It is no secret that female rappers are often judged harsher than their male counterparts, which is never more evident than with this agenda-driven conversation surrounding female rappers' lack of "growth" and "diversity."
While male rappers are allowed to stick to their "winning" formulas song after song, album after album, women, especially those labeled as "pussy rappers," are expected to be Swiss Army Knives. They must be equal parts Lauryn Hill, Lil Kim, Eve, and Missy Elliott with a dash of Pop Nicki, and if they fall short of those measurements, they are deemed less talented than their repetitive male peers.
SPOTTED: A 35-YEAR-OLD WITH A HEART SHAVED ON HIS HEAD
A Genius hosted discussion about Drake's Certified Lover Boy on Twitter Spaces exposed the hypocrisy of this "lack of growth" and "diversity" narrative that is often weaponized against female rappers. When someone suggested Drake hasn't shown much growth on his last couple of projects, there was no shortage of people ready to argue for Drizzy's right to stay stagnant because the stats show he is still on top. But, I could contend that Drake's statistical success is greatly helped when the media uses their influence to sell his nostalgia grabs and repetitiveness as greatness.
Excerpts from the Genius discussion:
They admit that Drake's lane is not grown shit or enlightenment, and they accept it. They are not trying to remake him into Kendrick or J. Cole. One woman added, "It would be nice to hear him have a successful relationship, but if he hasn't been through that, then I wouldn't want to expect to hear it in his music. If you're on your toxic masculinity shit, and it's going to take you until you 45 or 40 to get there, well, that's just going to be what it's going to be."
People making excuses for Drake's Peter Pan Syndrome is why at 35, he is still cosplaying as a toxic lover boy with a heart shaved on his head. While Drake has shown diversity with his sound, even if he is just mimicking others, there is not much difference between Drake in his 20s and Drake now when it comes to his subject matter. Yes, he will throw in a line here and there about his son, Adonis, but it often comes off as if he is still responding to Pusha T's "The Story of Adidon," where he asserted that Drake was a "deadbeat muthafcka playing border patrol."
Why is there less demand for Drake to show growth than with Megan Thee Stallion, Saweetie, Latto, City Girls, and all of female rap combined? The minute the girls, who are in their 20s, find success rapping about their WAP or "real ass bitch give a fck about a nigga, stripes on my ass, so he calls this pussy Tigger," here comes the "growth police" demanding they abandon what made them chart-toppers and rap about something else.
That sounds like sabotage to me.
LAURYN HILL SET A HIGHER BAR THAN JAY Z
Several factors may play a role in why there is a difference in expectations between women and male rappers. It could be art imitating life, where Black girls are just expected to mature much faster than Black boys in general, or the ever-annoying STAN culture, which always tries to find a new complaint to hurl at the girls. However, I want to focus on a factor that possibly is being overlooked. The low bar set by Jay Z vs. the high bar set by Lauryn Hill.
Jay Z, who many say did not mature musically until he was in his late 40s with "4:44," is often used as the
standard for why Drake's stunted growth is perfectly acceptable. While on the women's side, Lauryn Hill
showed the world what a sistah could do when she created the Grammy-winning album, The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill at the young age of 22.
But, just like I think it's ridiculous to allow Drake and others to stay boys forever just because of how slow Jay Z matured. Likewise, I find it equally ludicrous to demand women jump from Thot Shit - ("Hands on my knees, shake'n ass on my Thot Shit") to Ex-Factor - ("It could all be so simple, but you'd rather make it hard") the minute they start reaping any rewards from their music and without allowing them the time to gain that life experience that would cultivate a natural change in content.
Even though Lauryn Hill was young, she had already won Grammys, faced jealously from within her own group, had baby daddy issues, and was dealing with pressures from a music industry that wanted a say in
her pregnancy. So there was a lot of experience that helped mold The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
In 2000, Lauryn spoke on feeling "resentment" and "anger" at the "self-indulgent messages" she felt were being put out in music after she raised the standard. However, she gained a new perspective as she grew older, "I have a hard time being so hard on the music world, especially Hip Hop because most of them come out the hood 17 years old; having no clue or concept, having no concept of what life really is. And because Hip Hop is so fast and what we like changes so quickly, by the time they do get a concept; they're no longer making records."
At the age of 25, Lauryn Hill had stopped expecting others to live up to her, so why can't you?
WHY CAN'T FEMALE RAPPERS PLAY TO THEIR CORE FANS?
This goes back to not expecting rappers to fake experiences in their music. Drake's fans do not demand he rap about successful relationships he has not had, and the same grace should be extended to the women of Hip Hop.
It's unfair that female rappers are not celebrated for staying in their own lanes and winning, much like Drake has for over a decade. Instead, their awards and chart successes are treated as if they cheated or found a loophole because they are smart enough to keep feeding the fans who made them rap stars.
Female rappers are expected to risk losing their core fans, just to maybe...possibly...gain new fans and impress writers who don't currently support them in hopes of being considered "diverse" or showing "growth."
I am definitely not fighting for female rappers to stay stagnant or repetitive; however, I am arguing that they are given the same amount of time to show "growth" as Drake, or we start demanding the men show the same growth we expect from the ladies. I vote for the latter.
Why do you think there is pressure on women to stray away from their winning formulas or to switch lanes just to show "growth" or "diversity" while their male counterparts are allowed to take no risks and be the "voice of the streets" or "toxic" for their entire careers?
Do you think the lack of multiple successful lanes within female rap contributes to the unfair expectations of the few commercially successful girls at the top?
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Although growth is important, it more so has to do with the type of music. Drake can keep making those types of songs because he's the only one bringing that type of sound to music (i'm assuming. I don't listen to male rap like that). That's why Saweetie is so big, getting gold and diamond plaques because she makes music for bougie/prissy people (although I will say she's gotten considerably better since fast motion); or why people are still asking Rihanna for an album years later. With these girls, they're all giving the same music. if i don't get it from meg, i'm going to get it from latto or the cg. Like T-Pain said, using male rappers as an…