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hilairedeclaire · 7 years

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THIS “HUMBLE” MESS - Hypocrisy and Stretchmarks.

I couldn’t do this in a thread. I just couldn’t. Twitter is a minefield and no-one is seeing sense. Team SJW & Team #KingKunta are throttling one another & my position as a hip-hop loving feminist has once again been... difficult.

First of all, I think it’s crazy ironic that I actually annotated and edited the line directly after the controversial one on Genius. Kendrick seemingly points out he’s tired of photoshop and wants to see women in a more “natural” state. Seemingly harmless right? Seemingly, but he is (as many people point out) actively policing black women’s bodies. This comes with a fun colourism angle, as BM certainly value some shades of “natural” more than others (See the Keke Palmer vs Alicia Keys ‘no makeup’ debate).. Calling K.Dot colourist is a stretchhh but he did himself no favours flaunting a girl with long 3C hair and the complexion of peanut butter.

I am not in favour of this policing crap, yet many claim that Kendrick like J Cole, is a woke/ conscious rapper in every aspect - except they identify (black) women as purely visual or sexual entities. Having listened to both rappers extensively I can confirm that this is only partly true (35% if we’re being clinical).

The truth is these rappers are held to an impossible standard in hiphop compared to their peers and deep down it’s tough because I feel they do know better (and there are a lot of receipts to prove it). But what annoys me about this bullshit is that we sit and debate the ‘wokeness’ of T.W.O rappers, crucifying them whilst the rest of the industry is soaked in misogynoir.

If we’re gonna win the battle, we can’t just shoot down the two voices capable of ONE DAY possibly speaking up for us. This witch-hunt is short-sighted at best, moronic at worst because black men will fight for Kendrick like the Beyhive & we know there’s no ceasefire when it comes to Bey.

Should we let Kendrick get a pass? No. But neither should Future, Migos, Young Thug, that XXXTentacles bloke, Kodak Black, Lil Uzi Vert... I could go on FOREVER. We need to remember one thing. Hip-hop was never designed with black women in mind. We find our spaces, our lanes, our voices but it’s a black, male product that I have studied at lengthhhh. There’s a shitload of interesting theory as to why black men portray us in the ways they do. A power play, a fight against their own insecurities; hypermasculinity at its worst.

Do I wish our most conscious rappers would become woke on gender politics and turn the genre inside out overnight? Sure, am I silly enough to think it’s gonna happen in the next week? Of course not. Instead of this eternal dragging lets calmly educate Kendrick and Cole & hope they take it on board to decolonise the masses. After all, they’re both raising (or planning on raising) black women and know the implications of that.

ROME WASN’T BUILT IN A DAY SIS. Let’s exercise a little patience. Or at least divert the energy and uplift artists that truly have their shit together before April 7th.

FIN.

#kendricklamar humble hiphop feminism misogynoir colourism stretchmarks patience April7th wokeness conscious

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