Faction Of Lupe Fiasco Fans Call Spin Magazine Writer A Hurtful Name For Not Liking Rapper's Song About Hurtful Names

By Jon Graef in Arts & Entertainment on Aug 24, 2012 8:40PM

Lupe Fiasco had an epic Twitter shit fit about Spin Magazine panning his new single "Bitch Bad." His fans called the Spin scribe a "fag" because the writer didn't like a song about how calling people names is bad. Apparently Lupe needs to talk to some of his fans about cognitive dissonance.

It all started with the West side-bred rapper calling for a boycott of Spin Magazine because of a pan of his new video for "Bitch Bad," which addresses the issue of sexism in hip-hop vis a vis the use of the word "bitch."

In a three-act story, Lupe spins a yarn about a boy who hears it in a positive context, a girl who hears it in a negative context, and, then, in a later verse, how the boy and girl interact with the word internally when their paths cross.

Spin Magazine writer Brandon Soderberg panned the video and the single. Soderberg argues the song's refrain of ''bitch bad, woman good, lady better" is patronizing and patriarchal and that the Chicago rapper was "mining the moronic 'lyrics over everything' attitude, reducing rap to a game of preaching to the converted."

Here's the closing paragraph:

"Bitch Bad" is, to play Lupe's game and get histrionic, how you "debase" a "culture." You twist a rap song into poorly thought-out grab for attention, and give it a muddled video, all under the guise of "starting a conversation," which implicitly suggests that rap music isn't having these conversations already. The use of the word "bitch," sensitively deconstructed by Jay-Z on "99 Problems," and currently being twisted and challenged by Azealia Banks, Nicki Minaj, and many more female MCs, proves that the discussion doesn't need a backpack rap hustler selling cynicism.

Perhaps taking offense to implicitly being called moronic, Lupe Tweeted that he'd had enough:

From there, the Twitter avalanche opened up. The rapper retweeted many of his fans' support. But a dark side of the rapper's fans emerged. Here's that response:

Lupe's obviously not responsible for what some of his fans say or think. All the same: yikes.

Now, Lupe's track has gotten praise, most notably from Jezebel.

But have you listened to the track itself yet? Yeah, exactly.

The problem is that, in spite of the salient points and the commendable sense of empathy, there’s no real sense of feeling with the song. If Lupe feels so strongly about this issue—at least strongly enough to make a track and a video—why does he rap like he's a stiff professor at the lectern? Where's the dexterous sense of language that made rap fans' jaws drop, as on songs like "Go Go Gadget Flow" or "Gold Watch"?

I think the reason why "Bitch Bad" doesn't work is that Lupe is solely telling a story to make people think, and not perhaps speaking from personal experience. No doubt Lupe knows women who've been hurt by the word "bitch." Why isn't this song their story?

What I mean is: Lupe Fiasco has probably not personally experienced institutional sexism, or sexism of any kind himself. But he does feel for people who do and sees how attitudes in hip-hop affect his fans in real life. But unless you've experienced that pain yourself, how pertinent can your insights be?

For example, could a man have written this song, defending people from hurtful names and sexism?

Maybe. But it wouldn't have the same impact as a song that's rapped by someone with direct experience with the topic at hand.

Similarly: Could a white rapper have written this song?

Perhaps, but there's no way it would have the same sensitivity, confused sense of hurt, and profound anger at its core. It would be a well-meaning exercise in empathy with absolutely no teeth whatsoever. That's what Lupe's "Bitch Bad" is, ultimately.

So while Lupe’s deconstruction of language, and the consideration of contexts, should be lauded—hell, that's the reason why his "Hurt Me Soul" belongs in the pantheon of great rap tracks—the reason why "Bitch Bad" isn't great is because the only thing going for it is good intentions.

And if good intentions automatically made for good music, Up With People would be Black Sabbath.

Respectfully, Lupe: if you’re looking to start a dialogue, you may want to start with your fans who think nothing of calling a writer a ‘fag’ for not liking a song whose message revolves around not calling people names.

Just food (and liquor) for thought. Make of it what you will.