8-year-old's Rendition of "Super Bass"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7hTAp6KrGY

“Do you know what you’re singing about?” asks Ellen Degeneres to 8-year-old Sophia Grace Brownlee, a recent YouTube sensation who raps and sings to Nicki Minaj’s hit single, “Super Bass”.     

“No,” says Sophia with a smile while sitting next to her cousin and “back-up” dancer 5-year-old Rosie.  “We just love pink!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odhUPMYXpX4

Wearing their signature pink tutus and tiara crowns, Sophia croons and hand motions out lyrics that would make Mariah Carey jealous. The audience of “The Ellen Degeneres Show” eat it up as the duo sashays an acappella rendition of “Super Bass”.

With countless hits on YouTube (7.9 million and counting) of the pair dancing and singing in the living-room of their Essex - England home, many concerned parents squeamishly squirm to hearing lewd lyrics, from dealing “coke” to being a “ho”, come out of a child who can’t even recite her times tables.

Technology today filled with iPods, smart phones, and YouTube instant replays has created an evolution of highly accessible music causing the Parents Music Resource Center, a non-profit organization created in 1985 who’s responsible for mandating the Parental Advisory Label on albums deemed “objectionable”, to wave a reluctant white flag.

“It's no surprise that Sophia is doing Super Bass, since it's played on every Top 40 radio station in the country.”  Says Kutmaster Spaz, a D.J. mix reporter for Billboard Magazine (www.djspaz.com).  And though Minaj’s 2010 hit album “Pink Friday”, which features the song “Super Bass” and showcases the Parental Advisory Label on the cover, Spaz believes children are easily exposed to the music through friends or popular radio stations whom are obligated to play a hit song.

“Songs are popular, but some just don’t realize what the lyrics are about.”  Says Jon Balauro, a Los Angeles D.J. who regularly plays hit dance songs that have controversial lyrics.  Billboard’s current number three song, “Pumped Up Kicks” is especially concerning for him, which is about “troubled youth with homicidal thoughts.”

Concerned parent, 34-year-old Kristie Kutaka from Kahaluu - Hawai‘i suggests radio stations should “start rating their music”, claiming she as a hard time “monitoring” what her children listen to.

Keala Beyer, mother of three from Portland - Oregon doesn’t believe in sheltering her children from any type of music, however is afraid they will believe the lyrics are “normal” and “acceptable” behavior.  

“It’s definitely a sign of the times, and parents just need to use these times as teachable moments,” says Dr. Mia Moody-Ramirez, an assistant professor of journalism at Baylor University who recently conducted an analysis on rap artists’ lyrics.  “Young girls especially need to understand the images on TV and the lyrics to songs, it’s mostly about selling records.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9573kGBtuE

Earlier this year Nicki Minaj was quoted by British tabloid “The Sun” saying she “cringes” when she hears little girls singing along to her songs.  And after viewing the YouTube video of the tutu wearing duo, she quickly insisted on meeting them, and did so on “Ellen” calling Sophia a “superstar” yet quickly emphasizing to “put your books first, and singing second.”