*Disclaimer* I do say the word pussy in this blog post. Hopefully those of you reading this don’t get offended.
We have seen some badass women come through the hip hop scene. Women who have insane flow, are lyrical, and overall extremely talented. What has been noted through all of this, is the difference in respect that these badass women receive compared to their male counterparts in the industry. This can be seen in many ways, but one specifically is when it comes to lyrical references. There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of songs where men discuss doing all sorts of sexual things to a female. Songs like Laffy Taffy by D4L, Lollipop by Lil Wayne, and Slob on My Knob by Three 6 Mafia are all examples of songs that have strong sexual innuendos within their lyrics.
For women, rapping with lyrics that talk about being sexual can make the artist seem “dirty” and “provocative”. Lil Kim is a perfect example of someone who has been through this numerous times. She is a rapper who was known for having “vulgar” lyrics and had one of her albums was once described as filth due to her lyrics sounding like “gangsta porno rap”. She rapped about the same topics that guys did, but for some reason many people have a problem with this.
These double standards are (sadly) still being seen today within this industry. I am assuming by now that many of you have either at least heard about, or have heard/seen the WAP song/music video. In the month and half that this song has been out, it has stirred up a lot of conversation on whether or not Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion should be speaking this detailed about their wet ass pussy.
If you have not seen or heard of WAP here are some details so you understand what I will be talking about. The acronym stands for Wet Ass Pussy and is pronounced like wop. The music video takes place in a large mansion, and throughout the video Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion are seen walking around in matching dresses peeking into the different rooms. In each of the rooms, there is a different animal theme (snake, cheetah, and zebra), as well as a Willy Wonka-esque type room, where each of the women sing their verses. The video contains some nudity, but nothing that made Youtube apply any age restrictions, but by Youtube’s request the radio version is the song played in the video.
WAP was first teased on August 3, with Cardi B taking to Twitter and debuting the iconic pink cover photo of Megan Thee Stallion and herself. By Friday, August 7, the track and music video were released and they quickly climbed the charts, breaking the record for the biggest 24-hour debut of an all-female music video on YouTube with over 26.5 million views (they are currently about to break 200 million views on the video). The duo have been at number one on Billboard’s chart for streaming for four out of the five weeks it has been out.
The girls have achieved outstanding numbers, but have also received an immense amount of criticism for the words they are saying in the song.
Artist Cee Lo Green made some comments saying, “There was once a time when we were savvy enough to code certain things. We could express to those it was meant for with the style of language we used. But now music is shameless, it is sheer savagery.” This is the man who has a song called, Chocolate, where in his lyrics he talks about getting drunk at the club and taking a girl home. Cardi and Meg are talking about how they want to have also go into detail about how they want to have sex. Isn’t this hypocritical?
Ben Shapiro took it upon himself to make a Youtube dedicated to going through the song. In this video, he is seen going through the lyrics and dissecting them for their literal meanings. When he read articles about how this song was empowering he mocked it by saying, “This is what feminist fought for. It’s not really about women being treated as independent full rounded human beings. It’s about wet ass p word, and if you say anything different it’s because you’re a misogynst, you see.” He’s missing the point. By females being able to stand their ground and talk about their own bodies in a song it does give females independence. For once, women are hearing about girls talking about getting dirty in bed and what they’re going to do to the dudes, rather than it being flipped like it is 99% of the time. Finally, females are representing female sexuality rather than a man doing it for them. This is the independence and empowerment females get by hearing a song about a wet ass pussy.
Congressman James P. Bradley took to Twitter where he outed himself for accidentally (excuse me, what?) hearing the song, and saying, “… he feels sorry for the future girls if this is their role model!” Personally, I would much rather hear about females talking about sex, than men talking about what they’re going to do to us during sex. It is more relatable coming from Cardi and Megan, and can allow for young women to know that sex is a normal thing, and females can and definitely do like to enjoy sex.
Meanwhile, while WAP has been receiveing this criticism, also on the Billboard charts was Jack Harlow’s What’s Poppin featuring Da Baby, Tory Lanez, and Lil Wayne. This song has a similar sexual explicity, and none of these men had anything to say about the lyrics. The double standard is so obvious here!
During my research, I wanted to see how people reacted when they first heard the song and saw the music video. When I searched it on YouTube many videos instantly popped up, and eventually I fell down a rabbit hole of reaction videos. I decided to analyze 11 reaction videos from both men and women of mixed races, and compare and contrast what I noticed.
Every person that participated, was hearing the lyrics for the first time. All of them were shocked by what they heard, but I noticed that men reacted in a more appalled manner and women were excited.
When the men first heard what was being talked about, all of them used the word vulgar to describe what they were hearing. After reading the lyrics, one of the groups said, “Dope hook, but the rest of it is disgusting.”. Another Youtuber didn’t like the line, “I don’t cook/ I don’t clean/ but let me tell you how I got this ring” because “some girls might take this literally” and they think it is necessary that gender roles still exist in a household. A clip out of the Joe Budden Podcast caught me off guard when one of the commentators tried explaining how Uncle Luke wasn’t nearly as vulgar as what Cardi and Megan say in WAP. Other groups on the other hand loved the video and were supportive of the song.
When the women first heard what was being talked about they were shocked in the way of “Finally! Our girls are speaking up for us about what we like in bed!” Many of them screamed and were in awe as they watched Cardi and Megan twerk from one take to the next. When Youtuber Shaaba finished watching the video she was confused about all of the backlash that was coming with the song calling the controversy “underwhelming”. Another Youtuber said, “Cardi is back!” The song is talking from a woman’s perspective and none of them felt it was too dirty or provocative to listen to. If the people who it’s about don’t have a problem with it, why should everyone else?
After doing research on this song, it is clear that there is a double standard when it comes to what is spoken about in women’s songs. Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion are not the last ones who are going to endure this criticism, but they are helping us shine a light on the change that still needs to come. Women should be able to talk about what they want to do with their bodies without men coming for them. Women have been told “they don’t have enough sex”, “they have too much sex”, “their ass is too big”, “their boobs are out too much” and Cardi and Meg said, “Fuck it!” and put all of that into a song and music video and are laughing at all of their haters on the way to the bank.
Discussion Questions
- The music video already uses the sensitized version of the song, is the video vulgar enough where it should be age detected?
- When you first heard WAP, were you surprised, excited, angry, something else?
- How have you felt with people’s response to the song?
- Why can men talk about the female body and sex, but the minute a woman does it we are seen as “vulgar” and “inappropriate”?
- Do you think this song being released is a step in the right direction for women?
Mediated Pop 
I’m not surprised with the public’s reaction. We still have a bunch of people, especially Boomers, who would think this is disgusting. I have seen a bunch of Tik Toks where teenagers would show their parents and grandparents the beginning of this song, and immediately they would scream “Shut it off” or “That is terrible”. It’s because older people were raised in a way where “inappropriate” topics like sex are considered taboo. I know that if I showed my mom this song, she would freak out and tell me to never listen to it again.
In my opinion, I believe this song is a bop and it is empowering for all women. Cardi and Megan are leading an example for women to be comfortable with their sexuality and allow them to talk about sex with others. I hope these artists and other female artists continue to release music like this so more women can feel badass.
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I think it’s interesting that one of the women in the reaction video was “underwhelmed,” because I, myself, had that same reaction. I didn’t think the WAP song/video was a big deal in the slightest the first time that I consumed it, and the fact that so many audiences (mostly men) were offended by women talking about their own anatomies points to a real disparity of what is deemed acceptable amongst men and women in our society (both rhetorically and visually). The fact that so many people vilified Cardi and Meghan for not being good “role models” is also interesting… When did these women ever agree to be anybody’s role models? And why can’t role models, or women in powerful positions, be able to openly discuss their own wants and desires? We live in a society where the president of the United States can grab women by the pussies but female artists cannot relish in what they actually want done to them.
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When I first heard WAP I was thrilled. It is such a fun uplifting song made for the girls, perfect for those times when you want to feel like the powerful girl you are. Seeing people’s reactions to the song made me quite angry. Yes, it has inappropriate language, but so do half of the other songs out there. If you are worried about your children hearing this song then that is on you and your parenting. Children can find much worse things on the internet than Cardi B’s and Megan’s song. The negative reactions to WAP just show how sexist people really are and how women are treated much differently than men. Men can talk disgustingly about women’s bodies to their friends or even online, praising girls for having things that they are sexually attracted to. But once they hear the song WAP it is gross? Their attitude and hypocrisy are gross! I think this song is a step in the right direction for women, we should not let anyone tear us down for being confident.
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When I first heard this song, I was honestly ecstatic. I’m always here for sexual liberation and black women coming together to make an empowering statement. As many negative comments as there were, I think there were twice as many positive ones. I believe the point of the song was to create “buzz.” As I said in class before, I think celebrities do things with intentions and implement strategies that create many conversations. As mentioned above, this isn’t new. Many female rappers in the early 2000s used very provocative lyrics to describe their sexual experiences. Men do it all the time, so why can’t women? All the negative comments are clearly rooted in misogynic ideologies. I hope this trend in music for women become more prevalent and normalized. Women enjoy sex too, so why not express it in music?
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I think the WAP song somehow shows how divided the states currently is. If you really think about the people who are against such liberation of women and their sexuality, they are far-right conservative like Ben Shapiro. We are so used listening what men have to say about women and now that women are expressing themselves in different ways people get so easily offended. It’s was about time that women can freely express themselves. Why do we praise America for its freedom and condemn /criticize women when they speak up?
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First of all, this song is a bop. It has all of the traditional facets of a popular song in order to propel it to the number one spot on any chart. I remember when the song came out and the immediate uproar it caused on Twitter. While most of the comments I personally saw were overwhelmingly positive- because it is important to speak about women’s sexuality in a healthy way- there was such an insane backlash. I remember seeing countless office-holding politicians making statements about the vulgarity and wrongness of the song at the height of primary election season, which I thought was ultimately so insane. Why did they feel the need to make comments on a feel-good song about reclaiming and being proud of a women’s sexuality? These political critiques were definitely majority republican-made, which I don’t think is much of a surprise, but it still makes you think…. what the hell are they doing in office if they have the time to write a harsh critique on a song made for the enjoyment of young women? I thought it was also interesting when you talked about all of the male rappers whose careers often hinge on creating music about their sexuality and sexual conquests. I think at the end of the day, this was a song about how having sex is a part of life, that it’s okay for women to seek pleasure through sex, and that it can be empowering to embrace and explore one’s sexuality through having sex.
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I’m not surprised in the slightest by people’s response to WAP or the release of the music video, but it still speaks volumes about the work that needs to be done to eliminate gender bias and the internalized misogyny that’s ingrained in our society. It’s laughable that republic congressman and senators were taking the time out of their day to publicly comment on their disdain for the song. People have too much time on their hands and their priorities are far from in order.
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I don’t think it’s a step in the “right direction” for women at all. I think women have every right to sing about or express themselves however they feel but for someone who has a large following of young girls I personally don’t think that it’s the right message to be sending. While someone like Ben Shapiro may get mocked by the left, I find his more traditional views when it comes to marriage and sexuality to be refreshing in a time/culture where sex is so pervasive and perceived as so casual.
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You just proved the point of the article. Male artists who sing about sex and treating a woman like a slave also have a large following of young boys, but they are not told to moderate their words, they are not told “it’s not the right direction.” They are not being told to be good role models even though they are fostering disrespect towards women.
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Over the years I have heard so many songs from male artists talking about sex and women in very aggressive and vulgar ways. Why is it so wrong for women to now to take control and also do this. It is just very sexist. When I first heard that men were very concerned and disliked the song I was shocked. It just shows how far we still are to equality and gender bias. Its just ridiculous how male figures in the media felt the need to comment on how disgusting the song was to them while male artist’s have been making songs like this for ages.
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I really loved this pop talk because it showed what woman deal with on a daily basis. In the music industry, specifically rap there were always songs that sexualized women. These songs are listened to and played in broad daylight and people sing along to them as well, while half the lyrics are about sexualizing women. But none of these songs ever made headlines like how the song WAP did. People are only making this song a huge deal because of two reasons. The first reason is because it is catchy and actually a bop to listen to. The second reason is because it is by two female artists. When woman sing about these things, people always have a problem. They think this is not “lady like” and this song is too vulgar. But how about the hundreds of other songs by male artist that have similar lyrics? People are so quick to judge when it is a female artist because they are afraid of change and are scared of woman empowerment. I am glad WAP had more of a positive turnout because it overshadowed these negative comments.
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The Weeknd’s verse on “Or Nah” leaves “WAP” short when it comes to talking about sex, but to him no one said, “You’re a bad role model for young boys.” Why do female artists have to be role models for little girls? Why do they expect women to be demure and not men? Women, like us, have the right to talk about and enjoy sex.
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