Jay Sean is a wonder of modern commercial music. A British citizen of Indian descent signed to Cash Money Records (the hip−hop label that also claims Lil Wayne, Drake and Nicki Minaj), Jay Sean is globalization personified. He's broken barriers and crossed not only genre lines but also oceans in the process. He's also written the most homoerotically charged song ever. Let's let that one sink in for a second.
"Down" (featuring Lil Wayne) sounds like a normal pop song on first listen, but go ahead and watch the video; put this song in context and the layers fall away.
The video for "Down" is interesting for a few reasons: Everyone in it has E.T. fingers, Lil Wayne makes an appearance in which he looks like Lisa Bonet (of "The Cosby Show" (1984−1992) fame) and it looks like it takes place in the most depressing nightclub ever. But that's not what interests me. What I find so bizarre is the appearance of Bryan Williams in the video.
Bryan Williams, also known as Birdman, is the co−founder of Cash Money Records. It would only seem natural that the founder of a record label would appear in his newest artist's breakout music video, but in the case of the "Down" video, it's just weird.
If you're unfamiliar with the song, the lyrics go, "Baby, don't worry/You are my only/You won't be lonely/Even if the sky is falling down." Here's where it gets fun: Remember Bryan "Birdman" Williams? Well, Birdman is his nom−de−rap. His nickname? "Baby." And then the video just gets creepy.
Try watching it now. Every time Sean says "baby," you'll hear "Baby." It's subtle, but it makes all the difference. And then in the second half of the video, every time anyone says "baby," they actually cut to Bryan "Birdman"/"Baby" Williams himself! The creepy faces and "okay" signs he has on display just help to underscore the fact that the track is a love ballad to him.
"Baby, are you down−down−down−down−down?" Sean croons."Yes," Baby nods, smiling and rubbing his hands together.
Birdman is one of the strangest figures in hip−hop today. Besides being absolutely terrifying (he looks like a combination of a skinny Cee Lo Green and pure evil) and the founder of what is quite possibly the most influential record label around, he has this incredibly strange, often gossiped−about relationship with his protégé, Lil Wayne. Wayne's appearance in "Down" lends unequivocal support to my cretinous theory.
Lil Wayne tells a lot of stories about Birdman, mainly about how Williams is something of a surrogate father to him: Wayne was brought into Williams's inner−circle in his early teen years and has been closely associated with him since, often referring to himself as "Birdman Jr." (or simply "Junior") or "Weezy F. Baby," and to Birdman as "Daddy."
What makes this close "father/son" relationship weird rather than touching, though, is that there is a picture, widely available, of Wayne and Birdman doing just that: touching. Touching lips, to be specific.
That is a thing that exists: a picture of Lil Wayne and Bryan Williams kissing on the mouth. In the super homophobic world of hip−hop, Wayne has not only been seen kissing his mentor, but he's actually rapped about it — pulling the popular "no−homo" card, of course. "Damn right I kissed my daddy/I think they pissed at how rich my daddy is/And I'm his kid, I stunt with my daddy," he raps on "We Takin' Over (Remix)," a track from "Da Drought 3" (2007), one of his most popular mixtapes.
But it's cool, because Wayne can literally do whatever he wants and no one can say anything: He once successfully rhymed "theme park" with "scream for."
So first Weezy and Baby, now Jay Sean and Baby. And the kicker? Check out Sean's new video for "2012 (It Ain't the End)."
