|
7th Floor Crew was the name of an ad hoc group of football players at the University of Miami who made an underground recording of a rap song of the same name. The name derived from the 7th floor of the University of Miami's Pearson Residential College. The song came to public notice in 2005 when it was covered by ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and other media, though the date of its recording is unknown. Members of the crew reportedly included 2007 NFL Draft first round selections linebacker Jon Beason (referred to in the song as "Big Beas"), Tight End Greg Olsen (referred to in the song as "G-Reg"), and 2008 NFL Draft selection Tavares Gooden (referred to in the song as "T-Good"). There was also a small controversy over the identity of one of the performers called "Hollaman". The Boston Herald reported that the performer was the at that time recently signed New England Patriots player Brandon Meriweather, but an investigation showed that he wasn't even living in the dorms at that time and had nothing to do with it. Lyrical themes The song, whose lyrics are set against the beat and chorus from Aaliyah's "If Your Girl Only Knew", has been met with many of the stereotypical criticisms of gangsta rap music. The lyrics describe various sex acts, such as group sex, oral sex and sexual boasts by each of the group's male members, told through a narrative that is littered with sexual profanity. ESPN initially reported the lyrics to also be racist, but with closer scrutiny of the lyrics as well as the racial makeup of the performers showed this not to be the case. The song was purportedly recorded privately and intended initially to be shared only among the group's University of Miami and other friends. But it received notoriety when Miamity.com, run by a University of Miami student, revealed that the group included players from the University of Miami football team who had created the song under pseudonyms. Former Miami Hurricanes wide receiver Sinorice Moss, who was drafted by the New York Giants in the 2006 NFL Draft, verified in an ESPN.com chat that the song was created by members of the team, though he was not among them. Moss stated, "That's something that they did like two years ago. A couple of the freshmen and older guys made a rap song. It was a really cool song". Performers *Marvelous Henderson A.K.A GoMarvelous (Miami producer) *T-Good (Tavares Gooden, LB *Lil' Nuke (Darnell Jenkins, WR) NFL Houston Texan 5th round draft *Dub C- (Willie Cooper, DB) *T-Buck *G-Reg (Greg Olsen, TE) *Big Beas (Jon Beason, LB) *Hollaman (Aikeem Jolla, WR) ESPN coverage After hearing the song, ESPN columnist Pat Forde wrote: "How long does it take to undermine more than five years of hard work improving the image of a once-tainted football program? It could be as little as 9 minutes, it turns out." . Nine minutes references the length of the 7th Crew song. University of Miami condemnation ESPN and other national and local media coverage predictably resulted in condemnation of the song by the UM administration. UM athletic director Paul Dee, in a statement, said that "the content of the recording is unfortunate, inappropriate and demeaning. This speech is not appropriate and does not reflect the values of the University or the Athletic Department". The track begins with one of the rappers, Marvelous, stating a disclaimer that asserts that the song is "in its entirety is not meant to disrespect any women in its entirety". Then, when the redundancy of his statement is met with mocking laughter by other 7th Floor Crew members, Marvelous urges the producer of the song, in no uncertain terms, to "play the track".
|
|
|