All Eyez on the Queen Bitch
Examining the Consequences of the Male Gaze on Female MCs
Bitch. Slut. Ho. Whore. Pussy. Male rappers have long employed these words to brand women and cultivate rap as a male-dominated genre. While several iconic women like Lil Kim, Trina, Nicki Minaj and Cardi B have been able to break into the industry, their lyrics often incorporate the same demeaning language. Rather than establish their own feminist vernacular or separate their raps from those of their male colleagues, many female MCs operate within the male gaze. Songs like Dr. Dre’s “Bitches Ain’t Shit” and Lil Wayne’s “Love Me” have labeled women as hos and bitches, making it difficult for female MCs to garner respect. The success of songs like Nicki Minaj’s “Stupid Hoe” or Cardi B’s “Bodak Yellow” enforces this cycle and tells women that fame is only possible within the male gaze. Despite efforts, women have not yet overthrown the rap industry’s misogynistic tendencies established by rappers like Dr. Dre and Lil Wayne; to do so, female MCs must avoid sexist and violent language and instead work toward true celebrations of femininity and individuality.
The two lines of rapper Dr. Dre’s 1992 song “Bitches Ain’t Shit,” “Bitches ain’t shit but hos and tricks / Lick on deez nuts and suck the dick” embodies how the hip-hop industry has negatively branded women and promoted dangerous sexual expectations. Dr. Dre uses “bitch” and “ho” to establish dominance over his women. He brags of his sexual exploits in the line “we used to roll around and fuck the hos at night,” but demeans women for those same sexual exploits when he raps “she was hangin’ with a white bitch doin’ the shit she do / Suckin’ on his dick just to get a buck or 2.” Dr. Dre presents a female’s sexuality as disgusting and continuously presents women as tricksters. In doing so, Dr. Dre sets a precedent for future male and female rappers. Instead of using his platform to grapple with serious topics, he glorifies the exploitation of women and encourages fellow male rappers to employ the same demeaning language.
One such fellow rapper is Lil Wayne, whose 2013 song “Love Me” mocks a woman’s desire for nonsexual intimacy. After his partner says that she just wants to make him proud, Lil Wayne responds, “Baby just make me cum / Then don’t make no sound,” implying that the woman exists solely for his sexual pleasure. Equating sexual purity with worthiness of respect, he later raps, “These hos got pussies like craters / Can’t treat these hoes like ladies, man!” Like Dr. Dre, Lil Wayne uses “ho” and “bitch” both to insult women and sexually exploit them. Beside linguistic suppression, Lil Wayne showcases misogyny through his music video for “Love Me.” In the video, Lil Wayne is featured on a bed, surrounded by scantily clad women splashing in water. Other shots show women donning restrictive face cages or nets and dancing behind bars. These two images paint women as objects of men’s desires. By depicting his dancers as wet or restricted, Lil Wayne tells women that their bodies are not theirs, fostering the need for female MCs to be sex symbols with attitude. Because male rappers have long created their own ideals of femininity, female MCs are led to adopt those ideals rather than establish their own.
As evidenced in its title, Nicki Minaj’s “Stupid Hoe” utilizes the same derogatory language as Dr. Dre’s and Lil Wayne’s work. Just as Dr. Dre and Lil Wayne used language to ostracize and demean women, Minaj uses the term “stupid hoe” to distance herself from other women and establish dominance. Early in the song she insults another female’s appearance by claiming, “Bitch talkin she the queen when she looking like a lab rat / I’m Angelina, you Jennifer come bitch you see where Brad at?” Here, Minaj adopts the popular tropes of equating power with beauty and blaming the other woman rather than the man in cheating scenarios. Instead of using her first major album “Pink Friday,” to subvert stereotypes, Minaj feeds into them. She calls women “stupid hoes” the same way male rappers have for years. With the flow of the song, Minaj establishes herself as talented, breaking up words like wrists into “wrist-es” to reach sufficient syllables; yet, the end of the line once again insults women by calling them “bitches.” The “Stupid Hoe” music video also plays into female exploitation by featuring Minaj caged and wearing a tight bodysuit. At the end of her song, Minaj claims that she is the “female Weezy,” which is a reference to Lil Wayne’s notorious nickname. In establishing her equivalence to Weezy, Minaj shrinks under the male gaze. Although she successfully created a place for female MCs in the modern rap scene, with her music Minaj becomes who male rappers have told her to be rather than owning her individuality.
Aside from Minaj, several female artists have attempted to reclaim patriarchal usages of bitch and ho to establish feminine pride; yet, the reclamation of sexist and violent language only operates within the male gaze, and purports that women need to be like men to be successful. With her 2000 song “Ain’t Shit,” Trina subverts the language of Dr. Dre’s “Bitches Ain’t Shit,” making the man the object of sexual pleasure instead of the woman. She calls out men for their laziness and selfishness, claiming “You fake bitch, you make women hate dick, cuz you ain’t shit.” With the use of the word “bitch,” Trina chips away at toxic masculinity and establishes that women are not the only ones who can be bitches. Yet, by using the template of “Bitches Ain’t Shit,” Trina further acknowledges the song’s success. By employing crude language and objectifying men, Trina confirms that the man’s model is the winning rap model and critical to success. Like Trina, Cardi B rides the line separating independence and submission. In just the first line of “Bodak Yellow,” Cardi B echoes “Said little bitch you can’t fuck with me / If you wanted to.” Although it is unclear who her “bitch” is directed toward, later lines like “I might just chill with your boo / I might just chill with your babe” imply that Cardi B is talking to a female, especially given Cardi B’s known attraction to men and relationship with fellow rapper Offset. While in these lines Cardi B belittles other women, later lines like “I don’t dance now / I make money moves,” showcase pride in her sexuality. She is not ashamed to admit that she was a stripper, and proudly proclaims that she is now a successful rapper. Although Cardi B establishes herself as equal to her male counterparts, her use of belittling language toward women prevents “Bodak Yellow” from being truly emancipating. She fails to reclaim the language because she uses it in the same way Dr. Dre, Lil Wayne and countless male rappers have used it. Instead, women have mistakenly attempted to combat rap’s misogyny with man’s misogynistic language and, in doing so, further endorsed it.
Because female reclamation of sexist language is only effective in continuing to circulate that language, female MCs must completely abandon patriarchal language and influences to escape the male gaze. Some female rap songs come close to this accomplishment, but are not fully devoid of male influence. One example is Queen Latifah’s 1993 song “U.N.I.T.Y.,” in which she raps “Every time I hear a brother call a girl a bitch or ho / Trying to make a sister feel low / You know all of that gots to go,” instantly striking down derogatory discourse. Yet, a male producer, DJ Kay Gee, co-wrote and produced ““U.N.I.T.Y.” This lack of female representation on the production end is not limited to Queen Latifah’s track. In 2015, Bustle released a list of “13 Feminist & Empowering Lyrics From Rap Songs,” but the list featured only four female MCs – Queen Latifah, Lauryn Hill, Eve and Salt ‘N’ Pepa. Additionally, these raps were not entirely female-produced and they were released in the 1990s or early 2000s. Similarly, Billboard’s 2017 list of “25 Top Feminist Anthems” lacks rap representation, showcasing the little progress that has been made in the rap industry in the twenty-first century. Influential rappers like Tupac Shakur and Kendrick Lamar have written songs praising women’s contributions to society, but they cannot be considered celebrations of the femininity because their authors do not identify as women. Female rappers have an opportunity to celebrate womanhood through intersectional collaboration devoid of male influence, but, unfortunately, that opportunity has yet to be explored.
The rap industry has a long history of using language like “bitch,” “slut,” “ho,” and “pussy,” to demean women and exploit their sexuality. While several trailblazers like Nicki Minaj, Trina and Cardi B have successfully entered the industry, their popular songs often employ similar derogatory slurs. The use of this language has made it difficult for female MCs to escape the male gaze. Attempts to reclaim male language only further endorse negative stereotypes and unequal male-female power dynamics, which is why female rappers must work toward celebrations of femininity and individuality. By abandoning sexist and violent language, male producers and patriarchal power dynamics, female MCs can make a bold statement and claim “We are here. We are women. And we do not need men to be successful.”
Works Cited
Cardi B. “Bodak Yellow.” Invasion of Privacy, Atlantic Records, 2017. Spotify, https://open.spotify.com/track/6KBYefIoo7KydImq1uUQlL?si=THnPgtCdQuqnk2x_8-QMeg
Dr. Dre. “Bitches Ain’t Shit.” The Chronic, Death Row Records, 1992. Dailymotion, http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6fdz1.
Lil Wayne. “Love Me.” I Am Not A Human Being II, Young Money Entertainment, 2013. Spotify, https://open.spotify.com/track/7tGlzXJv6GD5e5qlu5YmDg?si=bsQW2QvlRoCRNuh5HP7_wA.
Queen Latifah. “U.N.I.T.Y.” Black Reign, Motown Records, 1993. Spotify, https://open.spotify.com/track/3mmbJnh1L94Zl8QZcUTq39?si=PvwxbmK-S-ePWZSPFaeZoQ
Sastry, Keertana. “13 Feminist & Empowering Lyrics From Rap Songs, Because Rap Isn’t Always Misogynistic,” Bustle, 24 May 2015, https://www.bustle.com/articles/85477-13-feminist-empowering-lyrics-from-rap-songs-because-rap-isnt-always-misogynistic.
Stubblebine, Allison. “25 Top Feminist Anthems,” Billboard, 8 Nov. 2017, https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/pride/8022687/top-feminist-anthems-songs.
Trina. “Ain’t S**t.” Da Baddest B***h, Atlantic Records, 2000. Spotify, https://open.spotify.com/track/6QGkV8NWwZQyPosuJR8iCv?si=aCtXh0oVRyyKDqIYY35UNQ
