Our mother’s and grandmothers would probably tell us it all started with a lady named Millie Jackson.
Me? Being the pop culture/rap DonDada that I am; I would pop my collar and tell you that even before “Lil’ Kim,” it all started with a group named BWP (acronym for B*tches With Problems). You KNOW with a stage name like that, there’s was going to BE some problems.
With my only pulling out 3 of their top bangers, today, on social media, BWP’s music made WAP look pu&&y—and would have definitely been met with the same revolt as WAP did:
Is The P*%%y Still Good To You
Summary: A song about a woman running into her ex who had gone on-left her for another girl yet, runs into her but couldn’t resist the tryst. I would tell you the ending but just wait on it:
Two Minute Brother (the video version is “radio-friendly”)
Summary: I pretty much shouldn’t have to summarize that one, but too, them performing-and watching the audiences faces on the Donahue Show-should tell you everything your need to know:
Two Minute Brother (explicit)
But fret not. BWP even had one that would be #MeToo friendly today called “No Means No.”
Summary: I shouldn’t have to summarize that one, either. The title says it all. Peep the video:
Moving on.
Before BWP there was #MCHammer’s girls known as Oaktown 357’s. Their jam was called “Yeah Yeah Yeah.” Their controversial song was called “Juicy.” It was the WAP of the late 80s however, lyrically, it was a little more covert than WAP but still, content-wise it was precisely about the same thing.
Summary: When your man so much as thinks about getting out of line, simply whip out the WAP:
Fast forward-into the late 90s, Lil’ Kim stepped onto the scene with Hardcore (entire album).
Trina stepped in with “The Baddest B*tch” (entire album).
And even some of our tamer artists (like Missy Elliott) had one that would have been met with the same shock and awe anger as WAP. It was blatantly called Pu%%y (Don’t Fail Me Now):
Summary: A song about a woman hoping that on the ‘special’ night she’s about to have with a guy, her vagina doesn’t let her down and hooks him forever.
So you see, the womp, womp, womp about WAP aint nothing new.
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What is new is these two things:
Analog life (then) versus digital life (now).
Cardi B took this thing like a pro, though. And as you will read on, did things like a pro should!
In true Libra style, leave it to CardiB to balance her scales. This honey knows she’s got a career rep to protect and, as she would say “schmoney” to get.
You see. As a precursor to my podcast I recorded about it, on Monday afternoon,
Although I didn’t have room to post BWP’s Donahue Show performance, the stares in the room said and asked all that didn’t get to get asked. But BWP did what they had to do-no apologies:
I did however, get to posted a video of some snippets of pop culture history where, on the Rolonda Watts Show, rapper Lil’ Kim was under the same scrutiny as CardiB’s breakout single WAP for her upcoming, long awaited sophomore album-following her chart-topping, Grammy Award winning breakout album. The heat is on.
I gave a little commentary in the video, hopefully serve as proof that this kind of uproar has been tried and tested-the difference was simply analog life versus digital life as we know it now—and how MegTheeStallion and Cardi’s teams didn’t take the time properly place the music on the appropriate platform.
But what do I mean about “analog life” and “digital life?”
In “analog” life tv, radio and print mags controlled publishing. And the FCC controlled splitting off regions all over the world having access to things specific to proximity).
In “digital” life, the Internet came first, then message boards and chat rooms but social media came through with the cherry on top-and brought the world pretty much in one, big real-time room. That changed the game. And the Lil Kim’s rap were easily able to slip through the craps with censorship or (as I mentioned in my post); deciding whether or not to answer to critics of their music. They didn’t have to deal with digital life backlash and blowbacks.
But despite that, Cardi B took it like a champ…and rather than rebelling, she “balanced her scales,”—and listened.
As I mentioned in my post, it’s unfortunate that some artists just don’t have the right people on their team (that keep their ear to the streets–versus solely at the beck, call or ego of the artist and social media comments as inspo and then leave it at that). It doesn’t work like that all the time.
Surely, with as many that love Cardi, one would think that Cardi could drop such a blatantly brazen song and it would be okay. As we know, it did not turn out that way.
To be honest, imme-jatly when I heard the song, I INSTANTLY said: Nah…You should have put this song onto an Only Fans account and got it poppin’ there.
Why? Because when people pay, they hush.
People often talk about changing the game, and well…that (explicit rap content being put on OnlyFans) changes the game which too, changes the games.
It all involves savvy thinking—and care about your artist.
Without belaboring the other obvious things about social media technology, platform technology is about usage and levels.
Twitter types do one thing.
Instagram types do another.
Snapchat types does another and the list goes on.
BUT where the fine line is-each are slush pile of everybody on it from 8 to 80-with varying attitudes, beliefs and ideologies.
So with that said, let’s keep it real. Despite understanding the double-standard (of their male rap counterparts and the hypersexual males that audience and perpetuate it yet, want to complain about it), WAP’s lyrics (even more than the video) was just wayyyyy too MUCH for anything less than OnlyFans.
It was not for Twitter.
It was not for IG.
And from a business standpoint, the drop of WAP wasn’t well-thought (out in accordance with reading the social media “room”)
Fast Forward though.
(After listening), guess what CardiB did?
She announced that’s EXACTLY what she would be doing: Starting an OnlyFans account (for exclusive or explicit content-no nudity) but rather, strictly dedicated to behind the scenes footage and other must see content related to her music.
YOU. GO. CARDI.
In closing, and on another note (pun intended), from the looks of things; it also looks like (in total Cardi fashion) Cardi B got a little bit of inspo from Lil’ Kim.
Right smack dead in the midst of the WAP storm, she tweeted out “a wise woman once said: “I used to be scared of the d*ck. Now I throw lips to sh*t. Handle it like a real b*tch”-the raunchy Lil Kim breakout song lyric that she became notorious for in 1997 “Big Mamma Thing.”
Only someone like Cardi could pull something off in the middle of such a wet, WAP of a mess.
P.S.
Speaking of “someone like Cardi.”
If you follow me around this Internet Enter”Net” and especially my blog here at OtherSideoftheFame.com, then you know that I stopped blogging. I have been using this blog site as archives and backstories and my other news / blog sites as ‘archives.’
I have been so over celebrity blogging since about 2 years before Cardi even came in the game. When I wrote that blog about Cardi, something about Cardi FORCED me to. She could not be denied. Even this blog was supposed to be a simple Instagram post. But someone like Cardi just wouldn’t let me B.
Spitfire .
Media Maestro .
Writing Rhinoceros .
