Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Alabama Sorority Rappers... Here's Why We Love Them


Sorority rapper haters, you missed the mark when it comes to your analysis of the rapping Recruitment Counselors of the Roll Tide. One, they just went viral and got themselves a spot on Anderson Cooper (who, we think you've heard of) for something not involving alcohol or drugs. Two, they just went viral and got themselves a spot on Anderson Cooper (who, again, we think you've heard of) for something NOT involving alcohol or drugs.

But seriously. Here's why we like it. We're making the safe assumption this is meant to be funny - hilarious even. It's a great video of sorority women having fun and being funny. Remember how people are funny? What if, just what IF, these ladies made this video realizing it was hilarious. Let's be honest, if you know sorority women, you know we can sing on tune and dance in sync. If these women were going to release a serious rendition of a music video - of any genre - we all know it would have been more polished. On the other hand, Rebecca Black was totally serious when she wrote, sang, and made a video for her song, Friday.

Also, let's take a look at the lyric replacements:

Here are Black's original lyrics:

7am, waking up in the morning
Gotta be fresh, gotta go downstairs
Gotta have my bowl, gotta have cereal

And here are the replacement lyrics:

7am, waking up in the morning
Make up fresh, gotta go outside
Gotta grab your heels, gotta grab a meal

Could it have been worse? Absolutely it could have been worse. In a TFM world, it may have looked like this:

2pm, waking up hungover
Gotta get home, gotta do the walk of shame
Gotta grab your clothes, gotta pre-party

In our mind, it goes back to the whole "It's funny because it's true" concept. Sorority recruitment is - well - unique. And, nobody knows that to be true more than sorority women . Why not make it funny? Why NOT made it a parody? Women's fraternal organizations are given a structure they need to work within to recruit new members; they've got to work with the tools they have. We appreciate these women for going outside that box and doing something different and for getting nationwide recognition without trashing their fraternal values. And, let's be honest, that's better than some.

Do we recognize the counterargument? Obviously. Doing something for the sake of being funny isn't as inherently strong as doing something with a stronger moral or values-based purpose. But, this video does serve a higher purpose: it is an attempt to contribute to a positive conversation about fraternity/sorority membership. Maybe more blatantly, it inspires people to take themselves a little less seriously. We all know less stress is a good thing.

Here's our advice. Catch that viral wave and ride it for your 15 minutes, and do it proudly. It's not the first time fraternities and sororities have been made fun of and it won't be the last. Our hunch is if these women are tough enough to make a video this ridiculous, they're tough enough to take the prodding.

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