What Part Of Trick Daddy’s Anti-Black Woman Rant Was OK?
Dear Trina,
Let me start off by saying this: you still the baddest. I am and will always be a champion of women – of color especially – carving a lane for themselves in an industry as compartmentalizing and misogynistic as hip-hop. I raise all the collective YAAAS’ in the name of watching you eventually emerge an autonomous MC, however male-entrenched your humble beginnings. Even Lauryn Hill – top five, dead or alive – kicked down the door in the company of men.
Twenty years and a slew of successful albums later, you stand tall as “the most consistent female rapper of all time,” word to XXL. Bravo to you and all your Caribbean lush, which inspired many a women like me to want to own something as intrinsic as her sexuality.
Some months ago, I watched Miami-Dade County rapper and local hero, Trick Daddy, materialize from the dark abyss only to spew an anti-black woman tirade that ultimately reduced us to sexual commodity and judged us by our culinary skills, all while he sang the praises of our Anglo counterparts. Even his use of “Spanish” was out of context, as the term is commonly misused to refer to Latina women—albeit Spanish-speaking, also of African descent. But you know that already.
From one AfroDominican woman to another, it was disheartening to see a blaring headline this morning that read you defended Trick’s hate speech, under the guise of “advice”:
“There was a good and bad part to it. I feel like what he said wasn’t so bad. It’s a lot of women that need to get their self together. I think his choice of words of saying ‘black women’ and using a different race of women is what made it sound crazy,” you said on The Breakfast Club. “We’re already in this big racial war. That was offensive to women. Me knowing him as a person, I think the choice of words was just Trick talking how Trick [talks], but meaning it the way everybody perceived it.”
It is not lost on me that Maurice Young might occupy some important space in your life. It is not lost on me who he might be to you as a friend and confidant, but I can’t begin to fathom the slightest bit how any of what he said was OK and not on any level a direct attack on even your most glorious Self. Which is a little concerning considering the many women who adore you and the brigade of men I know who lean in close to hear you speak.
You have an audience of people who will listen to you and use what you’ve said to validate Trick’s sentiments, which are problematic in language as sexism becomes all the more dangerous when women cape for it. “Trick talking how Trick talks” doesn’t excuse his misogyny. And the way in which you’ve backed him up does little to warrant his actions and even less to placate the very people being belittled: black women.
Most Sincerely,
A Fan.
