For the life of me, I cannot understand what all the furor is about with regards to a young Black woman expressing her desire for lots and lots of cash in exchange for some of the most exquisite pleasures known to man and an increasing number of women as well. Truth be told, money makes the world go around.  Brother Sparrow was very correct when he told us in song that, ‘You can’t love without money.’ Even churches will tell you that the gospel is free but the piping to get it to you cost money…lots and lots of money.

I suspect it might more be the expletives in the song that have the morality police in Barbados on standby. Lacking the literary finesse of a Mighty Sparrow, a Gabby, or a Red Plastic Bag, the young lady went straight for the jugular sans puns, picong, and double entendres.  Anyone familiar with modern Black entertainment would however know that literary artistry is out and raw, erotic, XXX-rated lyrics are in.  Just listen to some of the songs on our minibuses and your shock proof watch will get a nervous breakdown.

Expletives have become like a third language in Barbados.  Some Barbadians have become so proficient at speaking profanity that they can average three or four expletives in a single sentence.  Children cuss out their parents, their teachers, the police, and whoever else they damn well feel like cussing out these days.  Even some Black preachers have taken to cussing in the pulpit in a smart way.  Cussing has become so all pervasive in Barbados that when I first heard of Pirates of the Caribbean, I thought they were doing a documentary about the art form of cussing in Barbados.

Does the song is question speak to the materialism of the now generation? Maybe it does. But were the generations of yesterday any less materialistic than the young people of today?  Generations of Black people reared on gut wrenching poverty were only too glad to get their hands on whatever amount of cash became available.  Our needs in bygone days were often so numerous that as soon as we got some cash we rushed out and bought as much stuff as we could afford.

Wanting money is perhaps one of the sanest desires that Black people can have today.  Money like knowledge and violence is a very potent form of power.  It is alleged that Nathan Mayer Rothchild of Jewish banking fame quipped that once he controlled the money of a nation, he did not care who made the laws.  It is a truism that he who pays the piper calls the tune.  Money therefore is a damn good friend to have.  The more cash we acquire the more varied our possibilities in life become.

The in-your-face message of ‘We Want Money’ jars the consciousness of a people who have been indoctrinated into believing that money is the root of all evil.  No less a personage that the Christ of the New Testament is made to say in the Gospel of St Mathew that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.  The implication of this strange teaching is that poverty enhances one’s chances of entering the kingdom of heaven.

The irony of this strange teaching is that the representatives of deity that the Christ is supposed to have come to represent are ruthless in the effort to separate their flock from whatever cash the flock has accumulated weekly or monthly. It is not uncommon to hear of preachers today owning multi-million-dollar mansions, fleets of expensive luxury cars, jets, and yachts while a majority of their congregation live in abject squalor.

Maybe the young people of today have finally awoken to the truth of what reggae legend Jimmy Cliff was singing about in his song the’ Harder the Come.’  Jimmy Cliff affirmed that he was not prepared to wait for any pie in the sky that that could only be enjoyed when he died.  Like the young lady in the controversial ‘We want money,’ Jimmy Cliff was adamant that he wanted to get his share of pie right here and right now.

Finally, I get to the white elephant in the song namely the topic of prostitution.  Listeners to ‘We Want Money’ don’t need a PhD in string theory to understand that prostitution is the theme of the song.  Ladies of horizontal pleasures have a history that is as old as humanity itself.  The sex trade is called the oldest profession in the world with good reason.  Both women and men have been trading sexual favors for money since time immemorial.  That is not about to change anytime soon so the prudes in our midst better get use to it. As long as the girls want money and the men want honey, the age long dance of horizontal romance will continue to be one of the most popular games in town.

Lenrod Nzulu Baraka is the founder of Afro-Caribbean Spiritual Teaching Center and the Rebirth of Black Civilization: Making Africa and the Caribbean Great Again.