Contextual Lyrics

12.20.22

Every artist and every fan has their niche when it comes to music. It means something in the industry, to be a “lyrics guy,” or a “beats person.” Beyond that, there are plenty of other things one can be labeled as. Most recently, Hitmaka called out the ladies, and they are not too happy about it.

On Sunday, Hitmaka made a Tweet, about someone he’d like to work with. Not anyone in particular, but a “pretty female” who focused on bars, rather than rapping about intercourse, suggesting it is all that females rap about today. He mentioned this was cool once upon a time when there was a bit of shock factor to it, but those times are over as the female hip-hop space is growing immensely, but also majority focusing on that same topic.

Now the first thing that is going to get the ladies worked up is starting this off with wanting to work with “a pretty girl.” Well, if you do not want them to sing about being sexualized, this is probably the wrong way to begin the topic. Nonetheless, the shock value of this topic has indeed been diminished due to the space currently excelling for female artists. But, does that make it a bad thing?

For decades in hip-hop, when it was ran primarily by men, there was a similar cadence to topics that were described in music. “The money, the cars, the clothes… the ho***.” You could make a popular song singing about these things, or, you could be a “lyrics guy,” educating your audience.

With the ladies, many artists have truly risen to stardom based off of rhyming about their sexuality. Que in the top two female artists in the game: Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B. Asian Doll in particular, was upset with the comments made by Hitmaka.

Asian Doll made it clear that while she has plenty of topics to rap about on top of her womanhood, she does not make music for men and they do not need to comment on what the content of her lyrics are.

I am certain that many other ladies would feel similarly to Asian Doll’s statement. There is definitely something to say with females in hip-hop being at it’s absolute peak right now with how many ladies are crushing the game, and they all really do touch on this space. But does the topic have longevity? Will the ladies want to continue to work with Hitmaka after these comments have been made? How much do lyrics matter to you, when listening to new music?