On the 7th August, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion dropped what is arguably the hottest hoe anthem of Summer 2020: WAP. If for whatever reason you’ve been hiding under a rock and have no idea what the acronym stands for, I suggest you give it a quick Google. Clue: it doesn’t stand for Wireless Access Point.
The music video, which broke YouTube’s record by amassing the highest number of views in 24 hours for an all-female collab, takes the viewer on a journey through a funhouse full of trippy visuals, wild animals and the occasional cameo from a fellow female celebrity. Over a sample of Frank Ski’s 1993 Baltimore club track “Whores In This House”, Cardi and Megan confidently rap about what it means to be a sexually empowered woman.
Whilst the song has undoubtedly been a hit it has also stirred up a whole load of controversy, reminiscent of when Nicki Minaj released Anaconda, another unapologetic celebration of female sexuality, in 2014. Once again, critics have come out of the woodwork to wag the finger of shame, which we seldom see directed at men. From Republican candidates to Carole Baskin, seemingly everyone has had their say. The general consensus seems to be that a) Cardi and Megan have set feminism back by several hundreds of years and b) the youth of today are being corrupted by having to listen to such filth.
If the sexually explicit nature of the song is the issue - as it seems to be for many - it does beg the question as to why there isn’t such an uproar when it comes to men rapping or singing about sex, often in a violent or derogatory way. Why can Eminem freely rap tasteful lyrics such as “Slut, you think I won’t choke no whore / ‘til them vocal cords don’t work in her throat no more?” (Kill You, 2000) and still build a successful career with hardly anyone batting an eyelid? Isn’t Rick Ross’s proud declaration of date rape, “put Molly in her champagne / she ain’t even know it / I took her home and enjoyed that / she ain’t even know it” (U.O.E.N.O., 2013), a worrying influence on the youth?
Although both men may have endured backlash individually, it certainly hasn’t affected their careers. Unfortunately, they are just two examples among many, many lyrics of the same nature that haven’t received the same widespread condemnation as WAP. Compared to the likes of this, what is it society finds so salacious about WAP? It’s literally just two women enjoying their own sexual prowess. But perhaps that’s precisely the problem.
Another factor we can’t ignore in this whole debacle is race. The sexism that women of colour endure is also racialised. There is a long and racist history behind the hyper-sexualisation of Black women, which is still prevalent to this day.
In many performances fronted by white artists, from Miley Cyrus’s We Can’t Stop (2013) to Iggy Azalea’s Work (2014), we see Black women used as exoticised props-which no one seems to have a problem with. As many Black women have pointed out, in a society where they are so routinely hypersexualised by others, seeing not just one but two Black women taking ownership of their sexuality may be a shock to the system.
It is precisely because of this backlash that we need more of what WAP is providing us with-unfiltered and unapologetic conversation about female pleasure, especially that of women of colour. There is a reason why the orgasm gap exists and why female masturbation is still largely taboo-women are routinely shamed for talking about and for demanding their own pleasure. Cardi and Megan have opened up the conversation once more.
Words by Sarah Nabi
Featured Image courtesy of Chelsi Peter via Pexels
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