Mimi Knowles is working on a new album. I asked him if he could do clean music since a recent single talked about a “strip club without the boobies”

Mimi Knowles recently posted on Instagram and he has a new album coming soon. Most of Mimi’s music has gone missing from Spotify, so I am excited! Mimi is an amazing hip hop artist and, as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also had clean music. Then I remembered two songs that lyrics that concerned me.

The single Nervous features the lyric, “I swear you do that sh*t on purpose”. Another song called “Mad About It” refers to a “strip club without the boobies”. It is awesome when an artist has music you can just put on in the living room with the family or in the car with the kids or the youth at church that I’m an adviser for and not have to worry about questionable content. With those two previously mentioned songs, I was concerned what I might get from a Mimi album.

Mimi and I are Facebook friends, so I sent him a private message to share my thoughts and make a request for clean music in the new album. I didn’t think it was the sort of thing to comment publicly. I thought it was a good conversation and we found an understanding.

He Took the Clean Music Request Public

While I thought the conversation ended well, he felt I was being “condescending passive aggressive” and shared that on Facebook. He didn’t share my name, but I felt everyone of the hurtful comments from his friends that followed.

While is was a private conversation to start, he shared it as a public post, so I think it is okay to share here. There was a part of the conversation that was missing. He shared that he did leave the Church for a time, but is back because it was the best place for him to learn about himself and Jesus Christ and also that he faced a lot of judgement from members of the Church. I shared that I was happy for him and tried to clear up that I was not trying to make a judgement call about him.

Grady_Kerr_and_Mimi_Knowles_Conversation_about_Clean_Music_3

Since his posting, there have been nearly a hundred comments. Some have been reassuring and urging him to create how he likes. There were a few that tried to add clarity to my true intent. I commented on those and thanked them. But a great many were derogatory toward my request, even ridiculing me and my character. I felt it was best not to address the derogatory comments on the Facebook post, I find those with extreme viewpoints are seldom swayed with social media comment. But I did want to address a few of the comments here, if only to make myself feel better.

Katy White: He wouldn’t have brought up YOUR faith if it wasn’t! If it were really about HIM not wanting dirty, (which is wasn’t?) he would have left it at that. What a weirdo.

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These is some missing context not being considered. This could have been more clear if the ending of our conversation was not cut off. I even tried it add it in the comments with an apology.

Grady Kerr Hey, I’m cool with owning up to this. I’d love to add some of the rest of our conversation, for some additional context.
“It’s just so hard being a dad and trying to find stuff that works for everyone and is still quality……The faith journey was not a judgement btw. I just know from some of you and Jess’s YouTube videos that there were some difficulties and I didn’t want you to think I was trying to project my standards [onto] you.
And I agree. The Gospel has helped me so much improve and figure out what I am supposed to be doing to reach my potential.
Thanks for responding back and sharing how you feel. I appreciate it.”
I’d screenshot, but my phone is charging upstairs.
But I also do want to say that I’m sorry that this came off this way and you felt judged. This isn’t what I intended. I was just trying to walk the razor thin line of sharing some of my feelings, while also respecting yours. It looks like I was unsuccessful and for that, again I am really sorry.
Like Reply 5h

One person liked it, but four others just laughed. So many comments are on the thread now, I am sure it wasn’t even seen by many.

Kaneischa Johnson Entitlement is a nasty quality. And you were much nicer than I would have been.
And I guess they don’t talk about body parts in their house so that’s basically child abuse. 

Child abuse? Hyperbole much? We actually have bird and the bees conversation early and often. My wife wrote a blog post about Talking to Your Kids About Sex. We use proper terms and we always speak about the bodies of boys and girls with respect. With the prevalence of “boys will be boys” culture I would think this would be praised and the casual speaking of strip clubs vilified.

Additionally there is nothing entitling of sharing your opinion with someone and letting them know what you would like to see in their future work. The internet is all about people sharing their opinions. That is what everyone of these comments are.

Crys Kaestner This was written more as a “call to repentance ” vs “wish you didn’t do this”.
I wish you didnt swear but that’s your life, your choice. If I don’t want to hear those things or my kids then it is my job to be the filter.
I doubt they would ask this of any other artist.
Because of his statement of “we don’t do baby shark and crap” I really want you to do a version of baby shark so it just it pops up on their playlist. Lol.
You do you.

Wait, I thought we weren’t allowed to make requests of artists. Yes, it is true that I am tasked with being the filter for my kids. Any you know what? It is exhausting! It is so hard because you never know what to expect and you can’t even rely on past work. We love Star Wars, but I was little surprised with Poe Dameron telling C-3PO to move his @ss. All the Jar Jar Binks apologetics will tell you that Star Wars is for kids and those aren’t the kinds of phrases I want them repeating. I would send a private message to JJ Abrams if I thought it would matter. (or he would even read it)
A similar thing happened during Part 1 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Ron has a vision of Harry and Hermoine that Michael Vannoy Adams describes as “a sexual embrace”. I am sure many of you remember it. It was such a shock that many parents declined to have their children see the movie, and those who did go felt very uncomfortable seeing these two disrobed characters portrayed in this intimate way. (additional outrage gets tacked on because this wasn’t even part of the books) It was quite the escalation and not something parents were expecting based on previous movies. My blog was actually originally titled Mormon Media Reviews and my mission was to help people navigate the treacherous waters of informed media enjoyment.
These two examples also illustrate part of why I felt to reach out. They were departures from previously established patterns. I’m not gonna write Chance the Rapper and ask him to clean up his lyrics. That is just the type of music he makes and it has always been so.

In Conclusion

This whole thing seems to have escalated way out of hand. I have tried to be fair and measured in my request and even clarified when I was sensing that my intentions were being misunderstood. Rather than take me at my word, it was shared publicly and the disparagement has been rampant. I made a sincere apology, but Mimi has been silent. As such, the comments continue and I wonder if I even want to listen to any of the new album.