September 15, 2005 @ 12:00 am

Deconstructing Ying Yang Twins' "Wait (The Whisper Song)"

by: Alyssa Rashbaum

The overtly sexual lyrics, throaty whisper and infectious beat of the radio hit were the topic of discussion at one of the first panels of the 2005 CMJ Music Festival on Wednesday, September 14, where five music writers debated on whether the song is misogynistic or empowering for females, unoriginal or intriguing, unimportant or part of a larger, growing problem in hip hop.

"The song is more infectious and catchy than an STD," said panel moderator and CMJ New Music Report and New Music Monthly Editor Christopher Weingarten, of his first impression of the song. "The beat was so arresting... and the whisper gimmick... I was thinking 'am I allowed to be liking it?'"

After playing the uncensored track in its entirety (the radio version's chorus was changed to "wait 'til you see my oh"), and observing the alternating bemused smiles, shocked laughs, and uncomfortable chair-shifting in the room, writer Julianne Shepperd shared her own initial reaction to the song.

"This is some broke game," she said. "They can't expect to go up to someone in a club and go home with them [with a line] like this."

Shepperd's comments sparked the question of consent.

left The tone of the song, in that the narrator is whispering these words in a club, "implies there is a woman there," said VIBE.com's Lynne d. Johnson. And that woman has clearly consented to listen to the crude words being said to her, because if she were to walk away, his whisper wouldn't be audible over the music in the club.

"It's ridiculous to think that you can whisper in a club like that," said Weingarten. "Someone has to be listening."

There was also the issue of how appropriate it is for this song to be on top 10 radio, and for the steamy video to be aired on TV.

"Do you see this orgy on BET," said Johnson of the first time she watched the video for the track, which features the well-dressed Ying Yang Twins smothered by an endless sea of attractive women. "When I saw that, that's when I started saying, whoa - there's a problem here."

"There's something primal about hearing those words whispered on the radio," said Weingarten, who likened the breathy vocals to sidewalk cat calls. "I would imagine that for women, it's like hearing cat calls put on a record and sold to you."

Jason King, Assistant Professor of Recorded Music and Associate Chair, Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music at Tisch School of Arts at NYU, meanwhile, was not impressed by the track. "It's not that complicated," he said. "To me it's just really shitty."

Watch The Video. What do you think? Do you think the song portrays women poorly or is it part of a larger problem in hip hop? Does the song make you think at all, or are you more skeptical of the influence top 40 radio really has on our culture? Click here to post your comments.