An underground mixtape remix to Usher’s#### song
"Confessions" has come under fire by a pro-life group, due to some controversial
lines by rapper Joe Budden.
Black Americans for Life, an outreach of the
National Right to Life Committee which represents 3000 chapters in all 50 states
and the District of Columbia , took issue with the line: "Pray that she
abort that if she’s talkin’ ’bout keepin’ it/One hit to the stomach, she’s leakin’
it."
They charge that the song has started to get airplay on some radio stations.
The mixtape version is Budden’s spin on thoughts
that might course through a man’s mind when he finds out he is powerless when
it comes to the question of abortion.
"Its some mixtape s**t that didn’t even
travel too far," Budden told AllHipHop.com. "Everybody’s heard the
original Usher song and I’m just saying what a guy’s mindstate is when he’s
put in that situation. Like it or not, that’s a guy’s mind state. That’s how
it can be when you are put in a powerless situation."
The director for Black Americans for Life said
the organization is urging African-Americans to call radio stations that might
air the song and request that it be pulled from play lists.
"These lyrics are demeaning and outright
violent toward both women and unborn children," said Day Gardner, director
of Black Americans for Life. "It is appalling to suggest that a man attack
a woman to cause the death of her unborn child."
Another organization, Care Net, a network of
750 crisis pregnancy centers, joined in and launched a grass roots campaign
today (July 1) calling on Island/Def Jam records and radio stations to pull
their support of the song as well.
"Are they concerned that one in three African
American pregnancies end in abortion, that over 1,200 black children die every
day, and an estimated 70 percent of abortion providers are in minority neighborhoods?"
asked Star Parker, a member of Care Net’s board of directors. "Abortion
in the black community has become a form of genocide."
In light of the political climate, Budden questioned
the motives of his detractors.
"Its real funny how these people grab what
they want to grab," he charged. "The lyrics don’t support beating
on women. I don’t even say that I am beating on women."
Budden himself went through a stormy two-year
relationship with the mother of his child and ironically, Budden was a victim
of domestic violence when his ex-girlfriend stabbed him, nearly killing him.
Though he never pressed charges, he temporarily
stayed with her and they have a child together, Joe Jr.
""When you get somebody pregnant, you
can make suggestions, but the bottom line is they [women] have the end say-so,"
Budden said. "As a guy, you wonder ‘What can I do to take that power away?’
As negative as it is, that’s what comes to mind. That still doesn’t make [violence
against women] alright and I don’t support that. In Hip-Hop, we talk about reality
and what is the truth and that is the truth. I might stir up a lot of confusion,
but if you don’t like it, turn it off."
