For the record, we LOVE Drake.
The ex-Degrassi star had us at hello with his rhyme style, swagger, and boyish charm – but this video leaves MUCH to be desired. It’s absolutely exhausting to see the ways in which women are exploited and degraded here. Hip-Hop at it’s roots has always been male-dominated in nature, but we have also simultaneously had some of the most powerful imagery of Black women come out of Hip-Hop in Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, Lauryn Hill, Jean Grae, and countless others.
This video not only lacks in cohesiveness with the actual song, but also portrays women as ignorant, easily swayed sexual objects. Perhaps what is most disturbing about the video is that on top of the blatant sexism (which we are unfortunately somewhat used to in music videos these days), are disturbing issues of color and beauty standards. We see the light skinned, long haired, busty women pitted against the dark skinned, naturally coifed, large women. Haven’t we already seen, understood, digested, and processed Spike Lee’s School Daze? (see Exhibit A) Are we not clear on the white standards of beauty that women of color are held to, enforce on themselves, and use to discriminate against one another? C’mon, B.
And for the record, women who love women are not toy objects for men to ogle and drool over. We are real. We build loving relationships and families. As if hearing “Can I watch” while walking hand in hand with my girlfriend isn’t enough, I have to watch female love and affection for one another be simply for the sole purpose of some man’s enjoyment? No.
We’re not Oprah. We love hip-hip, it’s culture, and it’s music in its different forms and iterations. But we’ve got to come harder than this. Women of color are not objects to be toyed with and thrown around; and we shouldn’t be objectified or represented as such. I’m not sure what was to be expected from director Kanye West who would “do anything for a blonde dyke” and has (read: amber rose), or Drake who oftentimes likens himself to the greatest ladies man alive, but we expected more than this.
So, in hoping that the faces of hip-hop change soon, we sigh, take a deep breath, and hit play on “The Mis-education of Lauryn Hill”. Rewind and come again.
UPDATE: Drake explains his video concept HERE. Hmmmm…
