The Blue Ivy Effect

Wow, this baby's got some power.

To change the heart of Jay-Z, a rapper whose lyrics have helped build a culture of disrespect toward women, into a feeling, contemplative father.

My husband just forwarded me an article. Jay-Z has decided to ban the B**** word from all future songs, within a week of having his own baby girl, Blue Ivy (mom/wife is Beyonce).

I applaud him and believe everyone deserves grace. I hope it a real change and that his love for this baby will cause him to contemplate banning other things as well. But this article by an African American, Dr. Boyce Watkins, has an interesting perspective of  "too little too late."

A quote by Dr. Watkins:

"You can’t spend two decades referring to other men’s daughters as b*tches and hoes, and then somehow decide that your own daughter is going to be exempt from the game." "Perhaps Jay-Z will now learn the frustrations of millions of other fathers who’ve been long hurt that so many hip-hop artists have trained black men to show the utmost disrespect for their little girls."

Rap music has affected every race.  Ask any teen. He is one of the most successful rappers. Millions of our youth are listening to his damaging lyrics.

Jay-Z has now seen his own innocent little baby girl.  He has now felt the heart of a father. It must have surprised him.  And touched him.  He probably doesn't want anything negative to ever touch her.

This is just a picture, just an inkling of how our Creator Father feels toward each of us.

Being a parent is a picture of the love He feels for us. This parent love is why we fight for what's good for our kids. He fights for our good as well. But just like we can't force our kids to choose, He won't force us either.

But He gives us little pictures, hoping to get our attention. I think Jay-Z just had one of those picture moments. He sees his baby girl and said I won't use the B word anymore in lyrics. Having seen her, he doesn't ever want her referred to that way, rightly so.

If only Jay-Z could see that His own Creator looks at him the same way. Can you imagine with me?

"You're too valuable for all that. I have a better way for you than all the negative messages and names the world will call you. I want to keep you from all of that dirtiness, because you're mine. You're different than that. I want you to listen to the love I have for you, and not the messages you could grow up hearing. I don't want people to pull you away from me, I want to protect you. Let's have a better life than that, together."

I don't like his music. But he's still a human in need of grace, like all of us.

Now just like Jay-Z and every other human alive, Blue Ivy will get to choose whether to listen to cultural messages that her father helped create, or to choose the hopefully new message of her father. And whether to choose the message of her Creator Father.

Hopefully she'll never hear the lyrics of "Ain't No N****" or "Money, Cash and Hoes" or "99 Problems", that totally and completely disrespect women. (What is Beyonce thinking? How does that work?)

Now maybe he can understand why many of us don't support his type of music.  Because we don't believe our daughters are b*tches or hoes and don't want anyone telling them they are.  Instead we believe they can find people of character who will respect and value them. We pray to God that they will not receive the demeaning message that has been his for the past 20 years.

I hope this change is real. Truly.  Maybe Blue Ivy will continue to have a cleansing effect on her father.

But for now, his banning of the b*tch word is an interesting cause for thought though, isn't it?

What do you think, good for him, or too little too late?