A two-year old rap song threw the spotlight on UM’s football team in a different direction from the field, stirring controversy that reached a national level when it surfaced on the Internet last Tuesday.
Kyle Munzenrieder, sophomore, posted a link to a song on Miamity.com that supposedly features several former and current Hurricane football players.
“I just thought it was funny. I wasn’t trying to get back at the football players,” Munzenrieder said. “I wasn’t really expecting the controversy that came after it.”
Munzenrieder deleted the link from the weblog soon after it garnered attention from students, administrators and national media outlets for its explicit and vulgar lyrics.
In a statement, athletic director Paul Dee said the song was recorded privately and was not intended for public use.
“To be clear, the University and the Athletic Department disapprove of the content and its references,” Dee said. “To those who may hear this material, we apologize. Any students whose voices can be identified will be subject to appropriate discipline and/or counseling.”
Athletes are not the only ones who may face possible disciplinary action. According to Munzenrieder, the University has contacted his father, saying that Munzenrieder should withdraw from classes and that he must move out of campus housing.
Pat Whitely, vice president for student affairs, could not comment on any disciplinary measures Munzenrieder might face, saying that it is strictly confidential.
“They have been treating me with little respect and haven’t been communicating directly to me,” Munzenrieder said. “I think it’s a blow to free speech at the University.
“I’m not withdrawing,” he said. “I think there’s been an overreaction to the song and my role in the whole thing. I’m going to try and appeal [the withdrawal]. It’s kind of ridiculous.”
Word of the nine-minute song spread quickly across campus, which relates the supposed sexual exploits of several football players, calling themselves the Seventh Floor Crew, thought to represent the seventh floor of Mahoney Residential College, where the players lived at the time.
“I first read it on ESPN.com and then like 20 minutes later everyone on my floor was playing it,” Mike Holzer, freshman, said. “But, as far as the actual song, I think it’s just a rap song like any other.”
That sentiment was echoed by a number of other students though the song has been called sexually explicit, vulgar and degrading to women by members the mainstream press.
“I thought it was kind of funny; it was humorous,” Jessy Antoni, freshman, said. “I think they did it all in good fun. The words obviously are a little bit offensive, but it’s like any other rap song. I think it’s just a huge joke, guys being guys basically.”
“A rap song is a rap song,” Nate Stout, junior, said. “Plus they just had a Beat Down at the Convocation Center with a bunch of rap groups that rap about the same stuff, so I don’t think the University can offer any kind of punishment.”
In fact, the posting of the song on the Internet has given it a new audience.
“I thought it was funny, I didn’t think it was offensive at all,” Brett Bailey, freshman, said. “It’s my ring tone.”
Larry Nolan contributed to this article.
Greg Linch can be contacted at g.linch@umiami.edu.