By: Ryan Rudolph
In music today, “gender stereotypes are abundant . . . where women are often presented as inferior to men or are trivialized and marginalized” (Weitzer 4). Furthermore, in rap music specifically, the sexist lyrics, “provide justifications for engaging in acts of violence against black women”(Weitzer 6). Overall, misogynistic themes in rap music can be illustrated via, “naming and shaming, sexual objectification, distrust of women, legitimating violence, and prostitution and pimping” (Weitzer 12). Lil Wayne, along with a multitude of other rappers, regularly objectifies women in his songs, along with objectifying women in his music videos. In rap music, rappers frequently use “terms such as ‘bitch’ and ‘ho’, which are common labels for Black women, and sexual objectification of Black women”(Tyree 2). Yet, in Lil Wayne’s songs, we see women of all ethnicities objectified, yet many of women in the videos are black women. As we see from his music videos, women are usually in minimal and extremely tight clothing, where they display sexual actions directed at men, like dancing in a sexual way. Overall, Lil Wayne represents himself as a dominant male, while he represents women as merely objects in an obscene manner. Ultimately, we must ask ourselves this: are we the problems for consuming Lil Wayne’s music that objectifies women, or is Lil Wayne the problem for producing songs that objectify women? Rap music is dominated by sexist themes and lyrics, and “for many years, the music industry has monopolized on sales of rap music with misogynistic lyrics,” calling to question who is at fault (Tyree 1).
#1 Lollipop ft. Static
Lyrics: Lollipop Song Lyrics
Music Video: Lollipop Music Video
Analysis:
Lil Wayne’s hit song Lollipop illustrates the objectification of women in not only his song lyrics but additionally in the song’s music video. As these lyrics and video exemplify, Lollipop characterizes women as things to be used, and as objects that are wanted for sexual pleasure and for the gratification of men. Furthermore, the music video depicts women in extremely tight and revealing clothes, with scenes of them performing sexual actions with their bodies, twerking, biting their lips, and sucking lollipops.
Lollipop exhibits some extremely controversial lyrics. Throughout the song, Lil Wayne is objectifying women through referring to their body parts as “her lady lumps,” “her buttocks,” and “her pussy.” The word “lollipop” clearly refers to a penis and the actions that take place in sexual intercourse. There is a notion that the sole purpose of a woman’s body is to fulfill Lil Wayne’s sexual desires.
Explicit lyrics in Lollipop:
- I say he so sweet make her wanna’ lick the rapperSo I let her lick the rapper
- Shawty wanna’ hump, you know I’d like to touch ya lovely lady lumps
- Man I ain’t never seen an ass like hersThat pussy in my mouth had me lost for words
- So I told her to back it up, like berp berp, And I made that ass jump, like jerp jerp
- Middle of the bed, give and gettin’ headGive and gettin’ head, give and gettin’ head
With references to sexual actions and women’s body parts, Lil Wayne clearly refers to women as objects, whose sole purpose is to pleasure men.
Explicit images in the Lollipop music video:
- Throughout the entire video, women are shown to be sucking on lollipop’s, symbolic for a penis in this context (0:00-4:00)
- Women dressed in tight clothing, revealing and accentuating her breasts and buttock (0:00-1:00)
- Women in underwear stuffing money into bra (0:19)
- Women bites her lip in a seductive fashion (0:51-0:53)
- Women twerking on Lil Wayne (1:14)
- Women is scanty clothing performs hip thrust (1:23-1:25)
- Women is seductively touching her body while hanging outside of a limousine (1:43-1:47)
- Lil Wayne and Women are grinding on each other, with Lil Wayne touching and feeling the women’s curves (2:53-2:55)
#2 Every Girl
Lyrics: Every Girl Lyrics
Music Video: Every Girl Music Video
Analysis:
Every Girl was released by Young Money, a music group that included Lil Wayne. Lil Wayne takes a lead role in the song, singing many of the lyrics that objectify women. As the title of the song suggests, Lil Wayne is rapping about wanting to have sexual intercourse with every girl in the world. Thus, in the song, Lil Wayne discusses his fantasies and dreams about “smashing them all” — in other words, having intercourse with multiple girls. As these lyrics and video exemplify, Every Girl is a fantasy Lil Wayne has about having sexual intercourse with every girl, where once again, women are objects that are wanted for sexual pleasure and for the gratification of men. Furthermore, in the lyrics, Lil Wayne demonstrates his masculinity by describing how he has the best sex game and how he gets with girls of all ethnicities.
Every Girl depicts some extremely controversial lyrics. One of the most controversial lyrics “Open up her legs to fillet Mignon that pussy, I’ma get in an’ own that pussy” refers to how the vagina is fillet Mignon. Lil Wayne illustrates his desires to have sex, and “own that pussy”. Once again, Lil Wayne is clearly objectifying women in the lyrics in his songs, and the music video follows that notion with the images it shows. Throughout the song, Lil Wayne explicitly states his sexual fantasies and desires.
Explicit lyrics in Every Girl:
- Open up her legs to fillet Mignon that pussyI’ma get in an’ own that pussy, If she let me in, I’m a own that pussy
- Girl, I got that dope dickNow come here lemme dope you
- I’ll fuck the whole group baby I’m a groupieMy sex game is stupid, my head is the dumbes
- I don’t think you’re beautiful I think you’re beyond it And I just wanna get behind it
- I wish I could fuck every girl in the world
- Every single night I have a dream that I am smashing them all
- I would fuck with all y’all, all ofy ‘all are beautiful, I just cant Pick one, so you can never say I’m choosy, ho’s
- My butter pecan Puerto RicanShe screamin’ out papi Every time a nigga deep in And I’m about to get my Bill Clinton on And Hilary can ride ’em too boy I gets my pimpin’ on
Explicit images in Every Girl music video:
- Women of multiple different ethnicities dressed in tight clothing, revealing their breasts and buttock, are portrayed in an extremely sexual manner (0:32-0:50)
- Lil Wayne with multiple other girls dancing in a sexual manner, while Lil Wayne is singing “I wish I could fuck every girl in the world” (1:00-1:15)
- Women getting out of car in a revealing skirt, where you can potentially see her female body part (1:20)
- Troubling portion of the video is the word art associated with the girls, such as “blackanese”and their ethnicities (1:51)
- Images of only a pair of legs and a very tight and high skirt, showing Lil Wayne’s sexual fantasy (2:19)
- Image of Lil Wayne checking out each individual girl as they walk past him(2:30-2:37)
- Images of a group of women and Lil Wayne grinding (3:32)
#3 Love Me feat. Drake & Future
Lyrics: Love Me Lyrics
Music Video: Love Me Music Video
Analysis:
Love Me was released by Lil Wayne featuring Drake and Future in 2013. The song is about getting women to “love” Lil Wayne. Once again, Lil Wayne discusses his sexual fantasies and his sexual prowess. Furthermore, once again, Lil Wayne portrays women as solely objects for men’s desire, especially in the lyrics “She wake up, eat this dick, call that breakfast in bed”. Additionally, the lyrics “And all she eat is dick. She’s on a strict diet” and”Baby just make me cum, Then don’t make no sound” show Lil Wayne’s treatment and thoughts of women and their purpose in his mind.
The images presented in the music video are extremely disturbing. With images of women with leather bondage whips, extremely tight bondage suits, and women in cages, Lil Wayne’s objectification of women is taken to a whole new level. An especially disturbing image was the three women in skin tight bondage suits locked up in metal cages, who seemed to be intrigued by Lil Wayne. When they are shown out of the cage, they are all dancing and grinding on Lil Wayne, thus the video is illustrating once again the notion of women as mere objects.
Explicit lyrics in Love Me:
- I got some down bitches I can call
- Yeah, long as my bitches love me (yeah, yeah)I can give a fuck ’bout no hater
- And all she eat is dickShe’s on a strict diet, that’s my baby With no makeup she a ten And she the best with that head
- Girl, I fuck who I want and fuck who I don’tGot that A1 credit, that’s that filet mignon
- I said “Baby just make me cumThen don’t make no sound”
- These hoes got pussies like cratersCan’t treat these hoes like ladies, man!
- She said my dick feel like morphine
- She wake up, eat this dick, call that breakfast in bed
- But its like as soon as I cum, I come to my sensesAnd I would say these hoes name
Explicit images in Love Me music video:
- Women in bondage suits, on a set of swings (0:13)
- Women in bondage suit on a bench in an extremely sexual position (0:25)
- Multiple scenes of Lil Wayne with his shirt off in bed with a girl, surrounding by a hot tub in the front of his bed and two women who are barely clothed and sexually dancing (0:35-4:00)
- Women licking an object, symbolic of that of a penis (0:52)
- Multiple scenes of 2-3 women locked up in cages, wearing bondage suits (1:12-4:00)
- Women dressed up in tight clothing and makeup resembling a cat is licking her hand in a sexual manner (1:36)
- Women with nothing but red paint over on bodies are dancing on a white wall (3:54)
Works Cited:
Tyree, Tia and Jones, Michelle “The Adored Woman in Rap: An Analysis of the Presence of Philogyny in Rap Music” Women’s Studies Vol. 44 , Iss. 1,2015
Weitzer, Ronald and Kubrin, Charis E. “Misogyny in Rap Music: A Content Analysis of Prevalence and Meanings” Men and Masculinities Vol 12, Issue 1, pp. 3 – 29, 2009