Last weekend, a clip began to circulate of 50 Cent on Lil Wayne’s radio show where he was ranting about Black women’s reaction to him dating “exotic women”, which kicked off a stream of consciousness that is very difficult to follow. Here’s some of what he said: 

“When I use the terminology “hoe” I mean she’s functioning like a single male, same as a man, so this bitch is playing spades. She’s thinking she can do it.”

 

Then he starts talking about pulling up and seeing Ferraris at a woman’s house: 

“Ok so the Ferrari don’t mean nothing…they got everything. They already have it. OK cool, now you look at her different but guess what she wants? She wants the same the girls who look like us want: stability. It’s just her circumstances made her feel like she wasn’t not conscious of it because she already had it. You see what I’m saying? And I look and I go yo, this is why they get mad, they get angry, you see a lot of sisters they go, oh you f-cking with this kind of girl or that kind of girl … that sh-t is exotic! That sh-t looks a lot different from the sh-t you see in the neighborhood all the time. That sh-t look like it come off a boat, you don’t like that? Whats the matter with you? It feels like something foreign, it feels like something you can’t just get. In some kind of ways, it is interesting. But they [Black women] get angry. 'How did you end up with this motherf-cker?' I’m like, 'Huh?' And then my instincts always make me defensive, so I look at it like 'look at this angry Black motherf-cker. Get the f-ck out of here, trying to f-ck up the whole vibe.”

Lil Wayne is laughing and agreeing the whole time. 

This slut shaming and misogyny, followed by the reenactment of some kind of cockblock is gross, obviously, anecdotal or not. I’m glad that he mentioned that he is talking about Black women looking at him and Lil Wayne because he’s telling on himself. These men literally came from Black women but here they are, insulting them. Insulting us. 

Fortunately, the backlash was swift. And it’s worth noting that it hasn’t always been, especially in the hip-hop space. I written previously about misogynoir in hip-hop here; Black men being responsible for the uplifting of non-Black women as the primary beauty aesthetic here; and rappers like YG and Kodak Black and others throwing Black women under the bus to celebrate the aesthetic of non-Black women and degrading Black women here. The fact is, rappers do this all the time. Lil Wayne and 50 Cent have a documented past doing this. This is far past the excuse of them expressing a preference, but that excuse is still being used and I’m grateful it’s not working. 

 

This is a time for Black men to be accountable for the unjustified, colorist, and hurtful practice of classifying and demeaning Black women. As Janelle Monae tweeted: 

Exactly. Women (Black women in particular) have been betrayed by too many men for far too long. Y’all can’t wait to call every woman a bitch or hoe, discuss violent acts against women etc for clout in rap, rock, and throughout music history. Women didn’t create misogyny, y’all did. But the systems that enable patriarchy and abusers of power are now burning. Either bring gasoline or burn with them. 

What Janelle is also saying here is that you can love someone and STILL hold them accountable. Love isn’t independent of accountability. They can go hand and hand. And she would know because this is her industry. It’s clear she’s tired, Black women are tired, because this is a unique betrayal to Black women that we are so used to and 50 and Lil Wayne’s thoughtless words just become another painful reminder because as two of the biggest names in hip-hop, they’ve been perpetuating this bullsh-t for years. Lil Wayne has countless lyrics proudly declaring his preference for lighter skinned non-Black women. Like:

"Beautiful Black women, I bet that bitch look better red”

And:

 “I like a long-haired, thick redbone” 

There are so many more. Lil Wayne has a daughter, Reginae. How do you think she feels about this? In response to the backlash on Twitter, Reginae had something to say:

 

“I’m black ! I’m beautiful ! I’m enough ! I’m exotic ! I’m amazing ! I’m one of a mf kind !!!! Now where my black beautiful Queens at ? 

This is great but it’s also really sad. Lil Wayne is her father, why is she educating him and the world about this? I understand parents can also take lessons from their children, but this shouldn’t be a lesson a daughter passes onto a father, and it reminds me of T.I.’s comments about his daughter’s hymen; that fallout is playing out in his reality show, T.I & Tiny: Friends & Family Hustle. His daughter Deyjah is hurt, she’s a victim of her father’s misogyny and ignorance, and has to spend her emotional intelligence trying to express her feelings and her worth to the person who should honour her the most. Once again, it’s the women who are insulted the most by men like Lil Wayne, T.I., and 50 Cent who have to do the work to education them, when they’ve already been doing the work to support them to this point in their careers.

This week, posting to celebrate his birthday, 50 Cent’s girlfriend Cuban Link addressed the controversy, saying: 

'...don’t worry ladies, I already knocked him upside his big ass head 👊🏽😒 Happy Birthday My Love 💪🏽'.

How is it the job of Black women to do this though? Misogyny has NEVER been okay yet it has become normalized. Why can’t 50 and Lil Wayne and all the other men, why can’t THEY DO THE WORK to ABOLISH IT?