Campaign Wants Lil Wayne's 'Every Girl' Pulled From Airwaves

Essence:

Just like millions of other people, Milan and Imani Ford tuned in to watch the 2009 BET Awards, which aired just days after Michael Jackson's death. For the most part, they enjoyed the star-filled tribute to Jackson—that is until hip-hop's crowned prince Lil Wayne took the stage with his up-and-coming group Young Money featuring rapper/singer Drake to perform their latest hit "Every Girl." The performance not only left the Fords stunned (the song explicitly expresses Lil Wayne's desire to have sex with every girl in the world) it spurned them into starting their own mini movement. A few days later, the Atlanta couple launched IAMNOTEVERYGIRL.com, an online campaign to remove [href="http://www.essence.com/news_entertainment/news/articles/sharptonasksradiohosttostepdown"] called the Rutgers [University] women's basketball team a bunch of nappy-headed hos? We got CBS to remove him as a host just a few days later. Why do we limit our defense only to those who don't look like us? As a husband and father, something in me just said we need to protect our women.

ESSENCE.COM: Are people surprised to find out that a brother is spearheading this cause?
FORD: Of course people think this whole concept came from a woman, but there are actually a number of men out there who won't stand for this. This song causes women to believe this is how they need to be viewed or how they should behave. I think more women would speak out if they knew they had more men supporting them than exploiting them.

ESSENCE.COM: So what's your strategy?
FORD: We're focusing on three radio stations in Atlanta: V-103, 95.5 The Beat and Hot 107.9. Our supporters are calling every Monday to request that the song either be taken off the radio or at least limited to radio play during later hours. On Wednesdays, we do our letter writing campaign. On Fridays, we leverage our Facebook and Twitter accounts to draw more attention to the stations. The program managers have been honest enough to say that while they respect what we're doing, the only way to remove these songs is to lower the volume or requests. But it's not the men who are calling to request this song. In Atlanta, it's the number one requested song from women between 16 to 35 years old.

ESSENCE.COM: But you've said on your Web site that you still respect Lil Wayne for his talent.
FORD: Lil Wayne is our brother. This is not a site to attack this young man. His talents are unquestionable, but when it comes to the message and explicit lyrics of these songs, we have to talk about what is questionable and what is deserving of our disapproval. I know "[href="http://www.essence.com/news_entertainment/entertainment/articles/rihanna_still_single_rapper_drake_spill_the_beans/"], all these young men have used their talents to get them out of poverty and secure their future. Now that that's done, I really would like to talk to him about what the next couple of years look like for Lil Wayne. What type of songs can come out of his experiences to uplift his community? Unfortunately, we have an industry that exploits these types of artists and probably encourages them to do these songs if they want radio play. But I hope he can understand that at this point in his career he should consider changing his message and produce a greater product that lives beyond him. After all, isn't that what artists like Michael Jackson were all about in the first place?

Milan Ford currently serves as a content editor for a number of online Christian networks, and is the author of "83 Things I Wish The Black Church Would Stop Doing," scheduled to be released in September 2009. Milan and his wife, Imani, are the proud parents of three children: Kayla, Aliyah, and Ethan.

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