Lupe Fiasco’s “B-tch Bad” Can Save Hip-Hop…If We Let It

Hip-Hop has had a dark cloud over it for the last 20 or so years: its use of the word “b-tch” in reference to women. Whenever anyone wants to lob criticism at Hip-Hop, its degradation of women always comes first. The word is the safety net for people that want to disregard any good the genre does. Remember when Don Imus called the Rutgers team “Nappy headed h0es” and dodged the bullet by throwing rap under the bus for its language toward women? Or, when Hip-Hop was essentially blackballed from anything Oprah-related for most of her run.

In fact, Hip-Hop’s use of the word “b-tch” may be the single most significant reason rap music has had trouble infiltrating the political or social activism sphere.  No serious politician will closely associate himself with the person or policies of a person that casually throws such a vile word around.

Lupe Fiasco’s “B-tch Bad” is the most important song we have in Hip-Hop.

Most of us that listen to rap don’t call women “b-tches” in normal conversation. Hell, most rappers don’t go around calling women “b-tches.” Yet, use of the term is just something we’ve all come to accept as a facet of Hip-Hop that just won’t go away. If Jay-Z, who we know is married to one of the most beautiful and respected women in the world, still makes songs with hooks like “that’s my b-tch” then how are we going to expect any other random party rapper to care about shifting the way we discuss women?

The “it is what it is” approach to the use of the word “b-tch” may make it easy for long-time Hip-Hop heads to dismiss the word’s impact on younger listeners but every year the studies and facts come out showing how rap music is detrimental to the development of young Black minds. And, while it’s easy for us to point out the immense good music serves for the culture, those studies will always exist and the use of the word “b-tch” will always be cited.

That’s why Lupe Fiasco’s “B-tch Bad” is the most important song we have in Hip-Hop.

When Lupe Fiasco hit the scene as a nerdy, otherworldly talented Chicago MC with a knack for political commentary and incredible lyricism, he was touted as the guy that would change the game. Nearly a decade and three albums later, he’s finally crafted a song that can redefine how Hip-Hop – and Black America – addresses one of its most important issues.

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Photo: Atlantic Records

“B-tch Bad” is a brilliant dissection of the problems associated with the way women are portrayed in rap. First we see a boy watching his mother refer to herself as a bad b-tch, shaping his ideas on what the word means. The second verse has a young girl identifying herself with the women portrayed in rap videos. In a Shakespearean turn, the two eventually meet, but their ideas of self-worth, ideologies and social interactions have been influenced by the brainwashing unsupervised listening provides, leading to a dysfunctional relationship. And we’re left to assume their children will be raised the same way.

 “B-tch Bad” is the song that should make us all question why we tolerate and sing along to songs with “b-tch” all throughout.

“B-tch Bad” doesn’t just point the finger and say that we’re killing ourselves by insulting women. It strategically and intellectually breaks down exactly why the word is problematic.  The song is a rare track that could double as a college thesis.

The video adds more layers, utilizing blackface that calls back to Spike Lee’s Bamboozled to explain just how much psychological damage we’re doing to ourselves. Poignant, blunt and unapologetic, “B-tch Bad” is the song that should make us all question why we tolerate and allow ourselves to sing along to songs with “b-tch” all throughout.

Instead, we’re not paying attention.

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Kanye West sent out one tweet that he would be releasing a song called “Perfect B-tch” about Kim Kardashian and it got more attention than Lupe’s song. Of course, there are several reasons Lupe’s revolution hasn’t been accepted as it should.

Lasers was a horrible album and it’s been years since Lupe dropped his last good project, The Cool. Lu is also known for inflammatory statements that sound more like cries for attention than anything grounded in fact or belief (the “Obama kills babies” comments for example). Fiasco is also known to take out his anger on bloggers and the Internet. And he’s been called an a$$hole by most people I mention him to (even though he’s been nothing but friendly every time I’ve met him).

This is the former golden child of Hip-Hop, realizing his potential as a “game-changer” and doing just that. 

All of this has created a cocktail of anti-Lupe sentiment that greets most of anything he does with disdain or apathy. In actuality, his past perceptions should be put to the side for a song like “B-tch Bad.” This isn’t the grand-standing Lupe Fiasco that says things to get a rise out of critics.  This is the former golden child of Hip-Hop, realizing his potential as a “game-changer” and doing just that.

Lupe Fiasco has done his part. He’s released a song that challenged the status quo in rap and challenges us to change and do better. “B-tch Bad” is that rare song that can captivate academia and the streets. The rest is up to us to give the song and the dialogue the attention it deserves. We’re screaming out “we want real Hip-Hop” so loud that we’re missing the realest Hip-Hop song to come our way in a long time.  We’re cursing the radio so much that we haven’t stopped to pay attention to the song that can change the game.

“B-tch Bad” is what Hip-Hop needs. And if it doesn’t affect change then we’ll only have ourselves to blame.