Throw that Boy P****.... what?

                                       

The last time a score of rappers found a direction in which to take their music to, while dabbling in the still amorphous form of rap as art, it was to result in the emergence of rap as the muse of those that dwelled at orbits where anything even slightly lesser than the most idealized forms of masculinity had no scope whatsoever to acquire a foot-space in the proverbial door that opened up to rapid rise of 90’s hip hop. The Young Black Male of 90’s burgeoning arena of rap music was expected to be “Hard” like an erection. The Pioneers of the Gangsta Rap genre left a trailblaze in which many rappers still find themselves burning with enough motivation to follow as cats pursuing a trail of fish-bones.

Now one can be led to say, that a frostian inspiration has just fertilized a break-away from the current Hip Hop Standard created whether consciously or obliviously, after Young Fly Red’s video of the song “Throw that Boy Pussy” from his mixtape, “Pretty Boy Realness” was uploaded on Youtube. As always, reactions filled up every stand in the opinion spectrum, ranging from, the rapper being heralded as the pioneer of an altogether new genre called “Gay Rap” which will change Hip Hop, to being reduced to a conspiratorial puppet at the hands of forces that are determined to effeminize the black male. I bet, that if this genre assumes raging proportions in the time to come, rappers claiming to be a G might have to toy with choosing other suitable letter(s).

My reaction to it definitely has not been of outrage, shock, disgust, pity, anger or any form that would suggest non-tolerance, however; neither has it been welcoming, of delight, supportive, justificatory, of endorsement or any form that would suggest open-armed acceptance. However, I am waddling in a little ambiguity about the appropriateness of my reaction since what I experienced while watching that video was a little amusement mixed with an inability to frame a personal response to it and the major reason for writing this post is to help myself enable a thinking process to deal with such one-of-its-kinds.

Rap as a genre has been notoriously consistent in objectifying women as no more than collectible epaulettes on the shoulders of masculinity only to be boasted of in lyrics as feudalistic conquests. Switch that crass objectification from women to men; when men are projected as exploitable objects, utilized in a way, that ascribes to them no intrinsic human value, except as toys to bolster the commercial saleability and visual appeal of the product. That theme taken to its peak, except this time for men instead of women, comes out strongly in these lines - I ma bust that ass open and then send you back to him / then I kick that shit like biz markey and say you just a friend. It indeed did tickle me to imagine men at the receiving end of a flamboyant playboy playing with their feelings the way women seldom get played at the hands of unapologetic Casanovas and then get reduced to one-liners in rapper's anthems of being players. In addition, the song lyrics have all the vulgar playfulness that is unquestionably meted out to women by male rappers. It can well be a moment of schadenfreude for many, especially females, (might I even consider suggesting feminists?), to see males being subject to someone’s domineering sexual role, though sadly still in a very male hegemonic sort of way.

What has not escaped me, however, is the usage of the word, “Pussy” in the song’s lyrics, even as its associated gender was not made to accompany by the mere addition of the word, “Boy”. And to be true, that was the only part about the video song that made me feel strange and it did make me wonder if Gays are not striving enough to invent a vocabulary of their own? That, which does not play into the ossified gendered themes of our hetero-language? Perhaps, there is no need for that, as everyone is free to call private parts with whatever they wish to. But it is my belief that changing attitudes and behaviour also requires changing of one’s language, if not entirely, since language is something that is used daily, and is instrumental in re-inforcing a society’s prejudices in the minds of its users, through its constant usage. Insertion of fresh words embodying different and subtle shades not only enriches a language, but also adds layers to personal attitudes and expands the repertoire of one’s thoughts and reactions to every conceivable situation.

What has also not escaped me is the use of perceivably “skinnier” dudes as twerkers and dancers who contorted themselves in much the same way females in other videos do to paint a throbbing picture of sexual high-tension, in addition to the rapper’s overtly masculine methods of coquetry, both of which sadly remained unchanged from what is presented in hetero-videos. Have certain actions and combination of dance moves become symbolic of an un-gendered sexuality or whether certain attributes that women have come to be associated with are to be repeated across every expression of dramatized ensnarement, regardless of whether the object of one’s affection is a male or a female. What I am trying to suggest here is that “femininity” as a term might end up always as the tag for the ensnared and “masculinity” will always end up as the brand for the snarer, regardless of the gender of the ensnared or the snarer and I fear that even in a society accepting of varying sexual orientations, it will not be easy to shake-off such entrenched associations. So, critics, who have been vocal about the song as being another indication of increasing effeminization of men after watching "male twerkers" can atleast remain thankful to the rapper for not tampering with expected masculine behaviours. But, would it have made any difference if hefty muscular dudes worked the stage in the video? What is subtly conspicuous from the absence of the heftier dudes, is that, “feminine” qualities/behaviour can only be imagined under a world-view of domination-subjugation, irrespective of whether you are a female or a gay male.

Rappers, being the word-smiths they are, being the creators of an own personal language, acronyms, street-slangs and being a highly interesting source of referential content, have a remarkable responsibility on their hands, which is to continuously enliven up the urban language. The burden that should also be taken up by Fly Young Red, apart from popularising his music, is to revolutionize the entire dictionary of rap and fill it up with a vocabulary that is not dependent upon a language that is impregnated with the biases of a society which he and people of his orientation are trying to change. Notwithstanding the effusive bullshit thrown heretofore by me, its +1 for Fly Young Red simply for not being afraid to put that out. 

 Image from here.