speaker-0: Disclaimer Remember, the views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent. Hey Kimmy. So we are back and we have a wonderful topic that we're going to get deep with today. And I I find this topic really, really fascinating. And I'm going to let you un just give us a little just a synopsis so that we can start unraveling this topic.
speaker-1: Yes. Okay. So we're gonna talk about Young Miami's news what people are calling the a summer anthem. And I think that's part of the problem people are having with it. But her song called Spindet. Spindett. Spindet the criticism that she has b has faced, the backlash that she has faced, ⁓ regarding the lyrics of this particular song. And you know, we're we're definitely we're you know, we're gonna get deep, of course, like we you expect us to. ⁓ it this is supposed to be right, ⁓ I don't know, I guess people are looking at it as a fun song. Now what I'll tell you is and I you know, and I've been guilty of this, is you know, I'll hear a song and I will fall in love with the melody. Like the song is definitely about, right?
speaker-0: Hype. I mean it the music the the you know makes you want to move.
speaker-1: Right. When and and when I first, yep, and when I first heard the song, all I was listening to was the chorus. And it's just talking about spin it, right? And I'm like, okay, yeah, I'ma spend my money too. And I'm gonna spin it. I'm gonna spin it. But and then when I was just like, okay, you know, and I heard people talking about like, ⁓ my God, this song is about scamming. And I was like, What? So then I, you know, I look actually listened to the lyrics and I was just like, ⁓ okay, yeah, she is talking about
speaker-0: ⁓ yeah. Is it really?
speaker-1: boosting and she's talking about scamming. And so I was just like, ⁓ okay. So of course we're gonna get into we're gonna go deep about the ⁓ gender bias of it all. We're gonna talk about how we feel about it. And I'll say that I'm I'm torn with the topic, I guess you could say.
speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. And you know what, Kimmy, I think that this is a great topic because it really shows that there are many layers to this. And I think that we can't just say, ⁓ this is right or this is wrong because there are many, many, many layers. You know. I mean, like you mentioned the gender issues. I mean, we're talking about respectability politics. We're talking about images. How people perceive black women, how people perceive black men, how people perceive rappers. And so lots of lots of different different angles that we can look at this from.
speaker-1: And this, you know, and we and we can talk about how lyrics can and cannot be used in legal proceedings. And I think the overarching opinion is that it it cannot, right? Because it is an ⁓ it's an artistic expression. Yeah. So when I when I first heard about the quote unquote controversy, the first thing that came to my mind just instinctively is like, okay, people have a problem with this because it's a woman boasting. Like People are just uncomfortable with women seeming to be boastful, I guess, strong ⁓ in their convictions, in control of whatever it is that they are talking about. And so to me, it seems like it becomes more of a problem when it comes from a woman. And and then I feel like those with both clean and unclean hands have something to say about it. Of course my my biggest issue and labeling of hypocrisy are those with unclean hands having a problem with it. Yeah. So it kind of it kind of ⁓ exploded because India R posted a comment in in a threads, you know, ⁓ whatever. I I I haven't actually seen the actual threads ⁓
speaker-0: I've read a couple of things from it.
speaker-1: And I don't have a problem with India Ari because because India has clean hands, right? India has clean hands. This has been a part of her persona. And I hate using the word persona because it makes it seem like it's ⁓ orchestrated, but n it's really her. It really is who she is. Like she's been saying this from day one, and that's why her journey has been so difficult in the industry. Because she is like, listen, we need to stop poisoning our community. We need to Uplift our community. We need to say positive things. We need to do positive things. So I don't ha I actually don't have an issue with her having an issue. What I do have an issue with is those of us that are in the community, like other rappers who just, you know, they don't they don't have clean hands because they've put out trash well, I I don't know if I'll I won't call it trash, but they've put out negative ⁓
speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. images images they've put out images that are really very hurtful to specific groups, for example, very misogynistic lyrics, lyrics supporting violence against women, lyrics that are anti LGBTQ. ⁓ you know, they put out this information and all they're saying, she shouldn't do that. That's not good. And it's there's some there's there's some hypocrisy there.
speaker-1: And I see it to me it's a it's a topic that is to me is ⁓ beyond or above young Miami. Because she also doesn't have clean hands, right? I know people feel a way about her because she supported Puffy, right? Mm-hmm. And I feel the same way. Like I'm just like, okay, young Miami, what ⁓ you know, what do you what whatever. ⁓
speaker-0: Because then, you know, I'm sitting here thinking, okay, artists really have the right to express themselves because artists have a unique perspective. They have ⁓ they have a way of viewing the world. And so it is interesting to to be able to have that bird's eye view into how she believes. And so there's that piece, and there's also the whole community because the song is now part of our cultural landscape. And so there's the impact. One of the things that I thought this was really interesting, they talked about a mother and daughter team who went, and I believe this was in Seattle, Washington, I think. ⁓ and they stole Louis Vuitton bags and part of the reason they were caught is because they posted online. They had the song played in the background. They're just like, ⁓ you know. Yeah. Yeah. And so it's it's kind of like, yeah, I did it and here's what I did. And so people are are saying, okay, look. They're following into this culture of, yeah, I'm a scam, I'm gonna get this, I'm gonna steal and this. And so ⁓ the truth is we can't say that the people who did this did it because of the song, you know? I mean, because it sounds like they were they had done this before, like they had the history of ⁓ of doing this. So but there are people who will say that this song influenced them.
speaker-1: And then it glorifies. And that's why, and that's why I feel like I'm kind of torn on the topic, right? ⁓ there's a part of me that feels like ⁓ there are a lot of women artists who are taking control of their narratives ⁓ and they are earning the money on their narrative. And I really feel like that is a scary thing to men, especially like other artists who take control of their sexuality or whatever it is, right? And they They they talk about sex in a very forward, very in control way. I've heard other male artists come out and say, ⁓ my god, I can't believe she's talking about her, you know, her P word this way. And when when 10 years ago, 15 years ago, you were the one saying it. And so you're just upset now that you no longer have a corner on the market, right. ⁓ exploiting a woman's sexuality. It's a problem when a woman is in control of or exploiting her own sexuality for her own financial gain. And so I'm torn because I feel like it's a it's there's a there's this there's huge huge hypocrisy in all of that, right? Yeah. So I pulled up the lyrics to her song and then ⁓ I pulled up the lyrics to another rap song, Yan W. Melly. He had a song called Murder on My Mind, or even Future, like future is, you know, cause you know, Y and W Melly, right? I think I've heard the name, but I don't know how much ⁓ commercial success. Right. And so Young Miami, I would think, is kind of mainstream now because a lot of people, you know, really do know who she is, right? I'm like, I know who she is. But if you were to say, ⁓ this is a Y and W Melly song, I'd be like, ⁓ I don't okay, I don't know. But I I but I know future, right? And so
speaker-0: Yeah, yeah. Mainstream, you know?
speaker-1: You know, Future has a whole song called Living the Low Life. Like he you know, he's he very famously made getting high on synthetic drugs ⁓ an acceptable thing. And I look at the the lyrics and the chorus is hi, hi, get, get, getting high. Everybody getting high, get get getting high. You're unbelievably high. Like I mean, you know, and you know, and one of one of the other bridges is, you know, is living the low life. Like the song is called Living the Low Life, right? And future is very popular. And you don't see these same people coming out and criticizing his music, right? And you know, and then I look at hers her lyrics, right? She's saying, Yeah, okay. She's saying, Yeah, where are my scamming ends at? Spending that money fast, 20, 1500 cash, right? So she's talking about scamming. She's talking about where the boosting girls at, and she uses another word for girls, women. Where the boosting bees at, where y'all at, stuffing everything in your bag, you know, just so you can pop some tags or whatever, right? And so I paraphrase. But, you know, those are the lyrics. And, you know, the YNW Melly song, he's talking about wanting to murder and seeing blood and blood on his shirt and the person died in his hand. You know, like what do we, you know, and so there where is the collective? Where is the collective algorithm?
speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. And and so Yeah. I I I mean and and I and I can really see that those points, all those points. And you and the the great thing about it when we talk about getting deep is we can hold these different thoughts. We can hold all of these different thoughts. We can talk about this from a well, what is this doing to the community aspect, you know? And then we can talk about it in from a bigger aspect of Do do song lyrics really impact people or do people impact song lyrics? You know, your life Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, we we can talk about this in so many ways. You know, we can talk about this like I like I mentioned, from artistic freedom and expression and
speaker-1: A kind of You know, 'cause I remember when gangster rap started. We we remember that, right? We remember it. We remember
speaker-0: ⁓ yeah. That really remember NWA. I re I I remember that. I remember
speaker-1: actually explicit lyrics from from ⁓ two live crew right yeah so so so we we remember those things and I personally do feel that the lyrics and the music impact the the community. Like I personally do agree with that. And I would get really angry when these men would say, well, I call women bees but if you're not a bee then don't worry about it. And I just thought that was such a
speaker-0: Yes, I rem ⁓ yeah, I remember two live crew.
speaker-1: I just thought that that was such a a weak argument.
speaker-0: You couldn't say that and it even if you don't consider yourself a a bee, and I'm gonna say you know, even if you could
speaker-1: video I don't want it to get flagged. ⁓ that's why I say the
speaker-0: I'll have to bleep that out when we but ⁓ yeah, it was just really like saying you can't say, Okay, well, I don't think you should be saying that about any women. You know, like
speaker-1: My argument was, you know, the little kid on the street isn't gonna know that I'm a good woman. Right. They're gonna say they're gonna call me a bee because they heard ND WA calling ⁓ calling women bees, right? So I've always I've always felt that lyrics and music impact people. It impacts their behavior because it glorifies it ⁓ and it normalizes it.
speaker-0: And and the other part is not only does it not only does it have the ability to impact a person and by normalizing certain things, it has the ability to create stereotypes or reinfor reinforce stereotypes. When NWA came out, I remember the concerts that they had and they would show little clips on the ⁓ on the news. NWA and they would actually shut down concerts. I remember actually the police would come in and they shut down concerts. And you know, you look out at the crowd and they would you knew that there were lots of white people in the crowd. ⁓ my goodness, there were so many white people, you know, yelling the they were they were singing along with NWA, yelling the N-word and la la. But then they also showed the violence that happened after the concerts, like when the police came in and you all you saw were black folks. Right. You know? And so
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: The way the stereotypes that have that have been reinforced by songs have really also contributed to how the culture has been perceived. And I say that and I can also hold the fact that I still believe in artistic freedom. I can still hold those things.
speaker-1: argument was yeah we have artistic freedom and and so I kind of feel like the artists who are who now all of a sudden want to have some sort of moral compass only come out with that moral compass because women are now in control. Yeah. All right. In control of their images. Because like a Meg or like a Cardi or like a young Liam even, you know. And so I guess it's unsettling to them. Offensive?
speaker-0: It doesn't fit in with the normal stereotype of what a woman or who a woman should be, you know, a good woman. And with that stereotype.
speaker-1: thought about this, right? I my dad, I I never remember my dad ever saying to me that I shouldn't do something because I'm a woman. It was always just, yeah, you shouldn't say that. Like if it's something that he didn't want me to say or was offensive to him. It was just because it was offensive. It it was never because I'm a girl. As a young lady, you shouldn't
speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-1: Like I'm a dead
speaker-0: Never would say that. Never would say that.
speaker-1: Never for me to even become a lawyer. I mean, I used to remember we used to go to the mall and I r remember I met that guy, ⁓ this boy, I guess it was, 'cause we ⁓ yes ⁓ I shouldn't be a lawyer.
speaker-0: I remember him he said, ⁓ well I don't want you know, I don't want you to get didn't he also say something about I don't want you to get hurt when you you're not it you're you know, you fail or you're something. I thought it was I didn't want you to get your hopes up high that you could do it.
speaker-1: But that's I mean he Right, yeah. I mean that's the whole point. He said, I don't want you to fail. Mm-hmm. I think you maybe you should be a nurse. Like that's what he told me. Instead of being a lawyer. Yeah. And so, yeah. And so I, you know, I'm just I'm I just feel really lucky that I had a father that didn't treat me different just because I am a woman. Yeah. ⁓ or a girl. And so I just kind of feel like that's what I see. With these these women because all of us are different, right? You know, and all of us have had different moral compasses. You know, do I think it's right? No, I don't. I I I do think these messages impact young people. Yeah. And it's not just the parents, because young people leave their parents' homes or their mothers' homes. They leave their homes, they go out into the world, and your parents are not your only influence.
speaker-0: Exactly. And if we think about it from a behavioral standpoint, your family of origin is really your primary influence until you get into the school environment. So
speaker-1: And you go into a school environment at five at five years old.
speaker-0: And then the social group really has a significant impact on you. And so even if my mom my mom didn't want me listening to NWA, I did anyway. I did anyway because I was such a big nerd and I felt like well I have to I have to know what's going on in society so that I'm not blindsided. Yeah, so I'm not blindsided and so that if there is someone who wants to chat with me about this, I could at least speak to them intelligently about it, you know, because I was such a big nerd. I was, you know, read everything and wanted to do that. But ⁓ yeah, the social group. So even even young kids wanna see, well what are what are what are my peers doing? Mm-hmm. ⁓ why can't I listen to that? Or why you know?
speaker-1: So if you really ask the question, yeah, I think the song is irresponsible. I do. Like I I think it's irresponsible. I think that it could impact a very young person. Mm-hmm. Of course, 'cause you know, I see people saying, Yeah, I'm gonna listen to the song. I'm not gonna go out and steal Sir or Ma'am. You're gonna win.
speaker-0: With the cognitive ability, because remember remember that frontal lobe, that twenty-five years of age? You know, the way you think as a child and as a young adult is very different from where we are. You know, I we can listen to we can listen to all kinds of stuff now and know and have a have our own moral compass that's already developed and we understand. ⁓ and you know, going back to what you said, I If I had the talent to be a rapper or to be a singer or actor, whatever, okay, I would want to really contribute to a positive environment because I would know how much I could influence others. That's that's me. That's my own personal mindset. ⁓ not everybody feels that way. And you know what? Some people don't even think that what they're saying is necessarily negative because that is the environment that maybe they've they grew up in and they saw as their norm. And you know? Yeah.
speaker-1: And then, you know, and then too, when I when I put if I put myself in in the shoe as a like like as an artist, like you said, if I had the talent to either be a rapper or a singer, right, I think I would feel ⁓ confined if I couldn't express my entire experience. Yeah. And and my entire experience includes adult topics. Yeah. So I think life is gray. You know. ⁓ life is nuance. Mm-hmm. Life is layered. And in a lot of situations, there isn't this like one answer that we're going to find. Yeah. You know, I think it's all, you know, individual. Like, you know, if I realize that I am an artist where young people are listening to what I say and could emulate what I'm saying. Then I don't know, I may I may second guess that. I may, you know, I may say, Well, I need to be careful with the images and the ⁓ the imagery that I'm putting out there, you know, for these young people whose parents are drug addicts and aren't taking care of them. What about those kids? Kids out there where their parents aren't responsible. So is it gonna help me sleep better at night by just saying, Well, their parents should be taking care of them, not me?
speaker-0: Yeah.
speaker-1: I think that a lot of artists say that so that they can sleep better at night if they're putting out real toxic messages. And I think a lot of us would probably agree that the message that she's putting out is a toxic one. But we should but we should be equally as outraged with all of the other rappers out there that are talking about drugs.
speaker-0: And not just rappers, not just rappers, but other genres of music have the same message, but they're not being scrutinized. Yeah. Absolutely. The thing that I that I find disheartening is the black community has already been stereotyped. White supremacists have been saying things, even people
speaker-1: Yeah. Rock and roll. Yeah. Heavy metal.
speaker-0: Who are on a national platform have been using these dog whistles to talk about black people. And now you have a black woman who is saying, Okay, yeah, we do scam people. You don't work. We don't, we don't care. We, you know, we just want to do this. And so that that makes me sad because it's because they use that. That's fodder for their dog whistles. It is. So that makes me sad.
speaker-1: And it's an unfair responsibility.
speaker-0: Yeah. And it there's another level layer. It's unfair. It's unf it it's unfair for that one person to have the responsibility of of lifting the entire yeah. So it's it's multi layered. It's multi layered. Yeah.
speaker-1: And it and the question is, you know, should should we be expected to take on that responsibility? And some parts of me, I think a large part of me says yes, because it it is what it is, like that's the reality that we're dealing with because we have these stereotypes, then we do have to we, you know, we unfortunately have to be more mindful of the images that we put out there.
speaker-0: Right.
speaker-1: Because it is used. Right. It is ⁓ construed in a way to continue the oppression of our community. Yeah. ⁓ and it's not fair. It's
speaker-0: Not fair. And you know, we could even go back to, and we mentioned this at the very beginning, respectability politics. You know, I think that that was something that was really discussed a lot in the sixties where you know there were older members of the black community that were telling younger folks, no, you have to you have to be you have to stand up higher, you have to be better, you have to always, you know, monitor the way you're behaving to conform to this. this image so that you're not perceived as being negative. And so putting that responsibility on people is is is really really hard, you know? It's really it's really it's really hard to have that responsibility put on you.
speaker-1: just imagine being an artist and being a creative, how suffocating that could be.
speaker-0: Mm-hmm. And we could even extend this discussion about using the N-word because she's using the N-word in her song. And people have complained about that. But then other people are saying, no, we we are we are reclaiming, I guess. Yeah. You're reclaiming a term and using it so that it has so that it it has power for you, not power against you. Right. And so they're all all of these layers, all of these layers.
speaker-1: And and and that's worth something. To say that we are taking the the power from that from that word. ⁓ and then you have other people who feel you shouldn't use it, and no one should use it.
speaker-0: That it should never ever be used. And then there are other people who say there's a difference between the ER and the A at the end. Like they're two separate words. So so ⁓ depending on which which camp you sit in, there are a whole lot of different ways you can look at this.
speaker-1: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's very interesting. So I think, Nikki, this was a fantastic conversation. And and like I said, I definitely think that it is ⁓ a great representation of what life is. Yeah. And that life isn't black and white.
speaker-0: It's confusing and it can be messy. And it can do you can. Yes, you do the best that you can with what you know at that time. And when you as Maya Angelo said, and when you know better you're doing better. And so, you know, that's a really important, really important lesson, I think. Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-1: That you care? Better. All right. Well that was a good one. Yeah, I think you know, I think we we decided at our in ⁓ during our bonus episode that we're gonna close out with reminding everybody to stay moisturized.
speaker-0: Hydrated and unbugged. Yes. Yes. We definitely have to do that. And ⁓ also have to remind people to like, comment, and subscribe. We are building our base. We really want to know what kinds of topics you all want to hear about. We really want to know, you know, just ideas and what you like and what you think.
speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah, well you heard us talk about. Yeah. All right. Okay. So until next time then everybody.
speaker-0: ⁓ So we want to get deep with you. Make sure you hit the like and the subscribe buttons. See you soon.
speaker-1: Yes. Okay. So we're gonna talk about Young Miami's news what people are calling the a summer anthem. And I think that's part of the problem people are having with it. But her song called Spindet. Spindett. Spindet the criticism that she has b has faced, the backlash that she has faced, ⁓ regarding the lyrics of this particular song. And you know, we're we're definitely we're you know, we're gonna get deep, of course, like we you expect us to. ⁓ it this is supposed to be right, ⁓ I don't know, I guess people are looking at it as a fun song. Now what I'll tell you is and I you know, and I've been guilty of this, is you know, I'll hear a song and I will fall in love with the melody. Like the song is definitely about, right?
speaker-0: Hype. I mean it the music the the you know makes you want to move.
speaker-1: Right. When and and when I first, yep, and when I first heard the song, all I was listening to was the chorus. And it's just talking about spin it, right? And I'm like, okay, yeah, I'ma spend my money too. And I'm gonna spin it. I'm gonna spin it. But and then when I was just like, okay, you know, and I heard people talking about like, ⁓ my God, this song is about scamming. And I was like, What? So then I, you know, I look actually listened to the lyrics and I was just like, ⁓ okay, yeah, she is talking about
speaker-0: ⁓ yeah. Is it really?
speaker-1: boosting and she's talking about scamming. And so I was just like, ⁓ okay. So of course we're gonna get into we're gonna go deep about the ⁓ gender bias of it all. We're gonna talk about how we feel about it. And I'll say that I'm I'm torn with the topic, I guess you could say.
speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. And you know what, Kimmy, I think that this is a great topic because it really shows that there are many layers to this. And I think that we can't just say, ⁓ this is right or this is wrong because there are many, many, many layers. You know. I mean, like you mentioned the gender issues. I mean, we're talking about respectability politics. We're talking about images. How people perceive black women, how people perceive black men, how people perceive rappers. And so lots of lots of different different angles that we can look at this from.
speaker-1: And this, you know, and we and we can talk about how lyrics can and cannot be used in legal proceedings. And I think the overarching opinion is that it it cannot, right? Because it is an ⁓ it's an artistic expression. Yeah. So when I when I first heard about the quote unquote controversy, the first thing that came to my mind just instinctively is like, okay, people have a problem with this because it's a woman boasting. Like People are just uncomfortable with women seeming to be boastful, I guess, strong ⁓ in their convictions, in control of whatever it is that they are talking about. And so to me, it seems like it becomes more of a problem when it comes from a woman. And and then I feel like those with both clean and unclean hands have something to say about it. Of course my my biggest issue and labeling of hypocrisy are those with unclean hands having a problem with it. Yeah. So it kind of it kind of ⁓ exploded because India R posted a comment in in a threads, you know, ⁓ whatever. I I I haven't actually seen the actual threads ⁓
speaker-0: I've read a couple of things from it.
speaker-1: And I don't have a problem with India Ari because because India has clean hands, right? India has clean hands. This has been a part of her persona. And I hate using the word persona because it makes it seem like it's ⁓ orchestrated, but n it's really her. It really is who she is. Like she's been saying this from day one, and that's why her journey has been so difficult in the industry. Because she is like, listen, we need to stop poisoning our community. We need to Uplift our community. We need to say positive things. We need to do positive things. So I don't ha I actually don't have an issue with her having an issue. What I do have an issue with is those of us that are in the community, like other rappers who just, you know, they don't they don't have clean hands because they've put out trash well, I I don't know if I'll I won't call it trash, but they've put out negative ⁓
speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. images images they've put out images that are really very hurtful to specific groups, for example, very misogynistic lyrics, lyrics supporting violence against women, lyrics that are anti LGBTQ. ⁓ you know, they put out this information and all they're saying, she shouldn't do that. That's not good. And it's there's some there's there's some hypocrisy there.
speaker-1: And I see it to me it's a it's a topic that is to me is ⁓ beyond or above young Miami. Because she also doesn't have clean hands, right? I know people feel a way about her because she supported Puffy, right? Mm-hmm. And I feel the same way. Like I'm just like, okay, young Miami, what ⁓ you know, what do you what whatever. ⁓
speaker-0: Because then, you know, I'm sitting here thinking, okay, artists really have the right to express themselves because artists have a unique perspective. They have ⁓ they have a way of viewing the world. And so it is interesting to to be able to have that bird's eye view into how she believes. And so there's that piece, and there's also the whole community because the song is now part of our cultural landscape. And so there's the impact. One of the things that I thought this was really interesting, they talked about a mother and daughter team who went, and I believe this was in Seattle, Washington, I think. ⁓ and they stole Louis Vuitton bags and part of the reason they were caught is because they posted online. They had the song played in the background. They're just like, ⁓ you know. Yeah. Yeah. And so it's it's kind of like, yeah, I did it and here's what I did. And so people are are saying, okay, look. They're following into this culture of, yeah, I'm a scam, I'm gonna get this, I'm gonna steal and this. And so ⁓ the truth is we can't say that the people who did this did it because of the song, you know? I mean, because it sounds like they were they had done this before, like they had the history of ⁓ of doing this. So but there are people who will say that this song influenced them.
speaker-1: And then it glorifies. And that's why, and that's why I feel like I'm kind of torn on the topic, right? ⁓ there's a part of me that feels like ⁓ there are a lot of women artists who are taking control of their narratives ⁓ and they are earning the money on their narrative. And I really feel like that is a scary thing to men, especially like other artists who take control of their sexuality or whatever it is, right? And they They they talk about sex in a very forward, very in control way. I've heard other male artists come out and say, ⁓ my god, I can't believe she's talking about her, you know, her P word this way. And when when 10 years ago, 15 years ago, you were the one saying it. And so you're just upset now that you no longer have a corner on the market, right. ⁓ exploiting a woman's sexuality. It's a problem when a woman is in control of or exploiting her own sexuality for her own financial gain. And so I'm torn because I feel like it's a it's there's a there's this there's huge huge hypocrisy in all of that, right? Yeah. So I pulled up the lyrics to her song and then ⁓ I pulled up the lyrics to another rap song, Yan W. Melly. He had a song called Murder on My Mind, or even Future, like future is, you know, cause you know, Y and W Melly, right? I think I've heard the name, but I don't know how much ⁓ commercial success. Right. And so Young Miami, I would think, is kind of mainstream now because a lot of people, you know, really do know who she is, right? I'm like, I know who she is. But if you were to say, ⁓ this is a Y and W Melly song, I'd be like, ⁓ I don't okay, I don't know. But I I but I know future, right? And so
speaker-0: Yeah, yeah. Mainstream, you know?
speaker-1: You know, Future has a whole song called Living the Low Life. Like he you know, he's he very famously made getting high on synthetic drugs ⁓ an acceptable thing. And I look at the the lyrics and the chorus is hi, hi, get, get, getting high. Everybody getting high, get get getting high. You're unbelievably high. Like I mean, you know, and you know, and one of one of the other bridges is, you know, is living the low life. Like the song is called Living the Low Life, right? And future is very popular. And you don't see these same people coming out and criticizing his music, right? And you know, and then I look at hers her lyrics, right? She's saying, Yeah, okay. She's saying, Yeah, where are my scamming ends at? Spending that money fast, 20, 1500 cash, right? So she's talking about scamming. She's talking about where the boosting girls at, and she uses another word for girls, women. Where the boosting bees at, where y'all at, stuffing everything in your bag, you know, just so you can pop some tags or whatever, right? And so I paraphrase. But, you know, those are the lyrics. And, you know, the YNW Melly song, he's talking about wanting to murder and seeing blood and blood on his shirt and the person died in his hand. You know, like what do we, you know, and so there where is the collective? Where is the collective algorithm?
speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. And and so Yeah. I I I mean and and I and I can really see that those points, all those points. And you and the the great thing about it when we talk about getting deep is we can hold these different thoughts. We can hold all of these different thoughts. We can talk about this from a well, what is this doing to the community aspect, you know? And then we can talk about it in from a bigger aspect of Do do song lyrics really impact people or do people impact song lyrics? You know, your life Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, we we can talk about this in so many ways. You know, we can talk about this like I like I mentioned, from artistic freedom and expression and
speaker-1: A kind of You know, 'cause I remember when gangster rap started. We we remember that, right? We remember it. We remember
speaker-0: ⁓ yeah. That really remember NWA. I re I I remember that. I remember
speaker-1: actually explicit lyrics from from ⁓ two live crew right yeah so so so we we remember those things and I personally do feel that the lyrics and the music impact the the community. Like I personally do agree with that. And I would get really angry when these men would say, well, I call women bees but if you're not a bee then don't worry about it. And I just thought that was such a
speaker-0: Yes, I rem ⁓ yeah, I remember two live crew.
speaker-1: I just thought that that was such a a weak argument.
speaker-0: You couldn't say that and it even if you don't consider yourself a a bee, and I'm gonna say you know, even if you could
speaker-1: video I don't want it to get flagged. ⁓ that's why I say the
speaker-0: I'll have to bleep that out when we but ⁓ yeah, it was just really like saying you can't say, Okay, well, I don't think you should be saying that about any women. You know, like
speaker-1: My argument was, you know, the little kid on the street isn't gonna know that I'm a good woman. Right. They're gonna say they're gonna call me a bee because they heard ND WA calling ⁓ calling women bees, right? So I've always I've always felt that lyrics and music impact people. It impacts their behavior because it glorifies it ⁓ and it normalizes it.
speaker-0: And and the other part is not only does it not only does it have the ability to impact a person and by normalizing certain things, it has the ability to create stereotypes or reinfor reinforce stereotypes. When NWA came out, I remember the concerts that they had and they would show little clips on the ⁓ on the news. NWA and they would actually shut down concerts. I remember actually the police would come in and they shut down concerts. And you know, you look out at the crowd and they would you knew that there were lots of white people in the crowd. ⁓ my goodness, there were so many white people, you know, yelling the they were they were singing along with NWA, yelling the N-word and la la. But then they also showed the violence that happened after the concerts, like when the police came in and you all you saw were black folks. Right. You know? And so
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: The way the stereotypes that have that have been reinforced by songs have really also contributed to how the culture has been perceived. And I say that and I can also hold the fact that I still believe in artistic freedom. I can still hold those things.
speaker-1: argument was yeah we have artistic freedom and and so I kind of feel like the artists who are who now all of a sudden want to have some sort of moral compass only come out with that moral compass because women are now in control. Yeah. All right. In control of their images. Because like a Meg or like a Cardi or like a young Liam even, you know. And so I guess it's unsettling to them. Offensive?
speaker-0: It doesn't fit in with the normal stereotype of what a woman or who a woman should be, you know, a good woman. And with that stereotype.
speaker-1: thought about this, right? I my dad, I I never remember my dad ever saying to me that I shouldn't do something because I'm a woman. It was always just, yeah, you shouldn't say that. Like if it's something that he didn't want me to say or was offensive to him. It was just because it was offensive. It it was never because I'm a girl. As a young lady, you shouldn't
speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-1: Like I'm a dead
speaker-0: Never would say that. Never would say that.
speaker-1: Never for me to even become a lawyer. I mean, I used to remember we used to go to the mall and I r remember I met that guy, ⁓ this boy, I guess it was, 'cause we ⁓ yes ⁓ I shouldn't be a lawyer.
speaker-0: I remember him he said, ⁓ well I don't want you know, I don't want you to get didn't he also say something about I don't want you to get hurt when you you're not it you're you know, you fail or you're something. I thought it was I didn't want you to get your hopes up high that you could do it.
speaker-1: But that's I mean he Right, yeah. I mean that's the whole point. He said, I don't want you to fail. Mm-hmm. I think you maybe you should be a nurse. Like that's what he told me. Instead of being a lawyer. Yeah. And so, yeah. And so I, you know, I'm just I'm I just feel really lucky that I had a father that didn't treat me different just because I am a woman. Yeah. ⁓ or a girl. And so I just kind of feel like that's what I see. With these these women because all of us are different, right? You know, and all of us have had different moral compasses. You know, do I think it's right? No, I don't. I I I do think these messages impact young people. Yeah. And it's not just the parents, because young people leave their parents' homes or their mothers' homes. They leave their homes, they go out into the world, and your parents are not your only influence.
speaker-0: Exactly. And if we think about it from a behavioral standpoint, your family of origin is really your primary influence until you get into the school environment. So
speaker-1: And you go into a school environment at five at five years old.
speaker-0: And then the social group really has a significant impact on you. And so even if my mom my mom didn't want me listening to NWA, I did anyway. I did anyway because I was such a big nerd and I felt like well I have to I have to know what's going on in society so that I'm not blindsided. Yeah, so I'm not blindsided and so that if there is someone who wants to chat with me about this, I could at least speak to them intelligently about it, you know, because I was such a big nerd. I was, you know, read everything and wanted to do that. But ⁓ yeah, the social group. So even even young kids wanna see, well what are what are what are my peers doing? Mm-hmm. ⁓ why can't I listen to that? Or why you know?
speaker-1: So if you really ask the question, yeah, I think the song is irresponsible. I do. Like I I think it's irresponsible. I think that it could impact a very young person. Mm-hmm. Of course, 'cause you know, I see people saying, Yeah, I'm gonna listen to the song. I'm not gonna go out and steal Sir or Ma'am. You're gonna win.
speaker-0: With the cognitive ability, because remember remember that frontal lobe, that twenty-five years of age? You know, the way you think as a child and as a young adult is very different from where we are. You know, I we can listen to we can listen to all kinds of stuff now and know and have a have our own moral compass that's already developed and we understand. ⁓ and you know, going back to what you said, I If I had the talent to be a rapper or to be a singer or actor, whatever, okay, I would want to really contribute to a positive environment because I would know how much I could influence others. That's that's me. That's my own personal mindset. ⁓ not everybody feels that way. And you know what? Some people don't even think that what they're saying is necessarily negative because that is the environment that maybe they've they grew up in and they saw as their norm. And you know? Yeah.
speaker-1: And then, you know, and then too, when I when I put if I put myself in in the shoe as a like like as an artist, like you said, if I had the talent to either be a rapper or a singer, right, I think I would feel ⁓ confined if I couldn't express my entire experience. Yeah. And and my entire experience includes adult topics. Yeah. So I think life is gray. You know. ⁓ life is nuance. Mm-hmm. Life is layered. And in a lot of situations, there isn't this like one answer that we're going to find. Yeah. You know, I think it's all, you know, individual. Like, you know, if I realize that I am an artist where young people are listening to what I say and could emulate what I'm saying. Then I don't know, I may I may second guess that. I may, you know, I may say, Well, I need to be careful with the images and the ⁓ the imagery that I'm putting out there, you know, for these young people whose parents are drug addicts and aren't taking care of them. What about those kids? Kids out there where their parents aren't responsible. So is it gonna help me sleep better at night by just saying, Well, their parents should be taking care of them, not me?
speaker-0: Yeah.
speaker-1: I think that a lot of artists say that so that they can sleep better at night if they're putting out real toxic messages. And I think a lot of us would probably agree that the message that she's putting out is a toxic one. But we should but we should be equally as outraged with all of the other rappers out there that are talking about drugs.
speaker-0: And not just rappers, not just rappers, but other genres of music have the same message, but they're not being scrutinized. Yeah. Absolutely. The thing that I that I find disheartening is the black community has already been stereotyped. White supremacists have been saying things, even people
speaker-1: Yeah. Rock and roll. Yeah. Heavy metal.
speaker-0: Who are on a national platform have been using these dog whistles to talk about black people. And now you have a black woman who is saying, Okay, yeah, we do scam people. You don't work. We don't, we don't care. We, you know, we just want to do this. And so that that makes me sad because it's because they use that. That's fodder for their dog whistles. It is. So that makes me sad.
speaker-1: And it's an unfair responsibility.
speaker-0: Yeah. And it there's another level layer. It's unfair. It's unf it it's unfair for that one person to have the responsibility of of lifting the entire yeah. So it's it's multi layered. It's multi layered. Yeah.
speaker-1: And it and the question is, you know, should should we be expected to take on that responsibility? And some parts of me, I think a large part of me says yes, because it it is what it is, like that's the reality that we're dealing with because we have these stereotypes, then we do have to we, you know, we unfortunately have to be more mindful of the images that we put out there.
speaker-0: Right.
speaker-1: Because it is used. Right. It is ⁓ construed in a way to continue the oppression of our community. Yeah. ⁓ and it's not fair. It's
speaker-0: Not fair. And you know, we could even go back to, and we mentioned this at the very beginning, respectability politics. You know, I think that that was something that was really discussed a lot in the sixties where you know there were older members of the black community that were telling younger folks, no, you have to you have to be you have to stand up higher, you have to be better, you have to always, you know, monitor the way you're behaving to conform to this. this image so that you're not perceived as being negative. And so putting that responsibility on people is is is really really hard, you know? It's really it's really it's really hard to have that responsibility put on you.
speaker-1: just imagine being an artist and being a creative, how suffocating that could be.
speaker-0: Mm-hmm. And we could even extend this discussion about using the N-word because she's using the N-word in her song. And people have complained about that. But then other people are saying, no, we we are we are reclaiming, I guess. Yeah. You're reclaiming a term and using it so that it has so that it it has power for you, not power against you. Right. And so they're all all of these layers, all of these layers.
speaker-1: And and and that's worth something. To say that we are taking the the power from that from that word. ⁓ and then you have other people who feel you shouldn't use it, and no one should use it.
speaker-0: That it should never ever be used. And then there are other people who say there's a difference between the ER and the A at the end. Like they're two separate words. So so ⁓ depending on which which camp you sit in, there are a whole lot of different ways you can look at this.
speaker-1: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's very interesting. So I think, Nikki, this was a fantastic conversation. And and like I said, I definitely think that it is ⁓ a great representation of what life is. Yeah. And that life isn't black and white.
speaker-0: It's confusing and it can be messy. And it can do you can. Yes, you do the best that you can with what you know at that time. And when you as Maya Angelo said, and when you know better you're doing better. And so, you know, that's a really important, really important lesson, I think. Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-1: That you care? Better. All right. Well that was a good one. Yeah, I think you know, I think we we decided at our in ⁓ during our bonus episode that we're gonna close out with reminding everybody to stay moisturized.
speaker-0: Hydrated and unbugged. Yes. Yes. We definitely have to do that. And ⁓ also have to remind people to like, comment, and subscribe. We are building our base. We really want to know what kinds of topics you all want to hear about. We really want to know, you know, just ideas and what you like and what you think.
speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah, well you heard us talk about. Yeah. All right. Okay. So until next time then everybody.
speaker-0: ⁓ So we want to get deep with you. Make sure you hit the like and the subscribe buttons. See you soon.
