Some Thoughts About Ton Loc's Hit Song Funky Cold Medina

I was listening to Tone Loc's Funky Cold Medina on the 80's station. If that song was recorded now, he'd get much grief from the transgender community for his description of a transgender woman in one of the verses.

Personally, I think the man who also wrote the hit rap song Wild Thing, was kind of pushing it by rapping about a date rape drug. When you listen to the words, that's what this song is all about. He lures women to his home by drugging their drinks with something that makes them attracted to him.

Then one night, he meets this woman named Sheila. He obviously finds her to be attractive enough to buy her a drink. She is "passable" as a woman in her appearance at this point, and he wants to take her home. So, he buys her a drink and drugs it.

When he gets her home, he goes to work on her. Then, he realizes there was more to Sheila than he thought. She was actually born a man, but in the song he proclaims "Sheila was a man." That's offensive to transgender women. Was she presenting as a man? Her presentation suggests she was transgender and not a transvestite. Needless to say, he kicks her out, proclaiming he, "doesn't mess around with an Oscar Meyer Wiener."

Up until that point, he was ready to treat her like all the other women he'd drugged and brought home with him. Of course, I know this popular 1980's rap song was just trying to have fun, but I found the lyrics to be interesting. He was nominated for a Grammy for that song, and it helped launch him to an acting career.