More Buns!

I have to write an update to the previous post --

After talking to the girls, I wandered around the school for a bit and observed a few other student groups practicing their dance routines. When I came back to my desk, I found that the two girls had tracked down one of the Japanese English teachers, and were making HIM explain the song to them. And the poor guy was having a hell of a time with it.

To fully appreciate this, take a moment to read the opening lyrics to Baby's Got Back:

"Baby Got Back"

[Intro]
Oh, my, god. Becky, look at her butt.
It is so big. *scoff* She looks like,
one of those rap guys' girlfriends.
But, you know, who understands those rap guys? *scoff*
They only talk to her, because,
she looks like a total prostitute, 'kay?
I mean, her butt, is just so big.
I can't believe it's just so round, it's like,
out there, I mean - gross. Look!
She's just so ... black!

If you haven't heard the song, I should also point out that these lyrics are spoken by two extremely white-sounding valley girl types - and also that this song is an absolute cultural icon of my generation. Anyone who grew up in the US and was in middle school or high school around 1992 can pretty quote this part of the song verbatim. In fact, just last Saturday at Karaoke we wanted to do this song, but unfortunately they didn't have it. I must have listened to this song hundreds of times when I was in middle school, but I NEVER thought that 15 years later I would find myself explaining it to Japanese students.

Anyway, back to the story. Picture this - a middle aged Japanese teacher who has very minimal experience to American popular culture, pretty much as geeky as they come - after one recent class he expressed his disapproval of a girl telling a story about the time a bird pooped in her bag, because he thought it was inappropriate. And here he is, trying to figure out the above lyrics and explain them to two 16 year old students. He was not only explaining the meaning, but the finer points of the grammar. Actually explaining the use of pronouns in the line, "They only talk to her because she looks like a total prostitute." Again, oh my god!

The part that was giving him the most trouble was "rap guys girlfriends." He simply didn't know what a "rap guy" was. Luckily he did have some familiarity with hip-hop music because it is really popular in Japan, so I was able to help him figure it out. And yes, he did ask me about the last line. I will let you use your imagination about how interesting it was to explain that one...!

I am not making this up, nor am I embellishing the story. This actually happened to me today, and it will go down as one of the most memorable moments of my time in Japan.

Luckily for me, the students only wanted to understand the intro lyrics, and not the entire song. It sort of seemed like a fun thing to do at first, but I really wasn't looking forward to explaining lines such as:

"Ooh Rump-o-smooth skin, you say you wanna get in my Benz?" or "My anaconda don't want none unless you got buns hun!"