Dissecting the Double Standard of Black Women in Hip-Hop

By Kyra Pattillo

On June 16th, rapper J. Cole dropped his single “Snow on tha Bluff.” Being the North Carolinian that I am, I was excited that my favorite rapper dropped a new single on the eve of my birthday.

With all the protests and racial injustices taking place at this time, I just knew J. Cole was going to drop some sort of wisdom, some sort of powerful poetry that would further our advancements as a race. Instead, I was met with the reminder of how often Black women are mistreated in Hip- Hop. Instead of calling out the racism going on across the country, in his single, J.Cole decides to call out Noname, a rapper who has dedicated her time and resources into creating a book club for Black people, and, for lack of better words, told her to adjust her “tone.” While many people, especially Black women, were upset that J. Cole used his platform to call out a young Black woman about her apparent “tone” during a time of police brutality and protests, many people jumped to defend J. Cole and applaud him for shining light on an apparent issue.

Fast forward to almost exactly a month later, on the night of July 12th, rapper Megan Thee Stallion was taken to the hospital after being shot twice in her feet. While rumors and speculations circled, it was finally announced that the suspect of Megan’s shooting was Tory Lanez, a Hip-Hop singer, who was in the car with Megan Thee Stallion at the time. Although it seems to be pretty evident that Tory was the one to shoot Megan, months later, people are still debating on whether or not Megan was lying about the ordeal. Many people, specifically men, still want to believe that Tory is “innocent until proven guilty,” even after Megan has spoken out and confirmed the shooting.

These two very different yet similar experiences are only a small fraction of what happens to Black women in the Hip-Hop industry. Whether it’s online or in person, verbally or physically, on almost a daily basis, Black women in Hip-Hop are harassed for doing the same things as Black men. Black men are allowed to rap and sing all day about sex, money, and drugs, but when Black women are the ones doing it, there’s a sudden outrage, and a sudden urge to tell women they need to “respect” themselves or to talk about something “more.”

So why is this? Why is it that Black women aren’t allowed the same room or agency to do what Black men do? The answer is just one word, misogyny. As simple as it may sound, this one word carries centuries and centuries of prejudice against women. Black women aren’t supposed to do the same as Black men simply because Black men don’t want them to and refuse to see women as their equals. The City Girls can’t rap about wanting a man with money without being called a gold digger, but Chris Brown can rap about not dating “broke b*****s” and everyone calls him smart. Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion can’t rap about their sex life without being called “hoes” and a bad influence, while almost every rap song by a man mentions sex and women’s p*****s.

The reality is that until Black men and the Hip-Hop world in general realizes their hatred and prejudice towards women, no real change will come. It doesn’t matter how many sisters you have or have much you love your mother. If you as a Black man cannot and will not sit down and look at how Hip-Hop abuses Black woman specifically, and cannot actively defend and protect them -- you will always be the problem.