theatlantic:

Rap’s Long History of ‘Conscious’ Condescension to Women

The song’s lyrics are lazy, but worse, “Bitch Bad” reveals Lupe’s unfortunately uncomplicated thinking on ideas of gender, and yet presents itself as a cure all for our gender woes. We can add it to the long line of well-intentioned songs from male rappers attempting to come off as feminist but actually reinforcing the ideas that make feminism necessary.

The chorus is simple, repeated as if by someone trying to memorize the names of all 50 states and their capitals: “Bitch bad, woman good/Lady better, they misunderstood.” Here he sets up a simplistic and demeaning hierarchy of womanhood, in which one can choose to be a bitch, woman, or lady - without even attempting to define what those terms might mean. In the background, he can be heard lightly bellowing the phrase “I’m killing these bitches!” as a way of inverting what would usually be heard as a violent threat to instead say that he’s going to eliminate the mentality that creates “bad bitches.” The message is unsubtle: Bitches are bad.

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