Booty Pop? Sinking the Good Ship Lollipop

Have you ever heard of Shirley Temple? Not the non-alcoholic red drink with a Maraschino cherry that parents used to give their kids on special occasions, but the child star from the 1930s. We also knew her as the singer of "On the Good Ship Lollipop," a cutesy-ootsey song about a world of candy and sweet foods, where "bon-bons play, on the sunny beach of peppermint bay."

I thought about her when I saw a news article about Albert Roundtree Jr., a 6-year-old rapper who has gone viral with his song and video, "Booty Pop." During the course of the song, the kindergarten casanova raps about seducing women, and makes his case as to why girls should go out with him. The chorus refrain is pure poetry, with Roundtree singing, "I can make your booty pop, booty pop, booty pop."

All the while, bikini-clad girls shake what they got, just like in regular rap videos. At one point, there's just his tiny head bobbing between two close-up rump shots.

If this is done in jest, as some type of satire on the rap video genre, then it's brilliant. But something tells me its' not. And if it is real, the video is really disturbing on many accounts.

• First, there's Roundtree's bully button. What is up with that outtee? He may as well still have the umbilical cord attached.
• Who are these girls who have such a low self-esteem that they feel it's OK to be seen gyrating that close to a little kid?
• Whose idea was it to have little Albert hold a water gun from his crotch and shoot water at the dancing girls? I mean, c'mon now.

But, in this day and age, this video makes perfect sense. Just like parents were willing to exploit Shirley Temple, Michael Jackson, and a host of other child stars, these parents are looking through their children to find the gold. In fact, according to the Huffington Post article, "...Albert's parents...paid for the video in the hopes that their son would become a famous rapper."

And to be in that game, this is the kind of video you need to produce. No matter what the age, and no matter what the cost.