During the final week of fifth grade, when attending Crawford Elementary School in Aurora, Colorado, students were allowed to bring cassette tapes and other items from home to provide entertainment for field day—a day of recreation to commemorate the end of a schoolyear.
My late cousin Francine allowed me to take her boombox, spare batteries, and a few R&B tapes, which made me somewhat of a playground celebrity. Unfortunately for me, rap albums weren’t allowed, due to explicit lyrics.
However, a friend of mine, Stephanie, brought hip hop group UTFO’s album Lethal. Our teacher allowed this perceived oversight, because some of UTFO’s songs could easily pass for R&B tracks. Still, we hid the cover art from our educator, in case she took issue with its inappropriate theme.
Being that I was unfamiliar with the album, I paid close attention to Stephanie’s advisement regarding the final joint on the album. “Tell me what you think they’re saying,” she said with a smirk.
The track, featuring R&B group Full Force, was “Master-Baby,” an obvious sexual innuendo for “masturbating.” As our teacher and various educators were involved with other students, I lowered the volume and listened to the smoothly-harmonized lyrics which included:
Sittin’ home all alone, by the phone
And waitin’ for you to call, but you don’t call
Sittin’ in my boxer shorts, lonely and
Visions of your loveliness, makes me warm-bodied a-hey
Master-baby (master-baby)
You make me master-baby (master-baby)
Stephanie, other nearby children, and I laughed as the song continued. Thinking we were getting away with the act of rebellion made me laugh until tears streamed from my eyes. It certainly was a field day to remember. All these years later, I still laugh at the term “master-baby.”
Now that I’m far older than I was back in the ‘80s, and as I practice Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), I’m sharing UTFO’s song with the world. And in the interest of the educational environment in which I first heard the track, I’m using psychoeducation to address a component of the melody.
REBT theory uses the ABC model to illustrate how when Activating events (“Actions”) occur and people maintain irrational Beliefs about the events, these unhelpful assumptions – and not the actual occurrences – are what create unpleasant cognitive, emotive, bodily sensation, and behavioral Consequences.
In particular, there are four predominate irrational beliefs which people use: demandingness, awfulizing, low frustration tolerance, and global evaluations. Addressing these, the ABC model incorporates Disputation of unhelpful assumptions in order to explore Effective new beliefs.
Regarding demandingness, the late psychologist who developed REBT, Albert Ellis, used the term “musturbation” to describe three major must-type demands. He stated, “There are three musts that hold us back: I must do well. You must treat me well. And the world must be easy.”
When thinking of “Master-Baby” and musturbation, I hear within my mind UTFO and Full Force singing, “MUSTur-Baby (MUSTur-Baby).” Because humor is a key feature of REBT practice, I laugh when considering this silly mental song.
One of the main reasons it’s important to use humor and connect REBT techniques to elements within songs is because doing so helps people to remember components of this psychotherapeutic modality. I suspect that if you listen to “Master-Baby” and think of musturbating, you’ll understand what I’m saying.
Thus, I’ve used psychoeducation to teach you about a useful REBT technique that can help you to stop disturbing yourself when inflexibly demanding that you must do well, others must treat you well, and that the world must be easy. MUSTur-Baby!
If you’re looking for a provider who works to help you understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.
As the world’s foremost old school hip hop REBT psychotherapist, I’m pleased to help people with an assortment of issues from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.
At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply helping you to feel better, I want to help you get better!
Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW
References:
AEI. (n.d.). About Albert Ellis, Ph.D. Albert Ellis Institute. Retrieved from https://albertellis.org/about-albert-ellis-phd/
BigPeterNOLA1086 Real Music Channel. (2020, August 1). UTFO & Full Force - Master-Baby [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/ZM6ybgSbisk?si=2uRWA6X8NAbTKpsx
Discogs. (n.d.). UTFO – Lethal. Retrieved from https://www.discogs.com/release/4760316-UTFO-Lethal
Hollings, D. (2022, October 31). Demandingness. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/demandingness
Hollings, D. (2022, March 15). Disclaimer. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/disclaimer
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Hollings, D. (2024, April 2). Four major irrational beliefs. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/four-major-irrational-beliefs
Hollings, D. (2023, October 12). Get better. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/get-better
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Hollings, D. (n.d.). Hollings Therapy, LLC [Official website]. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/
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Hollings, D. (2023, September 19). Life coaching. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/life-coaching
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Hollings, D. (2023, September 15). Psychotherapeutic modalities. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/psychotherapeutic-modalities
Hollings, D. (2022, March 24). Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT). Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/rational-emotive-behavior-therapy-rebt
Hollings, D. (2022, November 1). Self-disturbance. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/self-disturbance
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Hollings, D. (2022, November 9). The ABC model. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/the-abc-model
Hollings, D. (2022, November 15). To don a hat. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/to-don-a-hat
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Matweychuk, W. J. (2013, October 17). Three “musts” that hold us back. REBT Doctor. Retrieved from https://rebtdoctor.com/29-blog-self-help-posts-on-rebt/three-musts-that-hold-us-back
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Boombox. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boombox
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