Lupe Fiasco Responds, Via Twitter, To Chicagoist
By Jon Graef in Arts & Entertainment on Aug 25, 2012 3:00PM
To the man's credit, Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco tweeted a link out to our critique of his song "Bitch Bad," which also doubled as a simple reminder that some Lupe Fiasco fans may want to calm their proverbial nuts RE: homophobic language.
Fiasco's response—which is made with integrity and in good humor—is as follows:
(If nothing else, I think this will go much better than Lou Reed and Lester Bangs back in the day).
This sentiment is odd: "[the song was] never meant to be a complete thesis, just my incomplete point of view to be completed by 'the more informed.'" It's unclear who 'the more informed' are meant to be.
I find it hard to believe that the guy who thought up this, and whose forthcoming album is literally titled Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1 would have an incomplete point of view about anything. But perhaps that's a moot point.
Moving on. Read from bottom to top. It's worth it, if nothing than for some autobiographical context for the song:
In Art Brut terms: He's just talking to the kids! More on this later.
Lupe continues:
Based on the video for "Monster," I don't think you want Kanye or Rick Ross coming near this topic. (No disrespect to either individual). Also, dude: this is so besides the point. I listen because I want to listen to all the things. ALL THE THINGS!
It's interesting to think of "Bitch Bad" as a children's song or at least song aimed at and for children, the five-year-olds listening to age inappropriate hip-hop. Perhaps this is where some of the criticism of the song for slut-shaming and being simplistic come in. He's just introducing archetypes, to make the stories easy to follow. Like for kids.
As a result, there are some lines that are unclear: "He caught in a reality, she caught in an illusion." If both the boy and girl are victims of culture, why is his victimhood a reality, but hers is an illusion? Probably because no five-year-old--the intended audience for the song--would actually pick up on this shit. They'll pick up on "woman good" at least. That's not for nothing.
I also think these comments from readers must be considered.
Here's where problems arise:
Boycott your fans? What would that even entail? Also: it's not "censoring" anyone just to come out and say, "Hey, cool it on the slurs. They generally undermine my message of tolerance and compassion. K, thx, Lupe." You obviously can't control who will be a dick, but you can make an appeal. You probably have a very complete point-of-view about this. Share it. Preferably with these fans.