On most days, mainstream Hip Hop is a place that makes me grimace and shake my head derisively (at the exact same time that my hips begin to gyrate and my ass demands to follow the pull of gravity.)
It’s Du Bois remixed for a new era: this inherent two-ness that Hip Hop engenders. If you’re a Hip Hop (Generation) feminist or even just a Hip Hop Head – which means at base that you listen brain first, then you understand the duality/the duplicity of the encounter, music with beats so good, and words so bad (by bad, I mean bad, not bad as in good #peacetoMJ) that you are left with an amplified sense of being “two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings, two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.”
But we stay trying to stay (put) together in this place of (un)enviable contradictions. Ever confronting our need for mutuality in a place that seemingly only begets duplicity.
Lupe Fiasco’s latest joint “BitchBad,” offers some hope, that there can be a cross-gender and cross-generational dialogue about the misogyny in the music. (You should probably listen more than once.)
In it, he masterfully weaves a story of two young people – a young boy fast becoming a man, who has gleaned his understandings of womanhood from watching his mother – a self-proclaimed “bad bitch” reveling in her ability to do for herself and her son – and a young girl, “malleable…unmentored” perhaps too quickly on her way to being grown (or thinking she is) caught up in fanciful, video-chick informed ideas of what it means to be a bad bitch.
Inevitably, the two meet.
“And he thinks she a bad bitch…and she thinks she a bad bitch/ he thinks this (dis) respectfully and she thinks of this sexually/ she got the wrong idea/ he don’t wanna fuck her/ he thinks she bad and a bitch like his mother.”
This, Lupe, let’s us know is “the fruit of the confusion.”
Thus the refrain that he hopes will bring clarity:
“Bitch Bad. Woman Good. Lady Better.”
Two warring ideals…
When it comes to contemporary womanhood, the trajectories of who we can and should be are not so easily summed up in these facile superlatives –good, better, best.
I’m not sure I aspire to ladyhood, or that my future daughter should either.
So there is that. Then there is the fact that the word bitch moved into regular rotation in my lexicon after I became a feminist. Not before.
There is also my troubled sense that for all Lupe’s trying and despite the sincerity and potential truths of his critique, it is Black women and girls who come off as the villains and not the victims here.
(Yet, we can’t seem to talk gender politics in Hip Hop without a villains and victims narrative, and that will probably persist until we realize how infrequently such narratives beget victors.)
The young man in the song gets his confusion from watching his mother uncritically sing along to the copious “Bad Bitch” anthems of our times. The young woman gets her questionable ideas about Black womanhood from paying more attention to the willing video vixens than the rappers who pay them.
In the end, the boy has a grip on “reality,” while the girl is “caught in an illusion.”
The root of the problem becomes in Lupe’s estimation, gender role confusion, wrought by Black women’s failure to parent their sons and mentor their daughters more proactively.
“Mama never dressed like that/come out the house hot mess like that/ass, titties, dressed like that/all out to impress like that.”
To be sure, disrespectability politics reign in Hip Hop. And we have left Hip Hop’s youngest generation struggling to find their way to freedom and each other, with only the narrowest of labyrinthine paths, carved out in a desert of landmines.
In these kinds of conditions, superlatives are easy.
Bitch bad. Woman good. Lady better.
I want respect. Hell, I command respect. But I don’t want to return to respectability politics. The distinction is important. Respectability politics might seem better in the short run, but in the long run they aren’t best.We can place a high value on receiving and giving respect in our interpersonal interactions, without falling into the trap of believing that changing our behaviors will have the power to transform a system that actively works against us. We become accountable for changing shit we didn’t cause. And in the process we lose sight of those who have more power to change things than we do.
Men have some power. They are not hapless victims of less-than-thoughtful mothers and confused, non-self-respecting schoolgirls. As corporations go, male rappers are Davids fighting Goliaths. But at least David saw himself as having a stake in the fight.
Clearly, so does Lupe. And in that regard, what he has done (at least in terms of the music) is summarily GOOD. There is confusion. We are all complicit. Yet, despite all the bad, at the microlevel, in our everday interactions with those under our tutelage, we can do better. Much better. Thanks to Lupe for the reminder.
Now weigh in:
What do you think of the song?
Does it elevate gender discourse in Hip Hop?
Does his attempt to invert/subvert the Bad Bitch meme in Hip Hop work?
How do we navigate our way out of the endless maze of confusion?
I think he has no right to use the word (‘I’m killing these bitches’?!) and he’s basically blaming women, black women especially, for misogyny. Epic song fail.
EXACTLY!
I think when he said he is killing these bitches he is talking about the word and the reality that comes with it. Less bitches more strong women and better ladies. He is only trying to show how the music we listen to and the music that our kids listen to affects this current generation, which is full of self disrespecting women and men. So sorry you missed the point.
Thank you, this is “EXACTLY!” right. If any of you misunderstood this it is because you are so accustomed to the word “bitches” being connected to women in general and your mind is stuck on the surface. Please THINK deeper. He is indeed bashing the word by using a common hip-hop term in a revised context.
Here’s the thing though. People have the right to identify as a bitch without the word bitch being a bad thing. Anyone who is the target of an insult has a right to reclaim that word. This goes with bitch, nigga, fag, etc. It’s a HUGE judgement call to assume that those women are self-disrespecting. They may, in fact, be extremely respecting of ALL the choices they have.
You, like a lot of other people absorbed by patriarchy, are making the mistake of assigning good and bad to women who make individual choices.
not true. who do you think hires those girls to be video vixens for rap videos? most likely male casting directors that may or may not get the “OK” to use them from the rapper. if anything both genders play the part, and that’s what he’s getting at here.
I wouldn’t say male casting directors exclusively. It’s a trope that makes money, and where there is money to be made, don’t discount anyone.
More like epic song interpretation fail…listen to it again.
if you actually listen to the song or read the lyrics he never actually mentions anything about race… and when he says he killin thses bitches i think he means the term not actually bitches.
I agree with River!
Gender politics in mainstream hip-hop is hopelessly lost. The hook “b—h bad, women good, lady better” is the same wrongheaded virgin/whore dichotomy that hip-hop has been pushing at least since Jeru put out “Da B—-s” (perhaps the biggest waste of a great beat ever). Even Lupe putting himself in the position of judging which type of woman is bad, good, or better is part of the gender privilege paradigm. Instead of another variation of “Black Girl Lost”, I’d applaud a mainstream rapper that actually challenged men for their role in the patriarchy system, but the odds of that being a major label single are as long as the odds of an anti-dope dealer anthem being a major label single. At this point, I’d be happy to see all the majors collapse, so that hip-hop goes back to being totally grassroots again. The artists were never seeing the majority of the corporate money generated anyway.
I agree with everything you say except about that stupid beat and the corporate part. No amount of corporate backing or dismissal can change the fact that these “songs” are coming from a place of pure HATE from their creators, who are Black males, and the sad fact is that TOO MANY of them simply HATE Black women & girls. So please do not try to make victims of them. We really should not care less about how much money or not is being put into the pockets of these haters of Black women & girls
love this.
YES!
Thanks for this. Whether for Lupe’s song or beyond, the questions you raise around the two-ness of feminist listening, and the problem of respectability politics, are great ones…
Lupe isn’t the first and hopefully won’t be the last to force the issue. Drake admits, “I hate calling the women bitches, but the BITCHES love it.” Jay-Z made an entire song about the differences in Blueprint 2’s “Bitches&Sistas.” As a man, it is common for us to not only know the difference but to discuss amongst ourselves, in order to educate each other; BUT THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A DISTINCTION. Well at least as long add women continue to represent themselves as these “bad bitches.”
love this too.
I would add to the conversation that in Lupe’s hook hierarchy he includes “motherhood best” which, while a respectful recognition, also insinuates a particular gender politic that equates a woman’s worth with childbearing–like having a kid will get you safely out of the cross hairs. It doesn’t.
right onnn^
Co-sign.
i haven’t heard the song, but while we don’t have to accept his hierarchy of femininity – “lady” at top etc., I’m not mad at him for bringing the conversation to the fore and perhaps , yes we have agency in this but don’t talk about it. that his mom even had to be a bitch to raise him in a harsh society and the fact that one must be a bitch to get that respect and rise on the job (being breadwinners, black women assume this role more often than our caucasian sisters). so yeah, I’m not striving to be a “lady” either but do want a humanhood that does not reward or require this hard-assness for survival.
“so yeah, I’m not striving to be a “lady” either but do want a humanhood that does not reward or require this hard-assness for survival.”<—–This! Absolutely.
I had to sign-in in just to co-sign this so much!
Wow, finally a comment I can get with. I’m a caring and loving black man reading (somewhat disappointed with the content – but oh well) and I actually liked the article and some of the conclusions and finally felt a sense of hope when I read your comment, especially this part:
“yes we have agency in this but don’t talk about it. that his mom even had to be a bitch to raise him in a harsh society and the fact that one must be a bitch to get that respect and rise on the job (being breadwinners, black women assume this role more often than our caucasian sisters). so yeah, I’m not striving to be a “lady” either but do want a humanhood that does not reward or require this hard-assness for survival.”
I went through EXACTLY this growing up and I have always asked my mom why she had to be such a hard ass growing up to which she replied to me the other day (alluding to my ALWAYS PRESENT (they didn’t divorce until after I went to college father) father):
“You want to know why I was hard on you all. I had to raise 4 boys and I saw a portion of a seed in each one of you that needed to be destroyed.
When I divorced your daddy, I actually wished that I had done it much earlier so that I could have raised you.”
My father was and is FAR from perfect but that assumes that my mother is which certainly is not the case. If the solution to correct the situation would be as she indicates, somebody, anybody help us. Unfortunately, on both sides of the aisle there is too much blame going on and so we just sit with those like us and keep piling on when in disagreement in order to see who’s more to blame.
That dichotomy might placate our hearts and feelings of self worth but it doesn’t bring about solutions at all.
lovin’ all this.
i remember when i was about 20, I’d realized I’d been going thru this bout with myself about how strong I was or wasn’t, and what that strength looked like to me, and whether people took me seriously at that age because of how i began to view my strength. Plus, a year prior I’d just “come out the closet” as its been called. So many males I encountered before that age and up to, have referred to women as bitches (however you see negatively and however you see positively) but my view on it was positive. so many males that wanted to “date” me had called me bitch because i refused them, as men. not that i just refused them, but because they labeled me as a “dyke” i was thus a bitch. ok. so many males, calling me bitch because i spoke up for myself. ok. called bitch for being honest. alright. so, when i was 20 i found this poem, titled BITCH. and its not like i didnt understand all that comes with the word, its not like i was (or am) blind to how manipulative that can be (on all sides). but when i read that poem for the first time…what BITCH had become to me, so many years up to, had been justified. if you will. so it just made me feel even more so stronger. i immediately connected that, huh-ha…that somewhere some other bitch was out there being strong too. so thats why she wrote the poem. but maybe thats my own personal dichotomy. 🙂 ha.
i associated what many were trying to make negative into my own view of positives.
and at the same time it can be, “so yeah, I’m not striving to be a “lady” either but do want a humanhood that does not reward or require this hard-assness for survival.”
I actually like this track – musically, lyrically, as a song….Overall, I have to say that I agree with the message, but I disagree with the way the message was portrayed. In my mind (in which I have just begun to understand and develop the once-miniscule feminist part of me) it is the bias in this song and the incomplete portrayal of the whole picture that bothers me more than anything. Let’s face it, there are young girls, teenage girls, and even adult women who do grow up in this illusion that a “bad bitch” is one who is fine as hell, whose hair is always laid, and who is sexually enticing. They don’t consider the intellectual prowess that some women associate with being a “bad bitch.” (In some cases, people think those two “bad bitches” are mutually exclusive.) So for Lupe to portray the young girls who grow up thinking this way is not in itself offensive to me. What bothers me is that he doesn’t portray the young boys, teenage boys, and adults males who believe the same thing and encourage that type of behavior and thought process. The pressure that most girls feel to acquiesce to the stereotypical bad bitch model does not come SOLELY from Hip-Hop itself, but also from the encouragement that their male counterparts give to this type of music and these types of images. If their peers were not making them feel like this music was the correct way of thinking, the situation would be very different. But when you are 12 years old and all your male friends walk around singing “My bitch bad…my bitch hood…my bitch do stuff that yo’ chick wish she could” young, impressionable girls feel like “Hey! *insert popular hip hop artist’s name* is right! That’s what a bad bitch is and that’s what the dudes like…That’s what I need to be like!”…then how can you blame them for coming to that “logical” (in the mind of a general 12 year old, that is) conclusion. Lupe presented the stereotypical black girl, but did not present the stereotypical black boy. That inequality is my main beef with this song.
“The pressure that most girls feel to acquiesce to the stereotypical bad bitch model does not come SOLELY from Hip-Hop itself, but also from the encouragement that their male counterparts give to this type of music and these types of images.”
Yesssssss!! I completely agree.
And that is done because they do not want to tell the young Black girl’s side of the story.
“What bothers me is that he doesn’t portray the young boys, teenage boys, and adults males who believe the same thing and encourage that type of behavior and thought process.”
^^^
you can’t fit every single detail in a song… i agree with you in some sense but not in what i quoted. Lupe shows you the male side which understands the difference… there is a need i guess to show all the behind the scenes but then again its business, he’ll probably do that on another song. I love how he broke down each verse into a different story and made people think twice about the word. As a male I find the word terribly disrespectful and really don’t associate with anyone that calls herself a “bad bitch”. I also hate how you keep referring to it as a “BLACK” thing… not you but everyone here in general. It is not a “black thing” people all around the world listen to hip-hop from the biggest cities around the world to a country as small as Fiji.
I like that the lyrics are so complex. I agree that the “video girl” image is an illusion, but if a woman wants to let her ass and titties out bc she wants to, it’s her choice. Women are capable of making a conscious decision to dress like a video ho one day and a lady the next, it doesn’t make us bad or delusional. even a self respecting woman can slut it up once in awhile and still hold her head up.
agree here too.
i just want to say, i am seriously enjoying how much dialogue (constructive it seems. i’m only half way down, buy my energy is level and positive…soooooo) this song has created. not that there aren’t many things that can create such dialogue. but i was lead to two great links online today, that makes me feel good. and also people, especially people of color, are communicating over a topic that has been long discussed. the word bitch; and its interpretations, meanings, definitions, as well as the emotions it causes.
thanks everyone.
Tight analysis! I teach hip-hop and one of the things that keeps me up at night is that even if an artist were more progressive than Lupe, and didn’t ultimately blame women for the issues listed in the song (and thank you, by the way for sharing it), I’m quite sure that my students would probably not like it because it doesn’t reiterate the aesthetic they’ve become conditioned to…
Blame the Black women & girls as usual. How original (sarcasm).
So, I do not consider myself a Hip Hop Head, but I do like this song for what he attempts to do with mainstream. I read the posting and the comments about the song; they are too harsh. I never thought I would be defending a hip hop artist, but I guess I am. The arguments posted in opposition to his song seem totally academic and I’m sorry to say but academics is erudite and exclusionary. This young man made the song for mainstream listeners, for pre-teens, and teenagers and when this is considered along with his peers, he does a great job. I respect Black feminists, I consider myself one, so I completely understand the intricacies of their arguments. However, the arguments are misplaced in this instance. What Lupe Fiasco has done with the song in today’s society is almost heavenly. I mean, producer Memphitz is pitching a show titled Real Mistresses of Atlanta and he has a full cast of women, primarily black, attached and committed to the project. Which is worst? At the risk of sounding like a pompous, privileged male, cut Lupe a break. He is growing in his artistry and thankfully has not given in to a woman bashing image that would allow him major success. So we don’t agree with his notions of a good or bad woman; at the very least, young girls who hear it identify the good and bad in the exact ways that he breaks it down in his song, and I do not think that he or 13, 14 year old girls know all of the intricacies that academics do regarding the progression, or regression, of womanhood and all of its facets. So, it is not fair to hold him accountable to those ideas. This is one of those moment’s where we have to settle for this much for the time being and hope that if and when Lupe approaches this subject in the future, he shows even more growth. GREAT JOB LUPE. I will totally buy your album if this is your lead single.
Lupe is not an uncomplicated thinker, so I think he assumes that his audiences have the capacity for nuance, hence the clever word play, and the challenging message. Why should we believe that he can get his audiences to think critically about uses of the word bitch, but that he can’t get them to think more effectively about the range of possibilities available to us as hetero women and men?
This critique could’ve been just as effective without blaming women for their poor and inattentive mothering. What is clear is that Lupe sympathizes with the male character in his song the most. The young man is confused by the conflicting messages, and as patriarchy goes, he blames women for “sending” him confusing messages rather than thinking about the mostly male rappers that put out the confusing messages in the first place. If we give the masses of folk some credit, I don’t think this is a complicated idea.
Moreover, the idea that my critique is academic just because I’m an academic is misguided. The problem with these kind of critiques is that they assume that we are academics in a vacuum devoid of connections to family members and friends who are not academic. That in fact is not the case for me or most academics I know.
That said, I liked the song. I said as much at the end of the critique. I think as Hip Hop music goes in the mainstream that it does very good work. But the standard is not “how much doesn’t he engage in stereotypes,” but rather does he provide us a new way to think, to see things, to experience them. I don’t think so. As new as it sounds to the young folks who hear it, the fact is that it is a recycling of outdated Black nationalist stereotypes about proper Black womanhood, and I think young women deserve more than bitch/lady and virgin/ho dichotomies in which to construct their lives.
The bottom line is that these men hate Black women & girls, it is no more simple or complicated than that. But what are Black women & girls to do, being stuck with a race of males who hate them? THAT is the question we should be asking and what I am concerned with.
I don’t think this song is evidence of hatred. I think he’s very concerned about hatred. The problem is he tries to solve misogyny through a reaffirmation of patriarchy and for obvious reasons that won’t work.
Crunktastic,
Is it your premise that matriarchy is the solution? I know in our community I can clearly see where patriarchy is a total fallacy but is the opposite the solution?
I’m not sure why we have to be either or and make people defined by that. To me, in some situations, a matriarchal approach may work better and in other situations, the patriarchal approach is probably best. It really depends on the individuals involved in a relationship, family, and parenting which can’t be a one size fits all approach due to the current social state of blackness in America.
Matriarchy? Lol. No. I think we should strive for partnership and equality between women and men and get rid of these notions of domination altogether.
Crunktastic,
You’re the TRUTH! I appreciate your answer to the matriarchy question in regard to partnership and dialogue and not domination. Youve consistently been thoughtful and nuanced in every post…and as the last commenter stated, it gives me hope for Black geneer dialogues.
I know our gendered, classed, sexed, colored, and every other “ed” experience shapes how we define how to resolve long-standing issues between black men and women, but I’m curious about engaging you in another regard. Would you be willing to connect with me? There’s a project I’d like to speak to you about. I can be be reached at Hasan.Johnson@gmail.com.
Hi lordamaru,
Thanks for your reply and thoughtful engagement in the comments section. If you email me at crunkfeminists@gmail.com, then we can dialogue there.
All good wishes,
Crunktastic.
Thanks crunktastic,
indeed you are quite insightful.
Sigh, SMDH.
SIGH, this is nothing more than the latest example of “I hate Black women/girls and EVERYTHING wrong/bad in the world is their fault” from the latest Black female-hating Black male rapper. It is pure GARBAGE in other words, and these Black men may as well join the damn KKK at this point because their anti-Black female hatred is just getting ever-more obvious & disgusting and our little Black girls DO NOT need to hear it!
I agree. His hatred is simply wrapped up in a nice little package of ‘I care about women sooooo much, so I’m gonna teach them how to not be hated by men instead of teaching men not to hate women’ ness. Lupe’s message is even more destructive because of how cloaked it is. It even has some feminists on board! This is NOT a feminist song; it is yet another song sung by a privileged male rapper about how everything wrong in the world is the fault of ‘bitches’, Black ‘bitches’ to be more exact. F*ck that. That is NOT what my feminism looks like. I don’t need a man to tell me what words to describe myself with so that I can be treated like an actual human being.
Ummmm what?! Do you know anything about Lupe? Lupe does NOT hate women, no matter the race. He’s consistently trying to put a positive message out there in these times of demeaning and destructive music and encourage growth in both females and males and it aggravates me to no end that he catches heat for it every single time just because people want to nitpick and interpret things in ways that will allow criticism
. For God’s sake, can we just appreciate that someone out there has good intentions while the rest rap about ass and titties? I’d understand if everyone was up in arms if this was the latest Lil Wayne song being discussed.
Moreover, he hasn’t even explained the lyrics yet and people are out here raising hell.
Just because everything else on the market is far worse does not mean that those songs which are trying to be better are immune to criticism. You’re basically saying that we should shut up and take what ever measly goodness we can get. I will not. This song, though far better than most other rap songs, puts the onus on women to save themselves from misogyny. He is saying that part of the responsibility for misogyny lies with women. Well, it doesn’t. I can dress the way I want, and call myself whatever name I want, and if men want to hate and disrespect me, that’s on them. Lupe is not some magical, hip-hop saviour whom we must all revere because he acknowledges that women are actually people. This song is problematic, no matter his intentions.
You’ve wrongfully accused black men of hating black women in every single post you’ve posted. With that said, it’s obvious that you are the one with the hatred in ya heart. Maybe you’re a bad bitch, maybe you’re one of those ppl that would rather get mad and blow hot air instead of listening, and understanding where someone is coming from. Idk. But whatever the case is, I hope you overcome it before you raise your kids with that same hatred. I’m fully aware of hire you’re going to respond, it’s cool. I understand
I’m glad I am not an artist. you can’t win for losin’.
Very true! All he’s doing is telling it from his view. Maybe we need a forward thinking female rapper to it from hers…
*crickets*
Yeah, let’s blame women again for misogyny because we don’t defend oursleves against it more vocally or voice our opinions on a large scale (because the world is sooo accepting of women’s opinions…/sarcasm). God forbid we put the blame where it actually belongs (hint: it belongs with the misogynists, even the ‘nice’ ones like Lupe).
And yet claiming victory before one has actually crossed the finish line is not #winning. It is indeed #losing. I did not, however, judge this song in such binary terms. I like it. I merely said that it isn’t as forward thinking as folks are so ready to claim it is. At best, he gets an A for effort. But effort grades won’t get you very far.
Very enlightening post.I didn’t think about it like that but now I’m giving the song a slight side eye. Although, I think the song is directed at women and how a lot of us have embraced being “bad bitches” as something to be. I don’t necessarily think a song directed at women is victim blaming anymore so than a song telling blacks to stop calling each other niggas is victim blaming. I think it can be pretty empowering. I still like the song.
First of all–I’m biased because Lupe is one of my favorite artists, and despite his flaws, I think he’s one of the most progressive & socially conscious artists out right now. That said, I didn’t see a problem with the song because he is telling his truth, and his side of the story. From an academic perspective, your criticisms are reasonable. Still, I wouldn’t have analyzed this as blaming women so much as bringing attention to the way society and hip-hop culture have created confusion in young girls and boys alike. To me the lyrics strongly imply that although the little boy has viewed “bitch” as a term of endearment, almost, for women like his mother, that in itself is an oxymoron.
If he is a bit partial to the male perspective, I think that’s to be expected. He’s a man, after all, and no matter how much he may sympathize with women, womanhood in all its complicated glory is not *his* experience. I applaud Lupe for confronting it. On the other hand, Nicki Minaj–the most influential female emcee on the scene–perpetuates the very problem Lupe addresses. “Stupid Hoe”? I mean really? An argument can be made that she somehow subverts gender norms by calling herself a “king” and having a male split personality. But at the end of the day she’s walking around in next to nothing, calling herself a bad bitch and women who diss her hoes. Her guest verses are often explicitly sexual. In short, she does the same thing most male rappers do. Men and women are both culpable for perpetuating this “bad bitch” foolishness, and I don’t think Lupe is in the wrong for pointing that out.
Still, this was an interesting read and very well presented. I love CFC because it always gives me lots of food for thought!
Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts.
I didn’t call Lupe wrong. This isn’t about right and wrong or good and bad. As I said in the post, I think the song is good. I like it and will listen to it again. And I concede that Hip Hop culture is confusing, as I also said in a couple of places in the post. But he seems to have very clear notions about who is responsible for the confusion or at least who can solve it, and for him, that’s women. I disagree, both because women have very little power in Hip Hop, since as you point out there is only one major mainstream female emcee right now and she sings songs like “Stupid Hoe.”
His perspective is limited, as you affirm in your comments, because he’s sympathetic to a male point of view. The thing is, I don’t think the male point-of-view he offers is the truth. Privileged perspectives (white, male, straight, able-bodied, etc) can never be seen as the final word on what is true when they aim to try to tell the truth about the experience of less privileged groups. In other words, when Black men tell Black women’s stories, we get a scenario in which one mom (though well-meaning) has confused her son, and a whole bunch of video vixens have provided a terrible example to impressionable young girls. This song is really about a young man trying to navigate confusing notions about young women, and Lupe’s solution is that the women should stop …being so confusing. To me that is a facile interpretation of the very reality that he claims the young man has a hold on.
And again, we agree that Nicki Minaj’s “Stupid Hoe” doesn’t help matters. But just because women are complicit in patriarchy doesn’t mean men should be let off the hook for perpetuating it.
Thanks for replying. I just respectfully disagree that this song is letting men off the hook. I heard the line you referenced as reality vs illusion go, “He caught in a reality, she caught in an illusion.” To me, that indicates they *both* have it wrong, because nobody ever gets “caught up” in the truth. You could work backwards and say his mother is to blame, but honestly in today’s environment any little boy could get that message without his mother espousing it. There are a good number of black women outside of the hoodrat/video girl stereotype, who buy into the bad bitch anthems. Now, some of them, especially those who are educated, may do so ironically but kids don’t know that. They take things at face value. So even without his mother’s influence there’s still a proliferation of mixed messages about what a bad bitch is–a trophy girlfriend or Independent Woman/DAC?
Also, the chorus didn’t make me think “respectability politics” at all.
Lupe’s music typically has multiple layers of meaning, and I think part of what he was trying to get at is the way we address women. This song (and the logo with the word bitch being crossed out) suggest we need to take it out of our vocabulary entirely because there is no respectful way to use it. Woman is marginally better–many men often refer to “these women/these females” as a way to get around it. Whereas the word “lady” has no such negative connotations.Those are just my thoughts.
By your read being caught up in reality and being caught up in an illusion must mean the same thing. But of course reality v. Illusion are two very different things, opposite things, and I don’t think the use of ‘caught up’ changes that.
Lupe seems more interested in who is misinterpreting and gaining faulty messages from the music than he is in critiquing the rappers who produce it. It’s almost as if this problematic music appears out of nowhere. Maybe Lupe thinks good mothering can counteract a world of wrongs but the problem is that he believes the converse to be true. If we find our children coming to faulty conclusions, mothers and female mentors must not be on their jobs. I take issue with that because it absolutely absolves men of the active day-to-ay responsibility to counteract messages that are largely created and distributed by men.
The debate over lady v. woman is more than a century old and is always involved in a politics of respectability. Those politics historically gave the two terms their differently valued meanings (that and the gender politics of slavery.)
“Lupe seems more interested in who is misinterpreting and gaining faulty messages from the music than he is in critiquing the rappers who produce it. It’s almost as if this problematic music appears out of nowhere.”
I think this is where it’s at. The messengers are really in the backdrop in the song when they should be at the forefront. We could even take that further in saying that the real messengers are the corporate heads who manage outcomes, don’t promote critical discourse and have no qualms profiting off destructive content.
Lu ultimately embodies the confusion, however well intentioned, that he seeks to excavate.
I couldn’t agree more about the privileged groups trying to tell the stories of those with less power. However, as I read the lyrics over, I don’t think Lupe is saying the young man’s mother showed him the wrong thing, thus, confusing him. I think he’s saying the young man grew up knowin the definition of “bad bitch” to be someone good, above average, like his mama. But this girl AIN’T good. She got her titties n ass hangin out n she’s bad (as in not good) at being a bitch. In other words, she ain’t a bad bitch (good woman) like his mama.
He’s actually sayin the lil girl w/ no parental supervision is the one who has the wrong idea of what it means to be a bad bitch. Her idea of it is surface level n what she saw in videos, as opposed to the love n stability he got growing up from the baddest bitch of them all…”motherhood”. So, he doesn’t demonize the mother of the boy, for confusing him. He’s actually sayin SHE taught her son what a real bad bitch is, but this lil’ girl watchin videos got the wrong idea of what it means to be a bad bitch.
Eh, guess I’m the only one that took the chorus and outro as purposefully ironic. Whatever.
Thanks to you for tackling this song so quickly and with such nuance.
I’m still not sure what to think of the song. I bought it after one listen despite my inner-hip-hop-snob feeling a bit underwhelmed. Lupe’s flow seemed a bit too disjointed and the hook felt cumbersome and (as has been fleshed-out above) indebted to an archaic formula of “respectability.” I confess to purchasing the song out of weakness. Weakness for an honest hip-hop; a hip-hop that tackles the ironies of self-exploitation; a defiant hip-hop that Lupe represents so well. That weakness will keep me buying his stuff, inner-hip-hop-snob be damned.
I share the doubts you and others express about whether the song elevates gender discourse, but I’ll answer in the affirmative tentatively. Let me explain: “Ahh, the plot thickens…they don’t see a paid actress, just what makes a bad b*tch….” This line, for me, qualifies as “elevation” of gender discourse, even if only a little bit. IMHO, Lupe’s gesturing towards the elephant on the hip-hop video set: the role of market incentives in vulgarizing art and culture.
I also think Lupe’s effort “works” to the extent that he intends to demonstrate how rhetorical device (“meme,” euphemism, metaphor), youth, and ignorance are powerful tools to sanitize, reconfigure, and populate cultural and structural roles like race, gender, and sexuality. It’s not Orwell, but the modern hip-hop market makes it look like it is.
I think it’s important to ask whether hip-hop music, in its modern form, is amenable to serving as *the* principal vehicle for conceptual, cultural, and political reform. I *do not* believe (contra McWhorter) that it’s “all about the beat.” However, modern hip-hop music is subject to influences and limitations that are unfit for an ideal reform medium. Combine the market incentives, the primacy of production, rhyme discipline, verse & hook discipline, the potency of spectacle and revelry culture, the materialism, the hierarchy, and the juvenile narcissist’s thirst for expression. You won’t find anything like a coherent, systematic reform agenda; instead, we get what we “pay” for. And despite the fact that your average hit single sounds like a jaunt through a corporate ad agency’s playbook, we’re reminded that, in fact, hip-hop’s an art form in the DuChampian sense — it may be good, bad, or indifferent, but it’s still art.
Hip-hop will always sustain hip-hop heads to one degree or another. If we cobble together enough people like Lupe, we might even have a soundtrack for the revolution.
I might be making too much of this (read: uhh, yeah, I am), but I feel like if hip-hop were the master medium, the crunk feminist collective would have a couple LPs out in wide, indie circulation. Instead, we’re using plain old prose, a wordpress format, and a kind of discourse ethics to critique one of the richest offerings modern hip-hop has provided. Maybe more of “us” need to be here if we’re to build a sustainable reform agenda.
Good stuff
I really believe that Lupe Fiasco is one of the very few artists who are signed to a major label and choose to discuss issues such as the misogyny in rap lyrics. Those who criticize him for this song should also listen to his other tracks that briefly touch on calling women bitches.
“Now I ain’t tryna be the greatest
I used to hate hip-hop… yup, because the women degraded
But Too $hort made me laugh, like a hypocrite I played it
A hypocrite I stated, though I only recited half
Omittin the word “bitch,” cursin I wouldn’t say it
Me and dog couldn’t relate, til a bitch I dated
Forgive my favorite word for hers and hers alike
But I learnt it from a song I heard and sorta liked”
—From Hurt Me Soul
I think that people in general can be entirely too judgmental in regards to Lupe tracks. Lu’ is one artist and this is one song and I can honestly say that as a die hard Lupe fan, he is very socially conscious and I am sure he is aware of the gender dichotomy. Does everyone honestly believe that Lu’ can save the world in less than 5 minutes on a track? Let’s be realistic. I applaud the man for being one of the few who has enough gumption to talk about that subjects that many artists choose to ignore for sake of the same criticism that people come at Lupe with.
But who asked him to save the world? Who discounted his career? I didn’t. The post didn’t. I’m a Lupe fan. He is one of the few mainstream artists whose work I still buy. Liking him and appreciating his social consciousness doesn’t preclude the critique. One way to show respect for the seriousness of an artist’s work is to actually have the conversation that the art invites us to have. That’s what I’m doing here. Like it or not.
I wasn’t trying to discredit your “interpretation” I was speaking to the negativity that you have voiced in regards to Lupe using victim blaming which I do not believe is the case. What would you have rather had said in the song to make it “ok” by your standards? That is what I am asking. Music with a purpose definitely should most definitely initiate intellectual conversation/debate. However, I feel as though Lupe doesn’t get enough credit where it counts, so I voiced my opinion. No salt thrown, just a matter of opinion.
I’m not a rapper so me telling him how to correct his art would be absurd. I do my creating here and in my day job. That said, it’s not about it not being okay. Like I said in the post, the effort is sincere and likable. I think he victim blames. You and I disagree. But to the extent that this is what I think, the obvious answer is that he shouldn’t victim blame.
Beyond that, I think I tried to offer a measured critique here. But it sounds like you’d take issue with any critique of Lupe, bc he’s one of the good guys. I really do get how annoying it is when feminist critics seem to take issue with everything because it seems like nothing is ever good enough. But for me, it’s about acknowledging that we can have critiques and still get pleasure from the things we take issue with. It’s not all or nothing bc that is not human or realistic. But sometimes the most insidious forms of patriarchy masquerade as things that are positive for women, and we have a responsibility to call it out. That said, I’m still a Lupe fan.
I love Lupe and I support his music and movement . This song is telling the youth to wake up, and gain some self respect. We are more than our images, we have minds, we should use them.
Ive been a fan of Lupe since I was in Grade 7! I am now 20 years old and I am working toward a B.A in Communication Studies. Growing up, listening to Lupe, I have always been criticized on why I chose him over the other ‘Top 5’ rappers of our day/generation. People wrote him off as too ‘conplex’ and categorized him as dictionary rap (true story) However, I continued to listen and read between the lines of his lyricism. I may be biased but Lupe Fiasco’s music is much needed and appreciated by his fans! He says things that go over your head and make you replay the track about 2-3 times to get close of an idea of what he was thinking when he created the piece! Now “Bitch Bad” isn’t the first time Lupe challenged the public on issues or trends in our personal lives and mainstream music. Cue “Little Weapon” off “The Cool” when he spoke about child soldiers way before the “Kony 2012” craze and sensationalism and “He Say, She Say” speaking about missing fathers and the women being there raising their children alone or with little support. Lupe has always expressed himself through his music like any ‘great’ artist should, so when I heard “Bitch Bad” I was ecstatic. These young girls got their moral code all mixed up! Instead of striving to be Much More (a song by Lupe I love) they are belittling themselves! Not to blame their parents, because even with a support structure (two parent home or a fabolous single parent ) children still stray and get influenced easily by commercialism and materialism – (A issue which Lupe addresses in “Hurt Me Soul”) Hence, the crazy trend with Christian L’s. Now I would never call myself a “Bad Bitch” because I am way more than a ‘hot term’ of the moment and I think Lupe does an extraordinary job of addressing and discussing this with his lyrics! Last but not least, people need to stop letting the radio and television raise their children. The consequences are heavy! PS: I enjoyed this article very much! Sincerely, @wannajean!
The way I understood the song was that Lupe was pointing out that a woman was calling herself a bad bitch singing along to a song that was created by a man calling women bad bitches, and the little girl only turns her attention to the video girls after the man gives them the impression that being a bad bitch is a good thing. So to say that Lupe is ignoring the man’s role in creating this idea is completely off base because it all started with women listening to songs calling them bad bitches. He is not blaming women for this at all if you really look at it on a deeper level he is blaming the men who make the songs because if it were not for the songs lyrics the women would not be fooled into the idea that it is good to be a bad bitch. Also the hook isnt saying that one woman is better than the other it is saying its bad to call yourself a bitch because that is a term that holds women down and doesnt lift them up.
I don’t think it’s blaming the women. I think it’s saying that this concept is so ingrained in the culture that even women perpetrate a message of hatred towards women. Also, the “woman good, lady better” bit is not passing judgement on women, quite the opposite. It’s saying that, no matter the woman, don’t call her a bitch, call her a woman, or better yet a lady.
Also, I’m pretty sure “I’m killing these bitches” is meant ironically, or perhaps that he’s killing the word.
I have followed most of his work and I can safely say that he doesn’t solely blame females for this issue. He has addressed how men contribute to the misguided views of today’s generation. This is an issue that can’t be addressed in three verses. I know one song in particular where he tells the typical story of a father that’s not really there for his son and it could be the same characters mentioned in this song. That song is in Food and liquor and this single is F&L 2 which is a continuation. So it maybe very likely that he has tried to address the multiple viewpoints that have correctly been pointed out.
As far as Hip- I think this one might just catapult Lupe into the realm of master artist. The way he weaves his story is reminiscent of “I Used to Love H.E.R.” This is amazing for Hip-Hop which is feeling a little stagnant at best. Now as far as you’re critique on the greater socio-political aspect/impact of BitchBad. I Love that you take him to task. We so need discourse about the ideas presented in our music and the culture of our community. It’s the only way to ensure our growth and continued evolution; not to mention that of those that follow us. You being a feminist and I being a lover of all things feminine. I don’t follow your assertion that somehow in your actions you don’t have the power to make effective change? As a woman in a culture that lacks an abundance of strong positive male influence. Unfairly, it has squarely landed on the shoulders of womanhood to raise another generation of men and women to respect themselves and others. You are powerful beyond belief! I don’t know Lupe’s nor your interpretation of what a Lady is, but I don’t see how being one especially in the public eye could be wrong. When I think of a Lady I envision intelligence, strength, and poise. All these things only make a women stronger! I Loved your article keep giving them something to think about. Hopefully, Lupe’s next masterpiece will be about the male role in the strong misogyny that litters and pollutes Hip-Hop.
Regards,
Dorian
I heard him say nothing about black woman and girls. I don’t see him blaming the women for the confusion neither. Most of you all forget the fact that the boy’s mother would sing the song that uses the word bitch. I don’t think he is blaming any gender but he is just showing the confusion of the word bitch that is within the hip hop culture. Also, it’s a song so he can’t put a every single scenario in it. I think he is just showing that a boy growing up can think of the word differently. Lupe is not one track minded like most of the listeners. Im sure he could switch up the story but chose this one. I love the song but women stop being so damn sensitive to it. Put aside personal feelings and just enjoy the song and stop claiming lupe is trying to judge women and girls for the boys’ confusion. I sure thats not the case. In the song maybe but he is a story teller.
First off, people tend to look too deep into lupes records, the story he weaves all have simple premises. It is either political, social, cultural, historical, gender, economical, personal, about the music indistry etc. Now, with that being said this track is focusing solely on Black culture and how the music industry is assisting with the widespread misuse/misinterpretation of the word “bitch”. Remember at it’s core, it is about a female dog, then it morphed into a negative connotation, now it has a positive spin, but the things attributed to it is derogatory toward women of any ethnicity and creed, its just more prevalently used in the black community. The blame could be placed on various factions, on the micro and macro level (peers, families, community, school, environment, t.v, musicians, corporations the list goes on..) point is, we as a society and culture have to stop this! Nothing is good about being a bad bitch, a bitch, dressing scandalously, talking rude, being disrespectful, being a single parent, having your priorities confused, letting your child go unsupervised, not having an active role in their life I could go forever. And all of the above is associated with a “bad bitch”. We have to become a cohesive force that can collectively put an end to this positive meaning, when really it’s negative. Not a compliment, an insult but in today’s social and cultural climate, with the powers to be, and our individualistic demeanors, NOTHIN’ will change ultimately. But it can start at your home..nobody can control that environment, but you!
I’ve been scrolling through these comments and the one thing I noticed that was criticized the most was that Lupe does not point out that the father has a responsibility too. I would like to assure you that this is only one song and one perspective and if you want to hear more of his thoughts on the issue listen to his song caled “He Say She Say”.
Good point…although I wanted him to do more with his analysis in this song, you’re right. Only so much can happen in one song, and his catalog is vast in scope and nuance.
The irony was not lost on me that I heard this song for the first time today and when I did a search for more info/opinions on the song, my first hit was on “Crunk Feminist”! Wait, is that the “crunk” that means “always high on chronic and drunk on alchol” feminist, or the “having a real good time by getting crazy and drunk” feminist or the feminist that likes the “type of music Lil Jon was making back in the day”? So, I chuckled when i thought, no wonder our kids might be a little confused by our penchant for dichotomy in the use of certain words like “bad”, “bitch”, “nigger” and perhaps now even the words we make up like “crunk”! Does that make this “Crunk Feminist” blog bad?! No, quite the opposite and the same can be said for “Bitch Bad”!
The fact that we are having discourse on this topic in late June/early July of 2012 is good, if not predictably late, as usual! Even though we didn’t say it outright I think we are still grateful to Lupe for providing the platform for such worthy discourse, but yet again, we are still willing to “kill the messenger”!
And yet, I said thanks to Lupe for the song in the last paragraph, after I said it did good work, and reminded us all of the need to do better. How that is killing the messenger just because I don’t agree with the song 100% is beyond me. As far as our use of “Crunk,” you can read the mission statement on the home page if you’re interested.
Thanks for reading.
I did like the song, however my concerns were the same as many other posters here. I felt that though he alluded to the messages being played on the radio, he ultimately placed the blame at the foot of Black women, not at the music industry which profits off the exploitation of minorities, including women, and not at the Black men who also seek to profit from the exploitation of people in their communities, which also includes Black women. it’s almost like blaming a robbery victim for the crime committed against them, instead of blaming the perpetrator and the society which allows and even encourages crime to flourish. I also didn’t like how he placed a hierarchy upon womanhood, where a bitch is “bad,” but ultimately a lady is “better.”
I believe that the end goal of the fight to abolish most forms of oppressions is not just to increase opportunity, but for the oppressed to take back the ability to shape and create their own personhoods free from judgement and slander. After all, why is a sexually enticing or available woman a shameful thing, but a man who has sex with lots of women considered “normal?” We have become so accustomed to defining womanhood, that we have yet to consider WHY we are doing so. We are so busy chastising women for their behavior we haven’t critically analyzed the system that allows this. I’m not sure who posted this, but someone said such a critique ran afoul of the reality of everyday people and came off as academic. Well as a Black woman who is constantly told how to dress, how to act, how to think, how to BE I feel this is MY reality. It’s not academic, it’s the truth.
Black women are constantly derided no matter what we do. I think this song would have been more powerful if it addressed the gaping chasm between black men and women that is sexism, consumerism and exploitative voyeurism.
In the time we now live the negatives of yester year are no longer frowned upon or looked at as being utterly unacceptable, for example infidelity has become seen as common today this leading to a very high divorce rate, children born out of wedlock which forces the woman (9x out of 10) to have to perform both roles as mother and father, leading her to believe herself to be a “BAD BITCH” (not a strong woman) for being able to play both roles and provide for herself and offspring without the help of the father or a man in general. The word BITCH once looked at as a term of utmost disrespect, is now looked at as both, a term of endearment and disrespect. With that being said it is not fair to bash Lupe for using his craft (hiphop) to try and alienate a word (that has become so acceptable yet so disrespectful by women and men alike) in a manor in which he hoped to prove the word as being unacceptable. You must first understand the artist to get his point!
True hip hop he has a message thats worth listening 2 unlike most of the bs that just got a good beat but the words don’t means nun. Music controls ppl sad 2 say its mostly the bad. Ppl don’t think 4 themselves any mo. I c this and im only 22