Hello underachievers!
Here's a fun one!
A pedophile got me tattooed on his body when I was 15.
- I'm going to tell you about the time
my parents tried to impregnate me with my brother.
- I wrote a song about it.
That song's coming out on August 31st,
it's called "Growing Up on the Internet".
You can pre-save it now.
I guess you probably want to hear more about that,
but I won't tell you anything else.
Apart from, do pre-save it, the link is down there.
So, transphobia.
We're kind of used to it by now.
Do we accept it?
No!
Do we put up with it?
No?
That's a loaded question.
Should we have to put up with it?
No!
Can we maybe sometimes laugh at it?
Yes.
Yes, we absolutely can.
By "we", I mean me and other trans people,
and you, I guess, if you're watching this,
in good faith.
I just realized,
there are just going to be some cis people watching this,
just laughing at it--
O, well! It's funny as hell!
So my friend showed me a song from 2009 recently,
and that was a very long time ago.
I was 9 or 10 years old.
How old were you in 2009?
I don't want to know the answer to that.
The lyrics of this song,
they truly baffled me.
Now, bear in mind, 2009,
peak Ke$ha,
Peak 3OH!3,
Peak Justin Bieber.
Great time, I would say.
We'll, ignore the financial state of the world,
and literally everything else,
but 2009,
I was loving it!
And this song--
The lyrics are just...
They're just incredible.
I've quite literally never seen anything else like this.
Have you guys seen those Westborough Baptist Church parodies
that they used to do?
They'd cover like, really popular songs,
but make them like homophobic or transphobic,
or racist or anything else like that?
This song is like that.
I don't know if it's marginally worse or better.
And I think the worst thing, or also the best thing--
It could maybe be the best thing...
I don't even think it realizes how transphobic it is.
The song, itself.
Do the writers?
I hope so.
So, the song is called 'Disguise',
and it's by Skepta, JME and Jammer.
If you don't know who they are,
they're all Grime artists.
If you're British, you've probably heard of them.
If you're not British, I don't know.
I assume most of you guys don't listen to Grime,
and I don't know why that is.
Maybe you'll surprise me.
Do you listen to Grime?
I kind of enjoy it.
I don't actively listen to it,
but I've heard it before,
and I think:
"Oh,
"those are some sweet...
"Some sweet lines".
And I hate to say itm but I felt that about this song.
Now, I'm not here to make any personal statements
about the morality of the artists,
or the people that wrote this,
or produced it,
although I really could.
Just based off this one song,
but I'm not gonna do it,
it was 2009, it was a different time,
and I don't think that makes it any better,
to be completely honest.
So, I obviously can't play the whole song,
because then this would just get copyrighted
and that would be sad.
That would really suck.
But I can show you this little snippet,
and I think that's all you really need to hear.
- ♪ Transvestites, more than meets the eye ♪
Did you like the snippet?
Did you love the snippet?
I kind of enjoyed the snippet.
So, initially my friend showed me some of the lyrics to this song
and I kind of just had to Google it.
I just had to know where their headspace was
when they wrote this.
And apparently, in December 2019,
which was 10 years after the song was released,
JME, who featured on the song
acknowledged the term "transvestites"
would be seen as offensive today.
I haven't really heard people use the word "transvestite"
in a really long time,
but if you don't know what it means,
it's not transgender, or transsexual--
Transgender or transsexual
is when you trans your sex, or you trans your gender.
You change your gender.
A transvestite is transvest.
A vest that is trans, trans across,
across clothing.
They wear clothes that...
That wouldn't be typically worn by people of their assigned sex at birth,
but this is 2023, we don't really--
That's-- Everyone's wearing skirts, I guess.
Don't tell Billy Porter about that skirt thing I just said.
He'll have an aneurysm.
JME also stated that it wasn't his intention to offend,
and that his verse was primarily about consent,
rather than other people's sexualities.
He explained that the song is about a specific incident in Amsterdam,
and here's a little quote from him:
"We're talking about a specific situation,
"we're talking about going to Amsterdam as teenagers [...]
"walking down the strip where you think
"there's women in Windows, but they're men.
"But you don't know".
That must be very stressful.
"And they come out into the street,
"they take someone's hat and they say:
" 'Hey, come in here, come in here!'
"And you're standing there thinking, 'shit' ".
Uh, yes, that sounds very stressful.
I understand why three of you
felt the need to write an entire song about...
I don't know if they identify as transvestites or just trans women.
I don't know-- You know!
Three guys just had to make a song about this, apparently.
So you've heard that!
I guess the song isn't really a big deal,
it's about a specific incident in Amsterdam with a hat.
You haven't seen the lyrics yet,
so we're just gonna get on to that.
Am I gonna have to like, sing and rap?
The song opens up with:
♪ Transvestites, more than meets the eye ♪
♪ Transvestites, mandem in disguise ♪
And that's repeated.
So, let's analyze!
"Transvestites, more than meets the eye.
"Transvestites, mandem in disguise".
For those of you that don't know,
I assume "mandem" is like, a British thing.
I've not heard Americans say that.
"Mandem" just means "man".
"Man", "group of boys".
"Your buds", like, "your Bros".
Your bros in disguise, pretty much.
They're saying that these trans women
or the transvest-- I can't...
I don't know what they were, the ones in Amsterdam.
They're more than meets the eye,
they're in disguise.
So, you could take this in two ways:
They're either, One, cross-dressers,
or Two, trans women.
If they were trans women, that would be much worse.
That would be much worse.
But if they cross-dressers, still a bit weird.
"More that meets the eye, they're in disguise".
I don't want to be that guy...
But I am going to be that guy, because that's, you know...
That's why we're here, really, isn't it?
There's this whole thing
where men will see a trans woman
and they'll find her attractive,
because she's probably really [ ] hot,
and they realize at some point that she was not born a girl,
that she was born a guy,
and you know what they do?
They get really angry.
They get really upset.
They're like, "oh, you deceived me!
"You deceiver!"
Meanwhile she's just hanging out,
just looking real good, like, that's just who she is.
I am sure that any trans woman that's watching this
has been told that they're deceiving people.
And also like, if she's hot,
when you don't realize she's trans, she's still hot.
So, on to the verse:
♪ Yo! Skepta! Mandem in disguise ♪
♪ You thought it was a girl because he had a handbag ♪
There's a...
There's a mishmash of pronouns there.
We got "it", "he" and "she",
and I did not know anybody in 2009 that used any and all pronouns, so I--
Maybe that's progressive.
Not particularly a fan of people calling trans people "it",
even if they're not trans
and they're just cross-dressing,
I still think calling them "it" is weird.
I understand this is a song from 2009
and it doesn't matter now,
but I'm still gonna talk about it.
There are people that wish to be referred to as "it" and "its",
but that is not me,
and that is not the majority of people.
And I have been called "it".
And yeah, I felt nothing, it didn't upset me.
Also, I love that we're opening up this song by saying:
"You thought it was a girl because he had a handbag".
A handbag,
a handbag made you think that he was a girl.
Did you not see 'Friends'?
Joey--!
I almost called him "Joey Graceffa".
- Ah! Good day, everyone!
- Joey Tribbiani has a handbag.
Would you think this man is a lady?
With his bag?
♪ You didn't know it was a next man's grandad ♪
I love that phrasing.
"A next man's grandad".
I guess it could be understandably strange,
if you see a really hot woman
and then you picture her having grandkids,
but she's the grandad.
♪ Don't rush into things rudeboy ♪
♪ Take some more time check out the jawline ♪
Oh, my God!
This is like-- Wow, wow...!
Skepta apparently was a [...].
You must have seen people doing transvestigations,
like, "here's how you can spot a trans woman:
"She's tall,
"she has a sharp jawline,
"she's got big hands".
Skepta could just be describing Sigourney Weaver.
She has great facial structure.
♪ Now you're high off the herb you bun ♪
Now, if you're not a regular smoker of that...
You know what I'm talking about, right?
"You're high off the herb",
which is [ ].
"You bun" in British, that means "smoke"...
♪ So walk away like me JME and the Murkle done ♪
So, we're complicating things now.
She's got a jawline,
she's got a handbag,
and also, they're high on drugs.
Sounds like a great time in Amsterdam for me, to be honest.
♪ Make sure it's a red light not a blue or purple one ♪
♪ It's called the Red Light District ♪
♪ Also known as the concrete Jungle v
♪ You thought you was talking to a girl ♪
♪ You didn't know it was a next man's uncle ♪
She is reproducing her.
She is having offspring.
Her family, they're breeding.
They do be breeding.
- Oh, my God!
Time and place!
- ♪ That's why I'm warning people ♪
♪ I repeat, I'm warning people ♪
You guys, next time you're high in Amsterdam
walking around with Skepta, JME and Jammer,
just don't!
Just don't do it!
♪ So if you still make the mistake ♪
♪ Don't try and blame it on the New York Diesel ♪
So, the next verse is:
♪ They're not girls they're guys ♪
♪ They're mandem in disguise ♪
I love that.
It's very catchy, you should--
No, don't.
♪ Transvestites, more than meets the eye ♪
Does that sound good?
Illegally download it.
LimeWire.
Go on LimeWire and download it,
and then you can listen to it.
"They're not girls they're guys.
"They're mandem in disguise".
Just reinforcing what was said in the intro and the last verse,
just they're not women,
they're men.
♪ They tried it on the sly ♪
♪ With that purple light ♪
♪ And their eyebrows high ♪
♪ Like a permanent surprise ♪
- I should have Googled this before I finished filming the video,
but the purple lights that they're talking about that...
That indicates that the people
that they're interacting with are transgender.
They're not in disguise!
You just didn't look at the log!
You didn't look at the keys!
- So, I don't know what I'm picturing.
So far we have Sigourney Weaver with a handbag
in purple lighting and really high eyebrows...?
That just makes me think of drag queens.
I don't think of cross-dressers with the big eyebrows.
I'm like picturing this,
this is what I'm picturing.
On Sigourney Weaver.
Sorry, JME, Skepta and Jammer.
Does this bring up repressed feelings?
♪ Robin Hood can fly ♪
♪ But not these men in tights ♪
♪ I don't blaze, I don't drink ♪
♪ My mind is clear ♪
So, this one isn't even high!
This guy-- There are no substances!
Sigourney Weaver is now wearing tights.
♪ I know what I think I see they're looking at me in the window ♪
♪ They wanna take man's P ♪
I think that means they want to take his money,
which means that they are probably sex workers,
which means that, in the first place,
they're writing a song about going up to sex workers
and then disrespecting them.
And we don't do that here.
We don't do that.
♪ I've got no qualms with your sexuality ♪
♪ But why are you trying to trick me ♪
See? Here's the thing.
Like, I'm picturing like,
Sigourney Weaver, big eyebrows, handbag, tights...
I don't think that she thinks
that she's gonna go out there and be like:
"We're gonna trick all these men.
"We're gonna trick all this straight man".
Like, trans people or just like, queer people in general existing
and you finding them attractive enough to go up to them,
that's not on them.
That's not them trying to trick you,
that's you just...
You're not even being tricked!
You just find someone attractive
and then you find out
that they're not what you think they are
and then you get upset and disgusted
♪ When I go home back to reality ♪
♪ I'm gonna spread the word to the pickney ♪
What does "pickney" mean?
Oh, "pickney" means "child".
Okay, so, next time you bring your children
to the Red Light District in Amsterdam,
and you get them high...
Let them know not to go up to the cross-dressers
and/or trans people.
I don't know if--
I don't know if that's worth telling children to--
I don't know--
I don't know if you need to warn them.
♪ Don't be fooled by the make up ♪
♪ Cause it might not be a girl when you wake up ♪
Is this like Cinderella or some [ ]?
Like, the clock strikes 12
and their sex reassignment surgery just reverses?
♪ Just because he's got long hair ♪
♪ High heels and a little bit of cleavage ♪
Okay, so, okay...
So, these are-- Okay, these are just trans women.
These are not cross-dressers,
these are just trans women--!
Okay, okay, I feel less bad about making this video.
♪ Look properly it's needed ♪
♪ Stay away from the mushrooms ♪
This is interesting to me, as a bisexual,
because, you know what?
I used to think I was only into men a few years ago.
And now I can't even imagine that.
I can't picture that being true.
But like, if you find them sexy...
You like how they look,
you don't have to have sex with them,
but you don't need to be upset about finding them attractive.
Like, what is deep about that?
Why are you so insecure?
To be fair, when I was younger
and I found women attractive, I'd have a bit of a moment.
I get a bit freaked out.
I didn't invite two of my buddies to make a song about it, though,
so maybe we're different.
♪ You've gotta stay focused, it's needed ♪
♪ And you're gonna be weeded ♪
I love all the creative language surrounding just smoking [ ].
♪ And you're gonna be running the Red Light District ♪
So bewa-- "You're gonna be running the Red Light?"
You're gonna be running the Red Light District?
♪ So beware of the purple lights ♪
♪ Some of those girls ain't girls ♪
♪ If you look properly, you'll see they're guys ♪
Now, I'm not claiming to be a lyrical genius.
I don't intend to ever be that.
I just like making my music the way I make my music,
but this is not...
This is not Shakespeare!
[ Elizabethan Music ]
I don't know how many verses you need
to say the sentence: "they're not girls, they're guys".
That could just be the entire song.
♪ They're men in disguise ♪
♪ You better open your eyes ♪
♪ If you go in the blue door, don't be surprised ♪
♪ They're mandem in disguise ♪
And that's it.
That's all that-- That's left of all the lyrics,
apart from just repeating
"transvestites, more than meets the eye,
"transvestites, mandem in disguise".
I would give this, out of ten, a three,
just for the melody.
It's just catchy.
It's just a catchy song.
Lyrically, I'm not inspired.
I'm not impressed.
I would consider this a hate crime if someone were to play this to me,
but that's okay,
because so far, that hasn't happened.
I guess we gotta end it there.
What do you guys think of the song?
Oh, yeah! And follow me, by the way!
Click that big fat "Subscribe" red button
if you haven't clicked it already.
I'm talking to you!
Maybe I'm not, but if you haven't subscribed,
I'm talking to you.
Why would you be one in 880 something thousand
when you could be one in a million?
That's what we're trying to do,
we're trying to get to a million subs.
By "we", I mean "me".
Thank you.
Have a good day or don't.
See you later losers.
Goodbye!