Here I am, ten days late. I’ll hopefully have some more articles soon, but for now I just have some thoughts about female rap music and a mix. Happy May!!
It’s so… dehumanizing.
This is what one of my male friends said to me in high school once when I played “Freak Nasty” by Megan Thee Stallion.
Women’s obsession and men’s subsequent rejection of female rap music has made it of peak interest to me for years now. I’ve spent the past four months working on a term paper for a history course in which I wrote about the history of women in hip-hop and how they shaped modern views of female sexuality. I’ll spare you the details and the random journal articles I pored over for weeks on end, but it did get me wondering why all of the sudden I went from being nauseated by female rap music to it becoming a staple in my daily rotations.
You don’t have to have severe sexual or religious trauma to feel strangely about talking about sex. Hell, most young American women were told in sex-ed that they’re like a piece of tape which loses its adhesivity with every touch. I was given a “V-card” at the ripe age of 14 while the boys in my class were taught how to use condoms. Pretty early on, girls are taught their worth is tied— at least somewhat significantly— to their sexual identity.
When that is exploited in any way (which it almost always is), whether that be by an ex-boyfriend, a creep in a position of power, or a drive-by cat call, an underbelly is exposed. One you were probably not even aware of prior to that moment. And that is when you feel like you lose some sort of control.
To put it simply, I think this is why I love hypersexual female rappers so much (often their discographies are far richer than just sex, but that’s not a fight for this little post). They give me permission to interact with the obscene in a controlled way. Not only is it an opportunity to bond with other women and to talk more freely about sex, but it’s also just fun. It’s humorous, witty, and at times plainly joyful.
My friend’s comment is entirely valid. Yes, many female rappers often degrade their male partners. They reduce them to bodies. To banks. To phone numbers robbed of identity.
Lady friends… does that reduction sound familiar?
I have a deeper understanding and appreciation for the decades worth of women in hip-hop, but this is my primary takeaway. When girls are told they’re like pieces of tape, you can’t get pissed off when they decide to rip a patch of hair out later.
The mix this month is surprisingly not exclusively female rappers (this is close though). Rocka’s May Repeats is perfect for a road trip and has a mix of some 90s R&B, some new mynameisntjmack, and the spotlight track is “Let’s Take a Walk” by Raphael Saadiq. “Let’s Take a Walk” was released in 2008 but has such a timeless groove to it. Check out the full mix here.
Rocka out,
Ally