I have to comment and say my peace regarding all this Rihanna BS and put it to bed, I am really sick of hearing about it... The video has only been out for like a week and I feel like I've been hearing all the back lash, the good, the bad, and the ugly for months. So let me get into it:
When I first heard Rihanna's song 'Man Down' about a few months ago, my first thought was the song was definitely written for a man, with that old school reggae riddem vibe, it just seemed very manly... my second thought was, Damn, she really did it on 'em, took that song and made it really work for her... So with that being said, I was already a fan of the song... along with thousands of others.
It wasn't until the video came out that people really had something to say...I have to commend Rihanna for being that strong willed, strong minded person that she is... If anyone is made out for this, it has to be her. With all of the criticism she has endured with in this business it makes you believe that her tough skin is something that has been long developed. I am a huge fan of Ri, everything she does amazes me, but it seems critics, and even non critics think that she has gone too far with the video 'Man Down' in which she shows a man graphically being murdered, shot in the head by her.... It isn't until the end of the video that the reason is discovered as to why she actually murdered this man in cold blood, and I have to say I LOVE the concept of the video. Even though it was a short movie about a girl being sent over the edge on account of a drunken fool that thinks he can do whatever he wants [to women], I believe that if the graphics of the man being shot in the head didn't show that huge blood splatter coming out of the back of his head, she wouldn't have gotten so many parents/critics going in on her in the way that they did. I mean, BOOM, blood splat, MAN DOWN... It is pretty rated R if I do say so myself... (I had to put that Rihanna pun in there :)
Playing the Devils advocate here, I can understand why some people would be a little offended by the video, strictly on the basis of the blood splatter, I have a child, so I can relate in that way (side note: my son is not affected by the story line of the video, he's 10 and watches Family Guy for Pete's sake). But what I do not understand is why is she getting so much slack for murdering a Man when men murder men in their videos all the time? Let's be real... All this old school gangster rapper ish, that is all that we've seen in those videos. There's videos of people wanting to kill themselves, as well? What's up with that? Don't they think that is sending some type of message as well, even though in the video they appear to change their minds? I feel that people just love to take something that is different from the others and turn it into a wildfire within the media and Rihanna made that easy for them to do so this time.
The video to me gives me relieve in a way, I have never been raped, and God knows the type of person I am, If something so tragic should ever happen to me as that, I would be that girl to go back, stalk the nigga outside his house and murder him... except, actually, I'd torture his ass first, because I am just that type of person, you take away my freedom, I have to take away yours.... PAUSE! Okay, I wouldn't do that, but my mind would be running wild of all the ways I could do something like that, because of what he took from me, something that was mine, that was not given and forcefully taken, literally taken from me... My mind would think of all types of ways to get my revenge... And that is what the video 'Man Down' is about. It isn't about a female killing a Man; It's an anthem for all of those Lovely females that have had their innocence taken away and scarred for life by some Man, that just wanted what he couldn't have so he had to take it. It's an anthem to show how these women really feel inside.
So, Rihanna, I love the video, you will always be a hero in my eyes. I love how they keep trying to knock you down but your feet just don't budge. We have this one life to live so we have to share it with as many people as possible, in as many ways as possible because we never know who's life we're saving just by the Freedom of Speech that we have been given as our right to say and do practically whatever the hell we want to do.... as long as we don't kill a man.
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