Rihanna: Man Down Meaning
Song Released: 2011
Man Down Lyrics
I know it wasn't right
I can't even sleep at night
Can't get it off my mind
I need to get out of sight
Before I end up behind bars
What started out as a simple altercation
Turned into a real sticky...
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1TOP RATED
#1 top rated interpretation:to whom it may concern....
yes i believe the video is representing rape
RAPE is never a woman's fault for the "clothes" she is wearing. if a woman wants to wear a nun's habit or a thong bikini it does NOT entitle anyone to her body.... i did not know that certain clothes meant other people had a right to rape and violate women
rape is about aggression and power...our current cultural conception about sex fuels the demented perception that rape is an action that a woman invites upon herself.
if i want to run around ass naked, guess what i still own my body and no one has a right to violate it any manner (yea i might get some crazy looks and be called trashy, but still to force sex is beyond logical rationale) -
2TOP RATED
#2 top rated interpretation:I agree!! The way I saw it, he raped her and she got pissed off!
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3TOP RATED
#3 top rated interpretation:It's cos he raped her, that's why she shoots him! watch the video again and you'll see...
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I apologize in advance for the length of this post but I’ve got to show everyone that this song is not about rape! It’s about police violence. Rihanna’s video is an artistic interpretation of a song written by someone else and it’s great but it does not accurately portray the meaning of the lyrics.
Start with the title. “Man Down” is the phrase the police use when someone is shot during an altercation. Then notice the sirens in the background. From there, nearly every line makes it clear that the song is about a police officer who has recently killed a man after shooting him in a busy public place during a “simple altercation” that “turned into a real sticky situation.” The officer explains that he never intended to kill the man and that he had hoped he’d never have to kill anyone in the line of duty. The lyrics suggest the officer is afraid of the consequences of his mistake and that he feels guilty for what he has done.
First the officer explains that he didn’t mean to shoot the guy and he can’t stop thinking about it and is worried about going to jail:
“I didn't mean to end his life
I know it wasn't right
I can't even sleep at night
Can't get it off my mind
I need to get out of sight
Before I end up behind bars”
Then he says the incident started out routinely but quickly got out of control:
“What started out as a simple altercation
Turned into a real sticky situation
Me just thinking on the time that I'm facing
Makes me wanna cry”
Here he shows remorse for his actions:
“Cause I didn't mean to hurt him
Could've been somebody's son
And I took his heart when
I pulled out that gun
Mama, mama, mama
I just shot a man down
In Central Station
In front of a big old crowd
Oh why, oh why
Oh, mama, mama, mama
I just shot a man down
In Central Station”
Next the officer explains that he basically lost his cool and reached for his firearm without thinking:
“It's a 22, I call her Peggy Sue
When she fits right down in my shoes
What you expect me to do
If you're playing me for a fool
I will lose my cool
And reach for my firearm”
Like many officers, this guy had hoped that he’d never have to shoot, much less kill someone. He’s wondering how he could have lost control like that and regrets pulling the trigger:
“Look, I never thought I'd do it, never thought I'd do it, never thought I'd do it. Oh gosh, what ever happened to me, ever happened to me, ever happened to me? Why did I pull the trigger, pull the trigger, pull the trigger? Boom! And end a nigga, end a nigga’s life so soon. When me pull the trigger, pull the trigger, pull it 'pon you. Somebody tell me what I'm gonna, what I'm gonna do.”
Anyway, you get the idea…
Just a few more points though…
It seems unlikely to me that a woman who just shot her rapist would…
1. Say she didn’t mean to
2. Call what happened an altercation
3. Call her weapon a firearm
4. Say the phrase “man down” afterward
5. Talk about how she never thought she’d do it (why would she have?)
6. Act surprised and wonder why she shot him
I just blew y’all minds, huh? LOL
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Rihanna only sang the song written for her.It a song about a freaking bad guy who is a womanizer and wanted to play rough with Rihanna but she shot him down that my diva i love you Rihanna by Vision Paulinus Obinna aka Tori Vega.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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"RAPE is never a woman's fault for the "clothes" she is wearing. if a woman wants to wear a nun's habit or a thong bikini it does NOT entitle anyone to her body.... i did not know that certain clothes meant other people had a right to rape and violate women"
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Rape doesn't just happen to women, in fact MEN are raped more than women when they include prison rape. MALES are violated at birth with circumcision yet I don't see you protesting that form of rape. Why should a woman have a right to decide if a male is circumcised? It's not her body, yet women support circumcision.
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"rape is about aggression and power...our current cultural conception about sex fuels the demented perception that rape is an action that a woman invites upon herself."
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Which is why we have an epidemic of women teachers raping underage school boys. They say it's about having power.
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"if i want to run around ass naked, guess what i still own my body and no one has a right to violate it any manner (yea i might get some crazy looks and be called trashy, but still to force sex is beyond logical rationale)"
You are correct you are LEGALLY allowed to wear what you want BUT you are naive if you think you live in a bubble where your actions may attract people who don't care about the law. No one has a right to steal my car or take stuff out of my house, but I still lock both. The N-Word isn't illegal to say, but i wouldn't say it in public around a group of black people. If they beat or kill me for saying it they would still go to jail, but it doesn't undo what they did, but any way if rape is about aggression and power then the way a woman dresses shouldn't factor it has more to do with opportunity and most women like to act like they are in some bubble without bad actors. -
The man she's shooting in the video is representating chris brown. the 'shooting' is actually representating her calling the cops and locking him up.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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my interptaion on this song is.. i watches the video at the start of it shes shooting hom because he raped her. i can competlely understand why she would shoot him. he disgraced her body. and now she wants revenge.
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i think this video should be taken as an example for all those bastards(rapists) and they should be killed....only they should make it a more brutal way i think rihanna has conveyed a very necessary msg to the government of wat should be done to those who rape...........and just fyi its not only girls getting raped but boys too...and i know coz i was and so i kno how it is to feel raped(torture)
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Everyone. Listen(well, in your case, read). A woman was raped and killed her rapist. She truly regrets it. But to everyone who says it was her fault, think again. It's HER body. No matter how she flaunts it(and believe me, the dress was fine) no one has any right to abuse it in any way. Long red hair? Well, I think it's kawaii. We don't need shave our heads and wear long-sleeved turtlenecks with slacks. Unless we want. I mean, that doesn't lower your chances of being raped. Sorry for going "in-depth", but the vid is pretty straightforward.
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I have never seen the video to this song before.
Just by listening to it I would for sure think this video is about a girl breaking a mans heart.
I think that R is telling everyone - shes trying to help her self because she doesn't know what to do.
I think she's trying to get over this huge production that maybe didn't go on in literally a million people's eyes but quite a few (enough to make her feel surrounded , possibly his whole family / social life and she may now be lettin her family / social life know - grand central station- )
Love this song and she just had a massive break up and it's her fault.
Obviously it's the right thing for her to do is move on now and she ha to express these feelings.
Poor girl just broke a heart and had hers broken but in different / the same ways.
Beautiful story of healing. -
Pls dnt read this or u'l b kissed by d love of ur life on d nearest friday.2mao wil b d best day of ur life nw u've started reading dnt stop.this is so freaky. 1.say ur name 10 tyms.
2.say ur mum's name 5 tyms.
3.say ur crush's name 3 tyms
4.paste dis 2 4 oda songs.if u do so u wil b kissed on d nearest friday,bt if u read nd ignore u wil av very bad luck. When u r done press F6 nd ur crush's name wil appear in big letters. -
This song wasnt actually written by her so you can shove your illumanati shit up your ass....its an appropriation of the song 'i shot the sheriff' i just think its a cheeky song which finally turns the table on male dominance!
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She is angry that she couldn't do anything about the man tha raped her.. sh first tried to be friends with him but he obvi didn't want just friendship.. he wanted more and when she pushed him away he couldn't help that she rejected him. So he he wanted her to know that he was getting what he wanted whether she wanted or not..
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i personally think its her who shot a man down believe me the video explains the thing to us all. she was raped and did the crime out of anger. I liked the literature behind it.
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i personally think its her who shot a man down believe me the video explains the thing to us all. she was raped and did the crime out of anger. I liked the literature behind it.
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