Last night, I was supposed to go to bed by 11pm.
Then I went on Twitter and saw that Cardi B. and Megan Thee Stallion had released their new single, “WAP.” (I’m not going to write what it stands for because I am a Child of God! J/K — I just know future bosses could very well read this blog.)
I watched the first 15 seconds of the music video and was like (a) I am not grown enough for this; and (b) are they really rapping about what I think they are? Because the music video is the radio edit. So then I had to go listen to the explicit version.
And y’all… I truly am not grown enough for the lyrics, the finesse, the subject matter. But I fucking love this song. Not only is it exactly the late summer banger we needed. Not only are Cardi and Meg at their best lyrically. Not only did it provide us with quotes and visuals and maybe sex education we'll benefit from for the rest of our lives.
BUT THE WAY IT HAS SOME OF Y’ALL PRESSED SOLIDIFIES IT AS ANOTHER OPUS IN 2020’S FEMINIST CANON OF “BLACK WOMEN ARE UNFUCKWITABLE.”
There is no part of me that I can relate to I wanna say 90% of the lyrics in this song. (Hello, I’m single.) BUT THE ENERGY? I genuinely feel like I carry Big “WAP” Energy these days. I think maybe many of us have carried “WAP” energy (which has very little to do with your actual anatomy or gender, this bitch believes) our whole lives. And for that, I grateful to Our Lady of the Spicy Tongue and Our Lady of the Good Knees.
I’ve had a love affair with raunchy, ratchet rap music for a long time. “Back That Azz Up” will have me acting a fool in the middle of a wedding, a restaurant, a work event. I know all the lyrics to “Shake That Money” and when I die, I want, “BITCH, WHY YOU GOTTA SAY IT LIKE $HORT?” inscribed on my urn. While some of y’all wish to have the confidence of a mediocre white men, I aspire to have the swaggering audacity of Lil Kim’s verse in “Get Money.”
Black women rappers (and their white impersonators) have always rapped about their sexual prowess, just like Black men rappers have. This shit is not new, so IDK why some of y’all act like brand new. We only have Nicki, Cardi, and Meg because Foxy, Kim, Trina, and Khia came before them. The lineage is long. The WAP Energy been making y’all made for decades.
But what I have loved about the last ten years is how unapologetic and mainstream the celebration and appreciation of these types of rappers and their music has become. Women being open about how nasty they are in the bedroom, how proud they are of their sexuality, and how their sexuality is essential to their power in the world? Even if I can’t relate, I can stan.
But also, Black women’s sexuality — and I would argue Black femme folks regardless of gender and non-binary folks’ sexuality — is powerful and beautiful. So much of Black women’s ancestral knowledge and spirituality (yes, INCLUDING Afro-Latinx women) is rooted in our sexuality too.
So is “WAP” also a hymn? Maybe. And if it is, I leave you with this holy verse: “Put him on his knees, give him somethin' to believe in…”
Amen.