Academy Awards fiasco

Date published: 5/9/2006

"And the Oscar goes to the Three 6 Mafia for the original song "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" from "Hustle & Flow."

Huh?

I have traditionally thought the Academy Awards to be a celebration of the highest achievements in the arts. March's Oscar presentation, however, left me scratching my head when the award for best original "song" went to the Three 6 Mafia--and I use the term "song" loosely.

Not that I have anything against the Three 6 Mafia. I'm sure it was hard to come up with all those clever rhymes. I remember fondly my days of rhyming in kindergarten.

I am at a loss, however, to understand how the Three 6 Mafia managed the amazing quantum leap from "I am Sam, Sam I am, Do you like green eggs and ham?" to "Wait I got a snow bunny, and a black girl too/ You pay the right price and they'll both do you."

No, really, though. I have no qualms with the Three 6 Mafia. I actually must confess that I am slightly impressed--they were able to convince the ABC network to allow them to say the word "bitches" on the air. Well done, boys.

But let me back up and examine one of my original points. The Oscar category in which "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" won was Best Original Song. This song, however, is classified as rap. According to the Rap Dictionary and thefreedictionary.com, "rap" stands for "rhythm and poetry."

Although today's society does not make a distinction between the two, music is defined as "the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity."

There is more to music than just rhythm and poetry. I find it hard to believe that this song--which consists of the fast recitation of poetry--beat out the beautiful vocal and orchestral performance of Kathleen Bird and Michael Becker's "In the Deep" from "Crash," as well as the traditional American artist Dolly Parton for her song "Travelin' Through" in "TransAmerica."

Date published: 5/9/2006