I was shuffling through the old ipod the other day when I happened across “Dreams” from Lil Kim’s first pussy popping rap opus Hardcore. Not having listened to Hardcore in a while, I started listened to the album in its entirety at which point I had bit of an ah ha! moment. For awhile I had been musing the hypersexualization of women; this past decade has without a doubt seen an explosion in women not just celebrating their sexuality, but going above and beyond sexual ownership and and empowerment and becoming, in many cases vapid empty vessels purely of sex. Not sensuality, not seduction, but raw, unobstructed sex.

Before video hos started pumping their asses and bosoms full of silicone and saline for the purposes of popping them into every fish angle lens available; in the early 90s, sure you had chicks in videos, but its wasn’t the candy coated ass buffet you see now. On the rap scene, you had Latifah, Yo Yo and Co. spitting shit and hanging with the big boys, displaying a certain lyrical dexterity as well as a clear cut feminist identity, which granted, could arguably be considered preachy. Salt-n-Pepa came along and fused it all together, the original keep it real women; they called you out, educated you, empowered you and never let you forget their sex appeal was on point and could serve your needs as only a woman can as well.

Then Kim came along, legs spread, all pussy galore, and what motherfucker!, we here now! She rapped from her punani, all bad girl with that feminist twist, playing with the big boys, but from a different level. Whereas the rap mamas of yore attacked their male counter parts from a seemingly more cerebral level, Kimberly Jones went on the attack using her sexual prowess as the weapon, hitting below the bet with what she had below the belt. Women were no longer sex kittens, even sex objects to be admired and masturbated too (although that was certainly still welcomed), naw bitches were now sex machines, the epitome of all your wet dreams deferred. The early wave of this new found sex/feminism, namely Kim and her BFF Fox Boogie, were able to craft a careful balance between this new found hypersexualization and a certain new breed of feminism that included sexual boasting on a level never explored by a woman not working as a phone sex operator and a somewhat twisted form of empowerment. Young girls and women found a voice to say what they wanted and needed, they didnt ask for it because they thought they deserved it; they demanded it because they thought it was their god give right.

Yet somewhere the baton was dropped, as the second generation after Kim & Fox of both rappers, video heffas and teenage chickadees missed the empowerment message and only ran with the over sexed machine message. Women went beyond just proving their prowess and I can hangness to the boys, but began to only view themselves as items of sexual fixation. From Khia’s “My neck my back” to Jacki O’s “nookie real good” to Supahead not only writing a book about her exploits, but proudly taking a nickname that stated she was literally nothing more than a sex toy, or, walking jizz jar if you willl.

Trick sand Trina displayed this in ‘99 with “Nann Nigga”, a tit for tat boast of who could throw down harder in the bedroom, that put Trina on the map, and legions of girls and women allowed the example set years ago. Videos hos, in choosing to call themselves vixens instead of even models, also choose to go the hypersexualized object route; purposefully, and incorrectly, putting their sexuality and nothing but, on display, and taking no responsibility for the repercussions of such actions. We didn’t want equality on the boardroom or the divying of household chores. we wanted superiority in the bedroom and that was about it. Suddenly the only thing being demanded by the women of the Hip Hop generation was that we have our necks, backs and ass cracks licked.

The ball was dropped. Or maybe we’re too busy tickling them to realize and take responsibility for the repercussions of these actions. Instead of “vixens” parlaying their ass airtime into positions of actual power, which, fyi ladies- would include getting into positions where you direct, cast, produce videos yourselves. Women in the porn industry have figured out ways to maximize and control their own images so they called the shots and collect a larger portion of the pie. The women in Hip Hop need to, and very easily can, do this as well. Instead of playing victims (Karrine), or simply selling it because its perky enough to sell- own it. If you got it, flaunt it by all means- but OWN it. Control it. Charge a high ass rent and demand to paid in full and made partner when your dues are paid. The last thing we need is another generation of little girls thinking their only worth is how much they can arch their back, how loud they can get heir ass to clap or how wide their legs can spread.