As you can probably tell by the date of this post, it's been quite awhile since I've posted anything. Not that I haven't had much inspiration since there is so much greatness and chaos happening domestically and globally. However, this morning I'm all hot and bothered. No, not by some fleeting sensation of sexual arousal or by a sale of beautiful shoes in my size I could walk in. This feeling stems from the continued assault on my character as a Black woman, and from the fact that my sisters--young and old--are content with and even complicit in it.
These next few paragraphs are going to be successive shotgun blasts aimed directly at my targets for discussion. I'll start them off with a brief missive:
Dear Hip-Hop and R&B:
If you are mainstream, I'm 'quitting' you. That's an ebonic colloquialism for us no longer being in a relationship. It's quite an artistic trauma since you have probably been my one of my longest and most intimate relationships. How can you get me back? Maybe if you stop calling me a bitch, I'll buy more of your records.
Sincerely,
A Former Fan
A friend of mine posted a Facebook status related to the topic of the pervasive use of the phrase "poppin' mollies" in newer artists' rhymes. Briefly, a "molly" is essentially a drug cocktail that features MDMA--the same chemical compound found in methamphetamine. It has similar hallucinogenic effects to ecstacy and other compounds in that drug class, and it's usage is growing more popular among teens and young adults. The reference to this drug in many rap tracks is intimately tied to sexual assault secondary to the disinhibition that often occurs with its use as a side effect. Many "rappers"--male and female--glorify the use of this drug for the express purpose of rendering the user unable to consent to having sex in various forms. Some lyrics go so far as to overtly state that rape is an acceptable means of acting out sexual fantasies.
Have these musical genres so lost control of their brand that it can no longer police their artists? Rap is the often the whipping boy for these conversations, but R&B (rhythm and blues) is just as guilty. As a child and teenager, I listened to various forms of hip-hop. The most controversial form of hip-hop in its early evolution was 'gangsta rap.' This form of rap (though other tracks like it predated the label) told stories of drug selling and use, of the desire to maim and kill members of law enforcement, and openly called women 'bitches' and 'hos' as part of the account of their sexual exploits. Though their accounts of street life in many cases were accurate, these groups suffered a tremendous backlash from community leaders, clergy (of course), and literature and popular culture academics. Many took to the streets in protest, and radio stations across the nation that were bold enough to play edited versions of these songs were firmly admonished. However, even in its most raw forms, I had not heard lyrics that openly advocated the distribution of any drug without consent for creating an opportunity for sexual assault! That level of oversight is dangerously absent, and the discourse about it has been reserved for the pop culture academic elite. That will be a later shotgun blast. All lyrics referencing drug uses and lewd and lascivious sexual acts were assumed to be between consenting parties. Whether or not you agree with any accounts of street life from NWA (Niggas With Attitudes) or Too Short, there is a clear distinction between someone consenting to sex and rape. That line is becoming more blurred for artists and fans, and there has been very little willingness to articulate these very important distinctions. Illicit drug use and rape are criminal acts that carry stiff legal penalties. Consensual sex is not a crime, though it often comes with a penalty of moral judgement. Shotgun blast #1.
The profit from offensive lyrics arises more from intrigue than artistry. Profiteers love to cloak the denigration of groups of people in these songs in the First Amendment. However, I see young girls taking their cues from grown women and bobbin' their heads to these songs as if in agreement. One of the byproducts of the narrowing age gap between generations is the love of similar music genres. I admittedly dance wildly to some popular songs with little regard to substance. I mean, who doesn't like a catchy beat? But it's one thing for me to dance to "Can't Hold Us" by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis as opposed to the latest songs by Drake or Lil' Wayne basically telling how they confiscate the ass by any means necessary. The only 'bad bitch' is a female dog that chews on your Jimmy Choo shoes. But we as women have become so enamoured with the idea of being 'molly-poppin' bad bitches that are down for whateva' that we liberally label ourselves as such, and teach the next generation of women to do the same. This isn't a fight that's race and class differentiated anymore since hip-hop is part of global popular culture. Shotgun blast #3. What's worse is that we as women are complicit in becoming the overseers to the slavemasters of recording executives, purveyors of the wanton denigration of ourselves for all the world to see. Beyonce, Nicki Minaj, and their ilk illustrate my point. Their popularity has soared among men and women as a result of their solipsism and demagoguery, with the primary themes being the desirability of themselves to men and being the envy of women. It would be an interesting qualitative study to confirm which of these themes resonates with men versus women. My guess is that women mislabel the desirability and envy aspect as female empowerment, and that men just like having an on-demand fantasy girl that exhibits qualities they would never attract in real life. But the disturbing trend here is the lack of advocacy for ourselves in our art, in our music, and in our politics. Shotgun blast #4.
Being an academic-in-training, I'm privy to intellectual discourse on a variety of topics. I have attended many talks on a variety of womanist topics. Though I am happy to be in a room where these conversations are happening at the highest levels of intellectualism, they are so esoteric that they obviate grassroots advocacy in communities that are the most vulnerable. Furthermore, the pervasive references to drug use and sexual assault are not central themes of these discussions, though the topics is addressed in the few academic texts that give a damn. The best intellectuals make their complex subject matter digestible to the masses. Shotgun blast #5. Long before the ascendance of popular culture academics like Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, Dr. Cornell West, or Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall, there was Dr. King who, in partnership with local leadership, was able to articulate some of the very complex aspects of civil rights and non-violent resistance to masses of people at various educational levels. The overarching message of basic civil rights under the U.S. Constitution was clear and received by the majority, whether or not they agreed and/or participated. Discussions on the topic of the unabashed character assault on women to the point of advocating criminal activity should be held to the same standard because the stakes are just as high! To treat this very important topic as a dialectic reserved only for the Black intelligentsia is intellectually irresponsible at best, and dangerous at worst. People have the right to know who their oppressors are and the form of oppression they are being subject to. It is not up to us to determine pre-conversation that people will ignore what we say, or even worse, are not intellectually capable of understanding what we say. Nor is it our responsibility to determine if and how one receives our statements. It is, however, our responsibility to identify the oppressors and forms of oppression, even if it means pointing the finger directly at ourselves. Though I don't advocate for the use of guns, metaphorically speaking, it's way past time that we all got one and take aim at this nonsense. One.
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