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Claire Lobenfeld is a music journalist and culture critic based in Los Angeles. She is an editor at music discovery and tech site
FACT Magazine and previously held staff positions at the now-defunct longform music site Wondering Sound, as well as at
Complex Magazine and Stereogum. Covering pop, rap, and R&B and the intersection of gender in music, her work has appeared in
Rolling Stone, SPIN, Jezebel,
The Village Voice, and many other publications.
“Nasty Women: When Vulgarity in Rap Music is Liberation Language” When you google “vulgarity pop music,” the three follow-ups at the bottom of the first page are “top 10 most vulgar songs”, “vulgar definition,” and “Nicki Minaj”. Minaj does not push too far from rap’s “bad language” status quo and when she is especially crass, it’s with a wink. “Anaconda,” the lead single for her third album
The Pinkprint, was both lambasted and celebrated for its hyper-sexual lyrics, especially about the song’s subject matter: Her own bottom. But her cackling, “I got a big, fat ass” taunts are more than flirtatious; it’s a declaration of body acceptance.
Minaj is preceded by Lil Kim and Foxy Brown, who were both met with shock and enthusiasm when their raunchy debut albums were released 20 years ago. Both were packed with demands for sexual satisfaction and critiques of lackluster lovers, but Kim’s
Hard Core overtly commanded oral sex. Decades later, cunnilingus is still taboo in rap.
Foxy’s work was as sexually aggressive. Although she does not have the same enduring celebrity as Kim does, she is the clear forebear to Chicago up-and-comer Cupcakke who uses the same fearlessness. Cupcakke has a lyrical grasp on both sexuality and emotional pain, using the same facility on a song like the celebratory “Best Dick Sucker” as she does on “Pedophile,” a soul-bearing track about her own child abuse.
Commingling serious and sexual was Salt ‘n Pepa’s proprietary business before it was anyone else’s. Their work, particularly the album
Very Necessary, dealt with sexual empowerment via singles “Shoop” and “None of Your Business” and the repercussions of ignoring safety on the interlude “I’ve Got AIDS”.
I would like to present a paper tracing the history of “vulgarity” in rap music performed by women artists and when and how sexually explicit lyrics and content are informative, empowering, and paradigm-shifting.