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WOMANISM

Why Do "Rappers" Feel the Need to Belittle Black Women?

A punchline about Megan Thee Stallion opens up the conversation

Dr. Allison Wiltz
ZORA
Published in
5 min readNov 6, 2022

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A Woman in Pink Spaghetti Strap Dress | Photo by Polina Tankilevitch via Pexels

When Drake's new album, Her Loss, dropped over the weekend, his fans tuned in to hear his signature low tempo and melancholy vocals but got more than they bargained for. While the former Degrassi star is no stranger to controversy, and many expected his new project with 21 Savage to stir the pot, it's clear his joke about Meghan Thee Stallion in the song Circo Loco was delivered in poor taste.

In Hip-Hop, rappers often use Black women as a punchline, typically to diminish their sexual relationships with men, entice them to engage in promiscuous activities, or fetishize non-Black women — it's all misogynoiristic tongue in cheek. However, in Circo Loco, Drake commented on a domestic violence incident in which Grammy-award-winning artist Meghan Thee Stallion accused Torey Lanez of shooting her in July 2020. One source told Complex that after an argument, Meghan decided to walk home, and Torey pulled out a gun, saying, "dance, bitch, dance," before shooting her; he's been charged with assault and weapons charges. The judge, in this case, has placed Torey Lanez, whose real name is Daystar Peterson, on house arrest until the trial begins. And even though the story sounds pretty cut-and-dry, someone shot an unarmed Black woman, the response from the Black community has frayed.

In the immediate aftermath, artists like Rick Ross were quick to offer support, pointing out that, out of respect for Breonna Taylor, an unarmed woman killed by police officers serving a no-knock warrant, Torey Lanez should have handled the charges with more grace and humility. Instead, Peterson capitalized off the incident and put out projects that mocked the woman he allegedly shot. Other rappers like 50-Cent added salt to an already festering wound, posting a meme of Megan Thee Stallion running away from Torey as he pursued her in a car with the shadow of a gun. While 50-Cent offered an apology, the disrespectful, dehumanizing jokes that followed Meghan's shooting showed that some Black men willingly took Torey's side. Is it because these men believe Torey's innocent or is it that violence and disrespect against Black women get a pass in the industry? — They wouldn't…

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ZORA
ZORA

Published in ZORA

A publication from Medium that centers the stories, poetry, essays and thoughts of women of color.

Dr. Allison Wiltz
Dr. Allison Wiltz

Written by Dr. Allison Wiltz

Black womanist scholar with a PhD from New Orleans, LA with bylines in Oprah Daily, Momentum, ZORA, Cultured. #WEOC Founder

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