LE SHAUN
In the case of the recent single “Wide Open” by female rapper LeShaun, the subject matter could make our favorite Hoosier clamp down his sphincter so tight he might never shit again. At first this catchy light rap single seems perfect for any urban crossover format. The song opens with LeShaun and a friend checking out a hot young stud on the corner, and her youthful, flirtatious vocal is matched by an equally enticing R & B arrangement–there’s a cute fluttering sax, a catchy girl chorus, a smooth beat syncopated to a background organ, and a clean little guitar figure breezy enough for a Curtis Mayfield or King Sunny Ade record. But when the cocky 17-year-old fellow approaches, thinking he’ll bag an easy trophy, he gets slapped with something neither he nor the listener expected. “You’s about to get stripped / Wide open, for sure / So let me tell you what I have in store.” With a quick breath, she drops it in a coy question, “Have you ever, ever, ever in your long-legged life / Had a sneaky, freaky finger make that butt feel so nice?”
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I don’t have a problem with her scorn, but I’d rather hear about the rim job again. No matter how narrowly she conceives of the act, it doesn’t change how inviting the “radio version” makes it sound, and that’s what’s most audacious about this song–the sweet-and-sour mix allows the listener to turn it into whatever his or her hot little libido wants. This record may be doomed to commercial failure, but think what would happen if it lived up to its title and got on the airwaves. It could bust things “wide open” in more ways than LeShaun imagines.
