Power of the Mic- Why I love Lupe Fiasco

If you read my other blogs, you know I love music! I love the way music transforms people, I love how music can make people think. I have am particularly fond of hip hop and rap music. I have clear definitions of what these are.. Hip hop for me sparks people to think deeper, it provokes action. I look at Hip Hop starting in the 80s and still going on today, except back in the 80s you could count that Hip Hop was largely all of the music that you heard from certain artists and now only a few rappers I feel still fit in the Hip Hop Column. And Hip Hop today in my opinion is a dying breed where Rappers might dip a little into the genre but they are too mainstream and bubble gum producing the same trashy music- that yes I admittedly will play, but that produces an image of a culture that was very much far from what I think the forefathers of Hip Hop were trying to convey.
  So today, one of those artists that I feel continues to be true to Hip Hop is Lupe Fiasco... Lupe doesn't make music to appease the Industry. His music is enlightened, is challenging, teaches you to think, pushes the limits and doesn't fit in the form that many would think rap should. He continues to have a strong base of supporters and in my opinion for Lupe he's in the game not because of the music but because of the message.

 So recently he released a new song and video called "Bitch Bad." I had seen some rumblings of the video in my social media outlets but I hadn't actually seen the video for myself until today. I was blown away and in a GREAT way...
  "Bitch Bad" certainly is controversial. He basically is creating satire of what is known as "hip hop" music today. With the rappers and their money, and grills, showing off their jewelry and cars. It highlights the video women, dancing around in skimpy clothes and the misguided power that young girls think they can have. Images that make many question the sexism and misogyny of hip hop. The video is bananas (in a phenomenal way)  and the part that is so interesting is that not only is he making it a satire on what is mainstream rap, he has the "rapper" and the "video vixen" in his music video in Blackface. As a way to equate mainstream rap as a minstrel, playing into the hands of what the, then "white man" wanted and today an image that some claim as not our own. (Please note, our as I am a African descent woman and am speaking from the community to which I identify most with).
   I must comment here, that my fascination with this music video is also due to the fact that I love music, as I mentioned before and for me, music videos should closely relate to the story in the song. This video does just that, "Bitch Bad" is a play on the ideas that we have about what the word "bitch" means. For some "Bitch Bad" could mean "bad ass," "hot," "down," etc. For others the fight around the word "bitch" is that it is degrading. Women call each other "bitch" sometimes as a term of endearment so they claim, but most often as a way to cast them down.. not with the same meaning as the N-word , but it does have the same power.
  Lupe's wordplay throughout the song  is AMAZING!!  He starts the song "Bitch bad, woman good, lady better," as a reminder of what we should call our female population. Bitch is bad, woman is alright, but calling her a lady, better.
  And then you get to this verse:
  Disclaimer: this rhymer, Lupe, is not usin' "bitch" as a lesson
But as a psychological weapon
To set in your mind and really mess with your conceptions
Discretions, reflections, it's clever misdirection

I think this is what makes Lupe a GENIUS!! Lupe flips the image quick, to let you know that if you thought he was glorifying Bitch, that you had it twisted. 

He continues:

 He caught in a reality, she caught in an illusion

Bad mean good to her, she really nice and smart
But bad mean bad to him, bitch don't play a part
But bitch still bad to her if you say it the wrong way
But she think she a bitch, what a double entendre

This is the reality of the word in our diction today. Many people think bitch is a "good" thing. As I said, it's a term of endearment when your girls call you bitch, it's a negative when your man or another dude or another female that you are having issues with calls you a bitch. We ( as in women, the gender I identify as) use that word as if it is love one minute and a dagger then next. 

So with the lyrics and coupled with the video it is an all around "mind-f%&*." That has left me thinking about the way we use words. It also reminds me of those moments where I am torn between a good beat and a horrible misguided image that continues to taint the fabric of a community. Furthermore, it makes me thankful for the power of music as art, as a movement  and as an opportunity to speak a message and have value. 

But don't take my word for it.. Take Lupe's "Bitch Bad"