Source: Andy Willsher / Getty
It’s almost surprising the number of men, famous and common alike, who have come forward to publicly bash Cardi B. and Megan Thee Stallion’s new song “WAP.”
Almost.
Then again, perhaps I should never be surprised at the lengths men are willing to go in order to keep a woman’s sexuality suppressed, unless it’s in direct relation to their personal pleasure.
And while Cardi and Megan are specifically speaking about having sex with men, there is not a single man in the video. So it becomes a song about a woman not only tapping into the power of her own body—but bragging about it.
To be honest, a woman that liberated is often scary to men—for one reason or another.
Perhaps, this type of empowerment is terrifying to men who seek to remove a woman’s agency and autonomy during sexual encounters.
Enter Cee Lo Green.
Cee Lo, the 45-year-old rapper, singer, performer from Atlanta, Georgia, emerged suddenly to offer his opinion on the state of Hip Hop—as it pertains to women specifically.
And he mentioned some of the biggest names in rap music right now: Cardi B., Nicki Minaj, and Megan Thee Stallion.
During a recent interview with Far Out magazine, Green said, “A lot of music today is very unfortunate and disappointing on a personal and moral level. There was once a time when we were savvy enough to code certain things. We could express to those it was meant for with the style of language we used. But now music is shameless, it is sheer savagery.”
And in case there was any confusion about which artists he was referencing, he made sure to call the names later in the interview.
“You have the ‘Heads of State,’ like Nicki Minaj or someone who is up there in accolade: success, visibility, a platform to influence. Nicki could be effective in so many other constructive ways, but it feels desperate.”
And not to single Nicki out, Cee Lo made sure to drop Megan and Cardi’s names as well, suggesting that they might be in competition with Minaj.
“Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, they are all more or less doing similar salacious gesturing to kinda get into position. I get it, the independent woman and being in control, the divine femininity and sexual expression. I get it all. It comes at what cost?”
Whew.
This type of opinion may have never garnered my respect. But given the source, it’s more than just misogynistic and annoying, it’s hypocritical.
Cee Lo may believe that his lyrics about sex are more coded but they are not.
When he was singing with the group Gnarls Barkley, he recorded a song called “Necromancer,” featuring lyrics like this:
Very naughty
Necrophilia
Without a care
I’m compassionate about killing her
I’d have my way with what’s left of the will in her
Cosmopolitans and cocaine and an occasional pill in her
When she spoke
I saw a spark
But it was dark so
I drove her home
When she died
Sexy suicide
Sweet nothings for the Nam
You feel where I’m coming from
Have no fear
Everything’s is fine
My girl parties
All the time
Did you hear what I said
With this ring I do wed
A body in my bed
She was cool when I met her
But I think I like her better
Dead
There are some people who might have been able to dismiss this as just a simple song. But this is more like art imitating life for someone like Mr. Green.
In 2012, Green was accused of slipping a woman an ecstasy pill, without her knowledge, while they dined together at a sushi restaurant. The woman later woke up naked in Green’s bed, unaware of how she got there.
Green argued that the “sex” the two had that night was consensual. Even though, by his own admission, he admitted that the woman was not conscious throughout the night.
In 2014, you may recall that Green had to temporarily deactivate his Twitter account after arguing his innocence by tweeting that if a woman was unconscious she could not be raped.
The tweets read:
“People who have really been raped REMEMBER!!!”
“If someone is passed out they’re not even WITH you consciously! so WITH Implies consent”
Like bruh the base level understanding of consent is just not there.
How can a woman consent to sex if she cannot move or speak?
But Cee Lo is not after consent. He’s trying to please himself. And since he’s told us and shown us that he prefers his women lifeless, it should come as no surprise that Megan, Cardi, and Nicki telling men what they want and how they want it would offend his sensibilities.
Cee Lo’s charges of rape were eventually reduced to felony assault. He pled no contest and was sentenced to three years probation and 45 days community service,
Must be nice.
Cee Lo Green gets to actually rape women and not only is he a free man, he has the audacity to speak about how women rap about the consensual sex.
Smells like misogyny.
Cee Lo could have saved a lot of time and even think pieces if he’d simply said he hates women and left.
