One of the most compelling stories in Hip Hop is Canadian artists Tory Lanez allegedly shooting rising rap star Megan Thee Stallion in the foot after a night of partying in the Hollywood Hills. While many were in disbelief after the initial report of the shooting, it became horrifyingly clear that this was not a joke after a video was posted showing Megan exiting an SUV, limping, and leaving bloody footprints as she obeyed police commands. Hot Girl Meg was shot and possibly by another artist, someone she trusted. I often see people tweet, "Protect All Black Women," but that "protection" doesn't seem to extend to Black women in Hip Hop, especially when their attacker is a male peer.
WHAT'S SO FUNNY?
After that video of Megan went viral on social media, I started getting messages from women who felt distraught over what they saw. I couldn't help but remember it was just last month that Black women came together on Twitter to mourn the death of Toyin Salau. At the same time, there were 3 viral videos of Black women being attacked by Black men. We as Black women witnessed ourselves being thrown into a dumpster, struck in the head with a skateboard, and dragged out of a hair salon. Now, we are in July, and the hottest female rapper in the music industry, whose biggest "flaw" is that she is too friendly, is being shot at while allegedly trying to flee a vehicle after an argument.
What is disturbing is that I do not think we as a culture have progressed from the Dee Barnes and Dr. Dre
days when it comes to violence against women in Hip Hop. You have men like 50 Cent using memes of Tory firing on Megan as promotion for his cognac brand. Then there are Black Youtubers/bloggers competing to see who can be the "messiest" without getting sued in a desperate attempt to reach Wendy Williams's status. All of this at the expense of the victim, not the alleged perpetrator. Which is one of the many ways male artists are protected in the music industry. Media platforms/industry folks will attempt to turn the victim, usually a Black woman, into a joke or less sympathetic figure. While painting the male celebrity as someone who shouldn't have his career ruined, no matter how many violent incidents he has in his past. It's a protect the male artist, fck the female artist mentality.
Megan Thee Stallion's story is all too familiar when it comes to Hip Hop. When Nicki Minaj was brave enough to admit that she was mentally and physically abused by Meek Mill, people found a way to blame her or accused her of trying to ruin his career. It always comes back to protecting the man's career.
Lil Kim is another example of where men found domestic violence to be a laughing matter. On an episode of Drink Champs with Jermaine Dupri, he told a story about the time Biggie was going to shoot Lil Kim. The men found it amusing. I am far from a Lil Kim fan, but I failed to find the humor in that story.
BLACK WOMEN ARE SO UNPROTECTED
On July 17th, Megan Thee Stallion bravely addressed the clown sh*t in a Twitter post, "Black women are so unprotected & we hold so many things in to protect the feelings of others w/o considering our own. It might be funny to y'all on the internet and just another messy topic for you to talk about, but this is my real life and, I'm real-life hurt and traumatized."
This post by Megan Thee Stallion was so powerful for two reasons. One, Megan did not play into the
"strong Black woman" trope that really has done us more harm than good. It gives others this false belief that no matter what, Black women can just push through anything without ever breaking down, crying, needing a hug, or being hit with depression. She was honest about where she is at mentally. Two, unlike her NY counterparts, she did not go on an attack. The NY girls love telling people to suck their dicks when really their feeling are hurt. Megan let the internet and "messy" blogs know that she sees the shots they're taking, and she does not appreciate it because she is going through some real sh*t. Megan made her haters confront the realities of what they were belittling by admitting she was hurt and traumatized. Once she did that, her detractor's true colors came shining through. It also gave women something to rally around. Soon after her post, 50 Cent received so much backlash from Black women he turned off his comments and soon deleted his meme.
With over 16K comments, 140K retweets, and 530K likes and counting, Megan's tweet garnered overwhelming support from both men and women. Is this a change in the culture or just a brief moment? I don't know, but I do know that as female rap fans, we have to use our voices to makes sure all the Hotties, Savages, Barbies, Dolls, etc. never feel like "Protect All Black Woman" does not include them.
P.S. Tory Lanez has not officially been charged in the attack on Megan. He is presumed innocent blah, blah, blah
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This reminds me of when Yung Miami’s car was shot up and people were flocking to comment “oh but I thought you keep a baby glock...“ smh the industry loves protecting toxic black men but so does other artists etc. If artists would distance themselves then it would send a message. You have YG saying he’ll never work with Nicki again because she did a collab with 69 but he was silent about the alleged Meek abuse. You have people saying protect black women but supporting/admiring/working with ole girl after she literally attacked a black woman (and that goes for male and female artists). I wish people would be consistent behind the message. Then you got Tory throwing stones and…
With Megan, it quickly became : "wellll, what did she do?" or "I heard she was violating Torey". Then they wrap it up with some bs like : "What Torey did was still wrong and get better soon, Megan". Then you have people who will romanticize toxic relationships and that just normalizes it. The fact that Megan had to tell people that being shot isn't funny is just sad. I think Lil Kim's story has to be seen as a funny anecdote because they don't want to tarnish Biggie's legacy. Notice how quick the guy said "was she wylin out though?" With Nicki, I think Meek Mill is protected and Meek was quick to deflect by talking about her brother…
I still think Jay-Z played a part in Nicki's initial documentary not ever seeing the light of day. I wish one day she expose Meek for the abuser he is because everyone chooses to ignore his abusive/stalkerish tendencies. As for Tory, he has never had a squeaky clean image. Quarantine Radio and few fake support black women tweets must've made people forget that. Megan is one of the sweetest souls and she didn't deserve that. The irony of the situation is that Meek and Tory run in the same circle...birds of a feather flock together.