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I wonder what Beyoncé would say about O.T. Genasis’ present shenanigans.
No really. I know that sounds crazy as hell. Still, considering she, a prominent artist and Black woman first, helped boost his public profile by incorporating his song “Everybody Mad” into her set at Coachella two years ago, I can’t help but ponder what she might think of him going full-fledged bully on Keyshia Cole, her sister Neffe and their mother Frankie Lons, all over Keyshia standing up for her music. Maybe she would be disappointed. I know I’m pretty disgusted.
What started off as a light disagreement over his Crip remix of her hit “Love” has turned into months of harassment towards Keyshia, and seemingly culminated in him stooping quite low to drag her mother’s struggles with drug addiction into a back and forth with the star’s sister. He has only settled down in his attacks because Neffe wouldn’t back down from hers, calling him out, and rightfully so, for “coming for a woman who has said nothing about you!”
But the same displeasure people have with O.T.’s behavior now, they should have had months ago.
Truth be told, his “Cuz” remix was funny, and he likely wasn’t looking for trouble by making it, but once the singer shared her desire to not have her song altered in any way, that should have been respected. He didn’t have her OK. She had every right to initially have his YouTube video taken down and to send a cease and desist, because it was a complete lyrical reworking of the track. Though he may not have made money off of it, he garnered a lot of attention from it. But that was her work. She wrote that song, it helped her get her first record deal, and it is one of her biggest and most well-known hits to date. If she didn’t want anyone using it for jokes or attention, that should have simply been understood. Initially it was business, not necessarily personal.
“I really would like my classics to be left alone. Is that wrong as a artist?” she said on her Fox Soul show last year. I love everybody that sings my songs. I done had Cardi sing my songs, Bruno Mars, Trey Songz singing it in the club. But they keep my lyrics the same, you understand what I’m saying? How I’m going to get paid if you making new lyrics and you ain’t sent me out a check or anything like that?”
“There was no, ‘Hey how you doing? What’s up? How you feel about this?’” she added.
But not only did O.T. take offense, so did people on social media, who said she should have lightened up. There are a number who still feel that way. It was the same move people pulled when singers Jacquees and Ella Mai found themselves at odds over his remix of her song “Trip.” When she, as well as her label, made known their displeasure with him performing her song and allegedly monetizing it to help propel his own career, for some reason everyone had an issue with that. That’s how we end up with situations where both Jacquees, O.T. and their fans could get away with trolling these women over what belongs to them.
That is to me, is what is so disrespectful about this whole thing. O.T.’s issues with Keyshia started because she stood up for her work and didn’t sit back and let something slide just because people pressured her to. It’s the same way many male artists, including legends like the late Prince, have been about their own work. If you even tried to do a cover or reworking or sample of any kind of Prince’s work without asking, you were going to regret it financially. Ask Arrested Development.
But when a Black woman stands up for herself and her work, it’s seen as being too sensitive and even “bitter.” And that opens the doors for what we witnessed, which was months of shots at Keyshia, which would eventually turn into unfounded remarks about her vaginal hygiene and jabs at Frankie just because O.T. felt he could get away with that. No one had a problem with any of it until that happened.
This is all over her standing up for herself and her craft, all over something he started. But it was enough of a slight in his mind to try and make a mockery of her, her sister and their mother because he assumed that because she’s from the Bay area and he’s from Long Beach, she would be down for whatever. It became so easy to attack and harass her, because it is generally easy to attack and harass Black women online and in real life. Too many people allow it (including fellow Black women) and are entertained by it. And in this case, for too long, people felt like Keyshia deserved it because “Love” was “just a song” and it was “not that deep.” But again, it was her work, her time, her words and her rights as an artist to protect. So let’s learn from this. When a Black woman speaks up and does what she has the right to do to protect what’s important to her, even if one can’t relate, more people need to start respecting and defending that. Maybe, if we do, in the future we won’t have to watch one grown man after another belittle, bully and argue with Black women seeking respect.
Hit the flip to see reactions to all this drama from folks on Twitter and Instagram:
