Silencing female rappers

Cupcakke, the beloved female rapper known for making sexually explicit songs, unafraid to be herself in music and on social media, was recently silenced by YouTube, as her latest song, “Squidward’s Nose,” does not show up as an automatic search term when searched. When I looked for it myself, the only results were reactions to the song and a one-minute snippet of the music video uploaded right after YouTube took it down.

The rapper’s other songs have been just as sexual, both lyrically and visually, and this incident has made me realize just how hard it is for female rappers in particular to release their music compared to their male counterparts. It’s awful that Big Sean can rap about asses for almost four minutes and not face nearly as much scrutiny as does Nicki Minaj (featured in the same video) when she releases a video like the one for “Anaconda.” Why does the general audience react so angrily to women expressing their sexuality? The main reason is the freedom these female artists have their own body, and their willingness to express such freedom in their art.

Women dominating men in their music videos, or the complete absence of a man, is what’s seen as threatening. Why can’t a female rapper say “ass” 105 times like Big Sean? Yes, I counted. The mass criticism of almost naked women dancing around a full-dressed man in a male rap video is hardly seen in comparison to women just dancing along to their own songs. The underlying thought that women should not be in charge of their own bodies is laughable. Fortunately, the recent growth of female-identifying rappers has challenged the misogynistic beliefs of the community.

Doja Cat’s song “Mooo!” released late last year gave her massive commercial success. In the video, she parades around a poorly edited-out green-screen, while images of anime boobs, a Microsoft screensaver, and an 8-bit bouncing hamburger are displayed behind her. She’s honestly living her best life. What this song has done, and what other mainstream artists are afraid to do, is show that you can create whatever you want and still be successful. This was the first instance in a while where a woman in the rap industry was praised, rather than ridiculed, for her innovation and self-image. The memes created around the song didn’t bash Doja, they just made fun of the lyrics themselves.

I want to be able to see women in the rap industry freely express themselves in any way they choose without the masses yelling at them. I want to see female rappers promoted by large media platforms rather than being kept hidden from the public eye. The identity of female should not be before “rapper,” they should just be rappers. Doja Cat and Cupcakke are paving the way for women-identifying people in the rap community to freely show the world who they are through their music.

Article by Michelle Castillo

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