Friday Free Kick: Deconstructing MattyB covering Outkast

MattyB is a teenage Youtube star who shoots videos outside of Suwanee city hall in the Atlanta metro area. His videos regularly eclipse more than 50 million views.

I wouldn't call his covers....good, but I am not a certified member of teen twitter so I don't secretly control a sect of culture in 2016. Anyway. One of MattyB's covers was Miss Jackson by Outkast. It is an odd choice because the song's subject nature: two rappers lamenting the fact the mother of their baby mama does not like them even though they are pledging to be great financially stable fathers. You go Outkast. You guys are amazing.

Instead of private schools, daycare, and medical bills MattyB pays for bracelets, movies, and hibachi grills because he is not sexually active and does not have a child. It is a weird trip to listen to because of the cultural disconnect, and it is made even more wild by the video MattyB's team produced:

For the next however many words I am going to deconstruct this video, because oh my god this is a trip.

We start with a young MattyB going to deliver flowers to his "girlfriend." Again, MattyB is too young to have a mature relationship where both parties understand their emotional needs and complexities and can address them in ways that makes them both happier as individuals. Anyway, here is MattyB unaware about the hell is he about to get put through (all pictures below are screenshots form the above Youtube video):

Look at that smile. Poor MattyB. Anyway his "girlfriend' is waiting for him on the second floor of her suburban house. Her "boyfriend" brought her flowers! Everything is wonderful outside the perimeter. Then as MattyB approaches this is what he runs into:

Okay I'll get into everything wrong with the "mother figure" in a little bit, but this is a huge overreaction to a teenager giving another teenager flowers. They are just kids. They don't know what they are doing. Instead of overreacting and yelling at them we should have a conversation to understand their feelings and have a mature adult influence in their lives guiding them to make good choices later on. Sexual education in this country, man. Anyway. This is what your screaming did to MattyB:

MattyB is now in front of a fence singing the hook to a song that is about being a good father to your child out of wedlock. Like I said we need to be talking to our kids not pushing them to make Outkast covers when they are not appropriate. A few seconds later we get this:

Talk to your children. Please. Let's go back to the mother for a hot second here. After that "rap breakdown" by MattyB we see what the mother is up to:

Clearly the mom here is supposed to look like the main character from a telenovela, or a Latin soap opera. No mom, even in the South, would act this way to a child who has a crush on a peer. Why you gotta do this to MattyB? Aren't we better than this as a society. Anyway the mom's plot goes from angry to CRAZY in about 3 seconds. She sees MattyB rapping on her computer and thinks to herself "I'm going to put my own kids in the position to put a hit on him."

Okay I know I said we should be talking to our kids about feelings and questions regarding love and sex, but yeah maybe she should not. This is a gross overreaction. I am not a fan of MattyB but please do not kill MattyB.

This is an appropriate reaction from her "kids." They are being asked BY THEIR "MOTHER" to put a hit on MattyB. I get Miss Jackson is not supposed to be sympathetic in this song by Outkast (#teamKast), but this is a little much.

The video goes on to see MattyB's girlfriend call him and the mom walking in on her. The mom gets mad and flashes her car keys showing that she is going to "get" MattyB and teach him a lesson. Violence is never the answer, mom!

Anyway, the "girlfriend" decides to sneak out and find her "boyrfriend" to reunite in their "love."

"Me and your daughter / gotta special thing going on / you say its puppy love / we say its full grown"

I hate everyone in this video.

Eventually MattyB starts to break down to show he is a "legit" rapper, but after this lasts a quick 10 seconds mama and her cubs have found MattyB and his "girlfriend" on the street. MattyB is clearly not prepared for this:

I want to frame this picture on my wall forever. It is art. This video is awful, but it is worth it for this reaction alone. MattyB does not deserve to get beat up, but the forced shock from his "girlfriend" and the genuine shock from MattyB is great.

Uh oh.

Get out of there MattyB. RUN!

Okay well this escalated quickly. Poor kid had a crush on a girl and now he's getting beat up. I almost feel bad for him. Also, why do none of the kids look like their mother? I'm reading way too much into this video.

"Forever, forever ever, forever ever?"

I give up.

"Ms. Jackson my intentions were good"

Of course they were. You are barely a teenager. Like I said this is pure insanity. How did we let this happen?

MattyB just got "bye felicia'd." This is just too cold.

This comes at 2:36 into the video. There is still :49 seconds left. Regardless, this image does sum up a lot of things about this video and the state of America at this moment. I think. I don't even know. MattyB is a crazy rabbit hole.

MattyB's "girlfriend" is really torn up about this whole thing. I feel bad for her. She is stuck in the middle of a Shakespearean tragedy. She does not deserve this. She is crying for all of us realizing the pain we all endure in this affair.

We have reached the end of our MattyB journey. At least he apologized for making Miss Jackson's daughter cry.  Have we learned anything? I would say yes:

Don't cover Outkast.