Tommorrow is September 11, and it marks 8 years of the coordinated suicide attacks by Al-Qaeda upon the United States on September 11, 2001. On that morning, 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners. The hijackers intentionally crashed two of the airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing everyone on board and many others working in the buildings.
Both buildings collapsed within two hours, destroying nearby buildings and damaging others. The hijackers crashed a third airliner into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C. The fourth plane crashed into a field near Shanksville in rural Pennsylvania, after some of its passengers and flight crew attempted to retake control of the plane, which the hijackers had redirected toward Washington, D.C. There were no survivors from any of the flights.
In total 2,993 people, including the hijackers, died in the attacks. The overwhelming majority of casualties were civilians, including nationals of over 90 countries.
A friend approached me with this “Do you think it was right for 4X4 to call their song World Trade Centre? Considering the fact that over 6,000 people died in those towers. A serious world catastrophe and they use those two towers in comparison to a ‘mere’ woman's behind (ass/buttocks)? How would they like it if I used something of the Manhyia Palace and compared to a guy's dick, pardon my Greek”.
“My family and I were discussing it. I liked the song when I first heard it but when I heard the title I was appalled. I am thinking "let's show some respect please". He ended. I do personally understand his frustrations. When I heard 4X4 has a new song named WORLD TRADE CENTRE, following the heels of Black Eyed Peas and other musicians, ‘wow’ I said to myself, knowing very well that 4X4 is going to pay their respect to the victims of the 9/11, that unfortunate incident that trembled the whole world.I was indeed very wrong. I was taken aback when I finally listened to the song and saw the video over and over again; I thought I was going to see firefighters covered in debris but all I see in the video was totally different and an eyesore.
I do not seems to identify with what the "World Trade Centre” mean in the song, 'they are referring to the ‘mere’ buttocks of the woman, comparing it to the huge twin towers, thus the World Trade Centre, since ladies buttocks are also twins”. It still doesn’t look clear or make sense to me why they decided to name it 'World Trade Centre'.It beats me how my compatriots can behave sometimes; it takes me back down memory lane to 2001 when this unfortunate event occurred and it was a very sad incidence indeed.
A lot of musicians have proceeded by composing songs and music producers have done movies to create awareness about the 9/11 and how the incidence has affected the human race.The sad events of September 11, 2001 indeed without any doubt inspired many songwriters to write songs.With my friend’s question still hanging on my neck and knowing very well that my own personal opinion does not really matter, I set out to find the reason(s) if it was right for 4X4 to call their song World Trade Centre?
I talked to politicians, journalists, businessmen, movers and shakers of the entertainment industry mostly DJs, presenters, producers, promoters, sound engineer and some members of the general public as well as musicians themselves.The politicians I spoke to seems to have not noticed the song yet.
Jargo of Konfi of Like-Father-Like-Son eminence feels, “It describes a woman’s body according to the lyrics of the song. Secondly, since the World Trade Centre couldn’t stand same way a woman’s booty can satisfy a man forever, the latter is my own interpretation, a woman’s body being a World Trade Centre can’t survive a man forever”.“As I said it an expression of how booty a woman is and also the booty woman is not forever since World Trade Centre collapsed so will her booty get collapsed so its vanity to believe in a woman’s booty, nice track to wind with and forget about the atrocities that came with World Trade Centre” he jabbed.
DJ Black, Ghana’s number one, on his part does not also see any problem at all and he’s in support of it, “People say and do worse things, if that fit the expression, so be it. What about the Ku Klux Clan? He asked. “What about the many guns sold by the west to rebels in Sudan, Nigeria, etc. people compare stuff to what they think is comparable. If they think the woman's behind is synonymous to a World Trade Centre and it gets their attention, well. But I understand if people think it’s not cool, but it’s nothing to be angry about”. he charged.
Teddy Abrokwa of Hot Digital Radio, London assumes it's out of time as the World Trade Centre does not even exist anymore. He doesn’t seem to have any problem with it also; his only problem has to do with 4x4’s constant ‘nigerialising’ of their music.“It’s a good sound regardless and about time 4x4 claimed their rightful position in Ghana Music. They've been hugely underrated in the past and were under the shadows of Buk Bak for far too long. They are a very talented duo and now that they have added a third member will only make them stronger. My only issue is the 'Nigerianising' of the music at the moment. We need to create an identity for our music and do well to sound Ghanaian” he emphasized. “It’s a very emotional reference point judging from the history behind the World Trade Centre. It would have been in serious distaste if the song was glorifying what happened on 9/11, He intoned”.
“Clearly they are referring to a ladies backside being big like the World Trade Centre. For me it’s not on point lyrically as the World Trade Centre doesn't exist now. We should not read too much into the title. I bet the guys did not mean to cause any offence or outrage “
“If they are doing their music in their accent or twang and we embracing it in Ghana, why not do ours in our Ghanaian twang for them to embrace. Nigerians in the UK are riding high on tracks like 'Kiss ur bride' by Bollie, VIP's 'Ahomka wo mu' which are clearly Ghanaian twang. You accepting defeat as soon as you take on someone’s identity”.
”Let’s not play too much into the choice of title for 4x4's track but rather see more of the great tracks they putting out” said the Hot Digital Radio gem.
Dela of TV3’s Mentor II also added her voice and this is what she has to say “I think that the Ghanaian music industry has grown immensely to the point that the Ghanaian listener is discerning. Now, since some people just ignore hip life and other Ghanaian genres of music solely because it's not their thing. The musician also has to structure means of drawing attention to his/her music, hence the use of a "Catch Phrase".
She continued “I deeply sympathize with those who lost relations due to the 9/11 World Trade Centre disaster and they have my condolences but Americans and the world have put it behind them and have moved on. I guess we should also do the same and let music live on. It could have been any other caption. All the same we would have enjoyed it. You will agree with me that although you are against the title "World Trade Centre", you can't help but tap your feet anytime you hear the song play”.
“The World Trade Centre was a tall, strong building that depicted power that’s why I think they compared it to a woman’s ass. It’s got power over men you know. I don’t think they meant any harm or anything negative by calling their song World Trade Centre. Catchy song too. Don’t think it had noting to do with the tragedy and deaths that happened in the World Trade Centre. That’s ma honest opinion”. D - Black.
Mframa Terry of Feeli Gadoochi fame said he doesn’t think it is a bad thing to do because every musician looks out for words or phrases that can help make hits. “So they thought World Trade Centre is a hit, it has so many controversies surrounding it so linking it to some part of the human body, I think they have even been smart. Let’s appreciate good work and stop politicizing it”.
A member of the Nescafe African Revelations winner Echo Elijah in his response also shared this views “Well I think that to be very objective if we are looking at it from the tragedy perspective then I think that yes it might bring back memories more especially if the song makes an impact in the country where that incident occurred.Well on the other half of the bake it was very smart for them to have used that considering the fact that the twin towers was very popular back in the days so yes bad when memories of the families of those victimized are concerned and all full of bliss when promo is concerned”.
“The way they presented the song didn’t make it seem too vulgar so we can pardon them. Let’s hope that the buttocks they talk about don’t lead them to catastrophic ends like the original World Trade Centre”. Journalist Ameyaw Debrah said with laughter.
Sound engineer Panji Anoff, shared the same views “Yes, in the absence of the old one, I do not find the song offensive at all. One of my favourite 4x4 tracks of all time” New kid on the block,
Sarkodie opted to remain mute and not say anything about the controversy “they are entitle to their own opinion. I can’t say anything about it, thanks” Below are some of the views expressed by individuals ghanacelebrities.com spoke to, they are picked randomly:
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“What 4x4 did is metaphorical, it sounds myopic if someone should lambaste them for it It’s just an analogy to depict the gigantic nature of the ass they were talking about, it is accepted and it's just coincidental that people died from there but they haven’t done any wrong in using it” one journalist said.
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I think it goes to you guys in Ghana. World Trade Centre is bad news because of the disaster courtesy Osama, so is fat ass and boobs a disaster to you men. BEWARE SO DAT YE SHALL NOT COLLAPSE IN OR ON IT.
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You know most hip lifers hardly think before selecting themes for songs. I am sure they were looking at sizes and for them the woman's backsize is as big as the World Trade Centre.
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I kind of saw them as not taking the situation serious lest making them an "unserious" people. I see their music as a mockery to the catastrophe which befell America and the world as a whole. I like them but I think they should rephrase the song” from another die hard fan of the duo.
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I don't think it was right, and I don’t see how the World Trade Centre relates to the song, and I don’t see how two straight buildings that look like a pillar, with no round edge can be use to refer to a woman's booty in music.
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Personally I don't like the song. Come to think of it, they should have found something else to compare to a woman’s buttocks than the World Trade Centre which was attacked by terrorist and precious lives were lost. So no I don't think they should have used World Trade Centre.
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Its just creative mind or art. It can be explained in so many ways but as u said it was a serious event and must not be used to associate to a woman’s behind or ass. My honest opinion is just that it’s a creative art thing. My other opinion is that it doesn’t speak well of women because World Trade Centre means everyone can enter which makes the woman cheap in some way.
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In my opinion no, it doesn't mean anything. And again it was an American Tragedy, not world. As sad as it was, life does go on. And, "mere" woman's behind? Don't underestimate the power of a woman's behind, it causes traffic and accidents, I personally like that song, and I see absolutely nothing wrong with it.
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World Trade Centre was not a catastrophically area before the incidence. World Trade Centre is a commercial place where trade goes on. To decide whether it was okay for 4x4 to use it, I think we must get the internal meaning of what they where trying to imply. Simple World trade Centre is big and his Girl’s booty is big. It is simple and on the other side it can be wrong when view with the moral eyes but still morality is relative.
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Maybe they tried to explain how a big ass could destruct so many minds just like the World Trade Centre did.
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I think it’s entirely wrong to have it called that because as you initially said; many people died there. With an influx of people traveling abroad, it’s highly understood that a vast amount of people do remember September 11th, 2001 when so many innocent people died. And a lot of us live here n the US and have family here and we are actually paying for what happened.
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There's nothing wrong with using world trade centre, besides, a lot of people don’t know the day it happened and I believe they want to mention it so no stress about that.
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I believe every individual is entitled to his or her own opinion and what you might think does not matter.
The debate continues…
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