In the latest issue of “my blues ain’t like yours,” a recent article on Vice magazine’s Noisy site, entitled “Why Are You So Intimidated By Girls Liking Rap Music” chronicled the plight of women who love rap music only to have their love of the genre “questioned” by concerned males.
Initially, when I saw the title I assumed it was yet another article about the plight of female rappers and their quest to earn the same respect, accolades, dollars, fame and credibility as their male peers. I was expecting some heated exchange about Iggy Azalea or Azaelia Banks or Angel Haze and the legion of indie rap queens trying to get put on against the overall dismissiveness some rap consumers – male and female – have towards a female MC. Mostly because the bar is so impossibly high. Couldn’t pull a Mis-Education of Lauryn Hill out of your ass on the first shot?
Floppity-flop-flop-flop they’ll say, even if you sell out arenas. To make it in the current rap game as a lady person you have to be a genius and look like you could be your own video vixen.
But instead I got a whole other problem I (initially) could not relate to:
From Vice:
(A)s with any Boys’ Club, being a female rap diehard means being repeatedly affronted as to whether your interest can possibly be serious and, if so, what are the ulterior motives behind your interest (namely, it seems, to get boys to think you’re cool). The amount of times I’ve been challenged by men who can’t wrap their feeble minds around the fact that, yes, I actually listen to Gunplay and can probably school their ass on #DeepGunplayMixtapeCuts continues to amaze me. Worse than incredulity, though, is the patronizing pat on the back for somehow overcoming my tragic vaginal handicap that prevents women from hearing music in the same way that men do—”Aw, you like Flocka, that’s so cute!” or, “Wow, you’re so different from other girls!” Really? How often do you speak to girls?
After reading the article twice to make sure I understood what was happening here, I realized that I was not reading an article about Black people, gender and rap music, but White people, what some White men think of Black men and rap music, and then trying to be all “No Girlz Allowed” in their Honey Comb Hideout of United A$AP Rocky Stans of America.
