♪ (ragtime music) ♪
(ambient jungle noises)
Ooh, isn't that pretty?
Oh no. You're not making me watch this, are you?
Oh shoot.
- ♪ My anaconda don't... ♪ - Ooh. That's nice.
- ♪ My anaconda don't... ♪ - (chuckles)
My kinda rain forest.
- Oh. - ♪ Don't want none ♪
♪ Unless you got buns, hon ♪
I must say, they know how to move it.
I don't understand how people get derrieres like this.
I really don't.
♪ Now that's real, real, real ♪
♪ Gun in my purse, bitch, I came dressed to kill ♪
♪ I'm on some dumb sh... ♪
- ♪ By the way, what he say? ♪ - Oh, men will really enjoy this.
♪ Come through and [bleep] 'em in my automobile ♪
- ♪ Like, dun-d-d-dun-dun-d-d-dun-dun ♪ - ♪ My anaconda don't ♪
"My anaconda"? What?
Well, we know-- we know we're not referring to a snake.
♪ ...got buns, hon ♪
I definitely would not be watching this if I weren't here.
Booty, booty.
♪ Look at, look at, look at, look at her butt ♪
♪ This dude named Michael... ♪
Ten years ago, they couldn't
show stuff like this on TV, you know?
♪ ...a tower, I ain't talking about Eiffel's ♪
The clothes are getting skimpier and skimpier.
♪ I let him hit it 'cause he slang cocaine ♪
♪ He toss my salad like his name Romaine ♪
♪ Little in the middle, but she got... ♪
I don't know how they can get away with this stuff nowadays.
♪ ...don't want none unless you got buns ♪
Very suggestive.
- ♪ He love this fat ass ♪ - Oh wow.
- (Minaj laughs maniacally) - (chuckles)
♪ Where my fat ass ♪
- ♪ Big bitches in the club? ♪ - Oh my goodness.
A gentleman has joined the film.
♪ ...bitches in the mother[bleep] club ♪
♪ [bleep] you if you skinny bitches, what? Kyuh! ♪
Hear no evil. See no evil. Speak no evil.
♪ I got a big fat ass (echoing) ♪
Yes, you do, darling.
Did these two get an Oscar for this?
Now, you wonder why kids are so screwed up nowadays,
because of this kind of [bleep].
Come on. Clean it up. Clean it up.
- ♪ Hey! ♪ - (school bell rings)
(whispers) Is it over? Yes. Oh, thank god.
Oh my goodness.
Wowee zowee, Batman.
I thought I had a voluptuous figure,
but she makes me look like a little wallflower.
(movie reel clicks)
(Finebros) How would you describe this music video?
How would I describe it? It's very sultry, sexy.
Bump and grind kind of burlesque thing.
It's a porn video.
Soft pornography.
Very sexual.
But they did it nicely.
In my day, inappropriate.
Today, I mean, at least they were wearing clothes.
- (Finebros) You know who the artist is? - No, I don't.
No, I don't.
No.
No, I don't.
It was a "Nicki Minaj."
- Nicki Minaj. - Nicki Minaj.
(Finebros) Her name is Nicki Minaj.
(intrigued) Nicki Minaj. Like a ménage à trois.
(Finebros) So she is one of the most famous artists
in hip hop and rap music.
That's 'cause she's got a nice big ass.
(Finebros) But she is hugely successful and came from nothing
to get where she is today. What are your thoughts on that?
Well, I think she deserves it.
Her hip hop is positive enough. It's catchy.
I love to see girls succeed.
I have a little problem with the exploitation of her body.
She has a lot of talent.
I don't know why she has to sell it on sex
and why she can't trail-blaze some kind of new path in hip hop
that doesn't involve sheer sexuality.
(Finebros) We're gonna hand you the lyrics.
- So can you please read this aloud? - Oh good.
I'm glad it's in big print.
(dramatically) "My anaconda don't. My anaconda don't."
"My a--" (cracks up)
"My anaconda don't want none unless you've got the buns, hon."
So I can't be in a relationship unless I have a big butt?
Is that what this is saying?
(Finebros) So what does "anaconda" really mean?
I'm not really too sure.
It's a big ol' snake.
(Finebros) Do they mean it as an actual snake?
I'm gonna hope she did.
It means he has very large personal parts.
Maybe somebody's big [bleep].
Big [bleep] wants a big ass, right?
- (Finebros) It means a big penis. - Ohh.
Oh! My goodness.
Now it makes sense. Thank you for the translation.
(Finebros) This is the album cover for the song.
Yeah, it shows her big-- she has a nice big ass.
There's a lot of cleavage there, but it's not on her chest.
I don't like the cover. She's better than that.
So anyone can see this? Oh my.
I think it makes it hard on all women.
We're so much more than sex,
and this is saying this is all you need to see.
This is all we need to be.
(Finebros) What would have happened if an artist
released album artwork like this back when you were younger?
They probably would have been thrown in jail.
They would have never gotten it out.
This kind of stuff you went to Tijuana to find.
It was not available.
Jack Paar got kicked off the air
for referring to the bathroom in the early '60s.
People were hysterical when Marilyn Monroe's skirt went up.
(Finebros) So this song has been very controversial.
On one side, there's people saying that this is a feminist song
and that women can be proud of their body and express themselves
- however they want. - No, I don't-- I don't--
I can't subscribe to that.
I think it's a little shocking, and I'm ashamed.
This, to me, is not a way of making women equal.
Better getting the same salary that a male employee would get.
That would be more important than displaying their tush.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with taking joy
in your body and in sex,
the problem being that this influences young girls.
These are the most popular things,
and they think that this is all it's all about.
(Finebros) On the flip side, people say that this video
- is just objectifying women. - No, not really.
Just showing off a nice body.
I don't think so.
Everybody is doing that same kind of thing.
I agree with them.
Yeah, and she puts out a video
to where you only want to look at the "objects."
It's too bad that the younger stars that are making all the money
and that are high-profile feel like they have to resort
to this kind of sexualizing of themselves.
It seems to make it okay to view women in this way.
If men get the idea
that they can just think of women as sexual beings,
then, I mean, there were over 200,000 rapes of women
in the United States last year.
(Finebros) There's also a third angle where people say that
this controversy is people taking this too seriously
and the song is kind of a silly, funny song.
Does that make this type of thing okay?
Yeah, I think it's okay.
I think it's just entertainment and somebody
trying to become popular so she can make money.
I don't think it's a good excuse, no.
Fun and sexy could be done with a little more tongue-in-cheek.
What would happen if she put out something that was still fun
and still interesting but more spiritually uplifting?
I think it'd be really interesting to see somebody do that.
In your lifetime, do you feel like culture
has gotten better or worse when it comes to issues
- like objectification of women? - Worse.
I think it may be going a little too far.
We are going downhill fast.
There always has been sex around,
and I think that each generation accepts it at a different level.
It's not that different than it was through the generations.
I think it's just we're becoming much more
relaxed about what we tolerate.
I came from the era when
everything we had to do was to please men.
That's no longer the case, and it's wonderful,
and there's a wonderful freedom that I wish I'd grown up in.
But with the good, you know, comes the extremism.
(Finebros) So what do you think can be done
to fix this situation, at least to some degree?
Give them a pair of trousers.
It really is up to the individual.
I would hope that the public would speak
in the way of not buying into the videos, not buying the music.
You cannot legislate morality.
Who's the judge in saying this went too far?
Problem is, if you start putting rules and regulations
in trying to stop this stuff,
you're gonna have a lot of problems.
There has to be a happy medium somewhere.
(Finebros) Finally, what would you want to say
to younger people who are watching this
on how to process this world that has so much sexuality in it?
What context would you want to leave people with?
I'd say accept it with a grain of salt. It's only a music video.
This is better than watching a bloody movie.
This is not the norm.
Everybody doesn't walk around doing that.
The motive is to sell something.
That's not the way people comport themselves in everyday life.
I'd like to see them open up their heads and go take a walk.
Get out of this pop culture
and expand your mind and your horizons and learn about
all the other wonderful things the world has to offer.
I would tell young people to go and watch it with their parents.
If you go, "Oh no," then stop and think
is this really something you want to do then?
If you're sneaking this, then in your heart,
you do know there's something a little bizarre about it.
Thanks for watching this episode of Elders React.
Let us know in the comments
what you would like us to react to next.
New episodes come out every week,
so make sure you hit the Subscribe button.
Shake something else. Shake your fist in defiance
and make the world a better place. Bye.
♪ (ragtime music) ♪