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| Rick Ross for Reebok |
Rick Ross' rape lyric in UOENO:
''Put Molly all up in her champagne, she ain't even know it, I took her home and I enjoyed that, she ain't even know it''.
According to Urbandictionary.com, Molly is defined as:
The purest form of ecstasy (MDMA).It's safe to say that in Rick Ross' lyric, he was using it as a date-rape drug.
Since the backlash occurred, Rick Ross was dropped by Reebok. Rick Ross has since then apologised. Late apologies lose its sincerity.
Rick Ross' apology consisted of pretty much blaming everyone else and saying sorry for the sake of saying sorry. According to him, we have all misinterpreted his lyrics. Rick Ross, we are not stupid. We read it. There is no subliminal message or figurative speech behind it.
A few rappers came out of the woodworks to show their support for Ross, here is what Drake had to say:
"That situation the other day with the Rocko song was a big wake-up call for all of us. Like, rap is important. The world is listening, this is a wake-up call. If you're going to say something that's going to put you at risk, make sure it's a message worth fighting for. I know Rick Ross very well, by all means I don't mean to speak on another man's situation, but it just, for me, it clicked. ... Watching Pac, he felt like that message was worth fighting for. And in this day and age, he would have lost corporate sponsorship and he would have lost money but at the end of the day, that message was important for him. It's just a wake-up call, man, and just realizing more to it." ("East Village Radio")What a classical move; victimise the perpetrator.
So rape is a message that is worth fighting for? How is complete thirst for dominance over another human-being a message that is worth fighting for?
A message that is worth fighting for is the freedom for the Palestinians in Israel, or justice for Trayvon Martin, or a protest concerning the stop and frisk searches in New York. Promoting rape is not a message that should ever, ever, ever be promoted, Audrey.
And dropping Pac's name in a paragraph about Rick Ross? Rick Ross isn't even worthy of being mentioned in the same sentence as Pac. Rick Ross isn't fighting for anything except for the freedom to be a fucking dick.
Tyga:
On Ross' verse on the Rocko song "U.O.E.N.O.", Tyga felt the situation was blown out of proportion. "It's freedom of speech," he said, "I mean it wasn't even his record." The rapper expressed that those criticizing Ross probably don't actually know all that much about him. "I mean activists, and all those righteous groups. That's what they do, they probably don't even listen to Ross's music. I know they don't know who Rocko is." he said, concluding that "they're just finding anything they can." (Hot New Hip Hop)Rapping about rape is not freedom of speech. In fact, obscenity is not covered by freedom of speech. You were not given 1st Amendment rights to preach about rape.
No one has to know Rick Ross or listen to his music to know what he said was revolting. Bye Tyga.
Meek Mill:
"I don't even care about nobody criticizing no lyrics. People rap about killing stuff all day.Biggie said, "Rape your kid, throw her over the bridge" back then, it was nothing, it was just hip-hop. Now you got all these weirdos on these social sites voicing their opinion about something anybody say. I don't care, you know what I'm saying? I'm from the hood. I never really cared about what nobody say in no rap. Rap's always been talking about killing, drugs, all types of stuff. You know what I'm saying? So you can't just criticize no one thing nobody say. It's imaginary visual. If a writer write about somebody getting raped in a movie, that mean he a rapist or he want girls to get raped? No, he just wrote about that in a movie. [Eminemtalked about] you can kill your mom, kill your baby mom, rape her, tie her up. ... It's just different now. People can voice their opinion on a social site and become popular and people are turning it into any thing. Me? I don't care about that. You can say whatever you want. I take care of my family, I'm getting money, I'm living my life and I'm being me." (Urban Informer)Imaginary visual? You know what I visualise when I read the lyrics? Rape. And that isn't a good thing.
All of these mainstream rappers trying so hard to be like poets or freedom writers, like they bring actual positivity or are fighting for a cause...
Misogyny clearly has a secure place in rap.
