boy, boy; can you get it up?/ Come here rude boy, boy; is you big enough?
Take it, take it baby, baby/ Take it, take it; love me, love me [x2] 

There are few things in the world that bug me more than improper verb conjugation in songs. You're taking the time to tell me a story, can't you take the time to make sure the language checks out, too? Here, the intentional use of the second person usage of "to be" comes in the lyric, "is you big enough?" Not only is Rihanna trying to demonstrate her connection to the cool kids by deliberately casting away grammar rules, she is also asking an entirely personal question. At first blush the line could be an innuendo that could refer to her sexual partner's stature, moral high ground, or, ahem, endowment. But the phrase is prefaced by "come here, rude boy: can you get it up?" Can you get up your... posture? Moral aptitude? I don't think so. So we, the listeners, are led to believe it's the third option, the biological endowment of Rihanna's sexual partner. Is there no mystery left in the world, Ri-Ri?

Also, I thought I pretty much understood the mechanics of sex. But the line "take it, take it," when sung by a girl, causes me to pause.

Tonight I'ma let you be the captain/ Tonight I'ma let you do your thing, yeah
Tonight I'ma let you be a rider/ Giddy-up, giddy-up, giddy-up babe
Tonight I'ma let it be fire/ Tonight I'ma let you take me higher
Tonight, baby, we could get it on, yeah, we could get it on, yeah 

Oh, he gets to be a captain! That's exciting. Then he gets to "do [his] thing," (which I'm gathering is to "get it up"?) You have to be a pretty sexy person (and/or *Nsync) to sing the lines "Giddy-up" three times in a row and still be considered cool. (Anyone? Bueller?) I like that Rihanna uses the conditional, "tonight, baby, we could get it on," though after she just commanded him to "get it up," I'm not fully convinced there's any doubt left about what could be happening later. She's not so full of smoke and mirrors, that Rihanna.

Do you like it?/ Boy, I want, want, want whatchu want, want, want
Give it to me, baby like boom, boom, boom/ What I want, want, want is what you want, want, want
Nah nah-ah
 
Ho hum, typical pop song about sex. Though I haven't heard the words "boom boom boom" in a song since the Vengaboys, and it makes me giggle. Aside from the stereotypical lecherous non-english speaking men, does anyone actually say "boom boom boom?" C'mon, Rihanna, there have to be cuter allusions out there. Know your demographic.

[Chorus]
Come here, rude boy, boy, can you get it up?
Come here, rude boy, boy, is you big enough?
Take it, take it, baby, baby, take it, take it, love me, love me [x2]

Tonight I'ma give it to ya harder/ Tonight I'ma turn ya body out
Relax; let me do it how I wanna/ If you got it I need it and I'ma put it down
Buckle up; I'ma give it to ya stronger/ Hands up; we could go a little longer
Tonight I'ma get a little crazy, get a little crazy, baby 

Boy, but that is explicit. If you were to judge Rihanna's sexual preferences only by the lyrics in this song, here's a summary of what she likes so far: pretending to be a horse ("giddy-up"), safety ("buckle up"), commanding others to do her bidding ("hands up," "come here," and "take it"), as well as sharing ("I'ma let you be the captain") and saying onomatopoeias ("boom"). So after this consideration, I ask you- Rihanna: super hot sex god? Or elementary schooler trapped in pop prodigy's body?

Like it?/ Boy, I want, want, want whatchu want, want, want
Give it to me, baby like boom, boom, boom/What I want, want, want is what you want, want, want
Nah nah-ah

[Chorus]
Come here, rude boy, boy can you get it up?
Come here rude boy, boy is your big enough?
Take it, take it, baby, baby, take it, take it, love me, love me [x2]

I like the way you touch me there/ I like the way you pull my hair
Babe, if I don't feel it I ain't faking, no, no
I like when you tell me 'kiss you there'/ I like when you tell me 'move it there'
So giddy-up; time to get it up: you say you a rude boy: show me what you got now
Come here right now/ Take it, take it, baby, baby, take it, take it, love me, love me 

We are literally just listening to Rihanna sing about her impending sexual experiences. I like how I'm saying that as if it were a new thing in modern music, but really people- put this in a magazine and it's Playboy. (...'cause people read it for the articles.) Again, yay American pop.

The song ends in the [Chorus]
Come here, rude boy, boy, can you get it up?
Come here, rude boy, boy, is you big enough?
Take it, take it, baby, baby, take it, take it, love me, love me [x2]

Obviously, there is a lot of repetition in this song. But just how much repetition is there? As seen in the following chart, the nine most common words and phrases of "Rude Boy" are shown in descending order of occurrence.

Bet you weren't expecting "love me" to be the fourth largest contender of air space in the song. Here is the same breakdown in a pie graph.

Food for thought: there are about 522 words in "Rude Boy," depending on how you count combination words like "I'ma" and "giddy-up." (...one word?) Most of it is aggressively sexual. There are a few references to love, and the phrase "love me" was the fourth most common word/phrase of the song, repeated 17 times. This reference to love is a good way to divert the focus from the much more animalistic approach to desire, as seen in "take it," "i'ma give it to you harder," etc., etc. The word "boom" was used 6 times, about 6 times too many. Sadly, the phrase "giddy-up" was not used nearly as much as I had hoped it would be at the outset of the analysis. And I'm pretty sure the pie graph won't hold much water, but I know Georgie will like how it looks.