Ne-Yo

You are going to listen to me on Bus Radio whether you like it or not.

Shaffer Smith is his name but Bus Radio’s controversial DJs want kids to know him by his rap name – Ne-Yo.

If your elementary or middle school student hasn’t come home wanting a Ne-Yo CD, wait… they will. Bus Radio will see to that.

Ne-Yo is a relatively new rap singer. The lyrics to two of his songs are printed below. In "Mirror" Ne-Yo is urging his girlfriend to have sex with him in front of a mirror because he likes to see the faces she makes during sex. He is not overly clever with titles. "It Just Ain’t Right" has Ne-Yo singing to an ex-girlfriend asking if she remembers having sex with him on the "bathroom floor" on the "counter" or in the "tub" or in the "sink."

Ne-Yo writes his own material. In an April 2007 interview with BritishHipHop when asked, "Is there anything you wouldn’t write about?" Ne-Yo answered: " No, I will write about anything. No subject is taboo."

Ne-Yo as an artist meets Bus Radio’s "rigid" standards for "age-appropriateness" but Obligation has doubts that parents would agree.

Bus Radio’s DJs recently conducted an interview with Ne-Yo which we assume was aired on their radio show for a captive audience of school kids. In the interview, both DJs obviously know Ne-Yo’s songs and make a reference to "So Sick" a song off his explicit lyrics CD "In His Own Words." By making that reference, they are plugging this explicit CD to hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren.

Above: Parents: Just because this CD does not have a "Parental Warning" label on it does not mean it is clean. The warning sticker is voluntary. Ne-Yo doesn’t put a sticker on his CDs. The screen shot above is from Amazon.com. Amazon does a good job of informing potential purchasers of the explicit content of music CDs.

Here’s a scene from a typical Ne-Yo music video. Ne-Yo is having sex in a restroom. Kids hear Bus Radio’s DJs rave about Ne-Yo, then they hear Bus Radio’s DJs play Ne-Yo songs, then they buy Ne-Yo CDs and watch Ne-Yo videos. That’s Bus Radio’s plan and it appears to be working.

Not only does Ne-Yo use very sexual images in his videos, he has some real life photos for the public to see too. Both Bus Radio DJs had to have known that Ne-Yo allowed pornographic pictures of himself to be published on the web. Ne-Yo says that someone was blackmailing him, but the release of photos and films like these (Pamela Anderson, Paris Hilton) are usually orchestrated to help change a celebrity’s image and increase sales of their work.

Children who hear Bus Radio’s interview with Ne-Yo might want to know more about this "awesome" recording artist. If they do, pictures even more graphic than this one will be there for them. Gee, thanks, Bus Radio for dumping Ne-Yo into the lives of kids who might not known about him.

Here’s part of another interview with Ne-Yo. (WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE)

Angel: Ok let me get to the gossip part, you know I got to ask you some questions.
Ne-yo: Come on wit it, I’m ready..
Angel: Ok, you know we were the first ones to release the infamous sidekick photos..
Ne-yo: Yeah I know.
Angel: Many people wanted to know, why did you take them and how did you feel about them being released to the public.
Ne-yo: I took them because I was having fun. I’m a grown ass man and I took some pictures with a grown ass woman, doing grown ass things. I think the world would be lying if they sat up here and said that I’m the only person who has ever done that. You know, I was just ignorant enough to do it with a damn sidekick. Not knowing how easy it is to break into the mu’fucka.
Angel: [laughs]
Ne-yo: Um, how did I feel when they came out?
Angel: Yeah
Ne-yo: The dude that stole the pictures emailed me, on some “yo, I want x amount of dollars or I’m going public with the flicks.”
Angel: yeah, I heard that.
Ne-yo: So I was like okay, let me find the F on this thing. F-U-C-K Y-O, where is the U, exclamation, exclamation, exclamation. Get the fuck outta here; come on man I’m grown. If the world don’t know I’m having sex, I’m 24 fucking years old. Get outta here with that.
Angel: that’s true
Ne-yo: I made sure the girl in the picture wasn’t tripping off me saying that to dude. She wasn’t trippin either, she was like I’m grown too, hell, it is what it is. So dude sent the pictures to yall, and you know yall put them out, you know yall were doing yall damn job and I ain’t got no beef with yall. I thought dude was a little stupid, but it is what it is.
Angel: And one of the commenters wanted to know if those pictures helped you with the ladies ever since they’ve been released..
Ne-yo: WHAT!! [laughs] I didn’t really need no help, but one or two ran up on me like, “Um hmm, I seen ya pictures, is that what it is?” I was like, yeah mama that’s what it is.
Angel: [laughs] okay.

If your school district does NOT have a contract with Bus Radio, consider yourself and your children VERY FORTUNATE.