Bitch Bad: Popular Hip-Hop Song by Chicago Native Rapper, Lupe Fiasco
Monique Morris
March 22, 2013
Bitch Bad
“Bitch Bad” is popular hip-hop song performed by Chicago native rapper, Lupe Fiasco. The song depicts the word bitch in the many forms that it is used in today’s urban society. The song starts with a dark weary synthesizer and a heavy deep 808 drum pattern that reflects the sound that is used in many of today’s popular club/party songs. The words to the song shine a stereotypical light on “bad bitches,” but there is a twist. Fiasco highlights 3 significant points which is the basis of the song, “Bitch bad, woman good, lady better” (Fiasco, Bitch Bad). By producing this song, Lupe Fiasco points out the relevance and impact that the term has on modern day youth. Fiasco also wanted to make an attempt to steer people in the opposite direction from the normal stereotype of the well-known and overrated term ‘bad bitch.’
As the first verse starts, Fiasco brings listeners into the world of a young male, around the age of 4 or 5 that picks up on the music his mother listens to that has references of women as being bad bitches. Fiasco describes how the mother sings to the song playing and her son is listening to her sing along to the lyrics. Fiasco states the more the son hears his mother play this type of music, he develops a certain complex on how he views women that use the “bad bitch” phrase. By the son being such a tender age, he receives the song based on what he sees in his mother instead of the derogatory way the song is describing women. The young boy forms his own opinion of the bad bitch theory. His own mother, whom he looks up to and admires, calls herself a bad bitch, so he depicts the term “bad bitch” to be positive. To him it resembles a strong, independent, respectful woman because this is how he sees his mother, as opposed to a woman that is weak, dependent and unstable. The hook to the song “Bitch Bad” illuminates the 3 categories of women: bitch, woman, and lady. “Bitch bad, woman good/ Lady better, they
March 22, 2013
Bitch Bad
“Bitch Bad” is popular hip-hop song performed by Chicago native rapper, Lupe Fiasco. The song depicts the word bitch in the many forms that it is used in today’s urban society. The song starts with a dark weary synthesizer and a heavy deep 808 drum pattern that reflects the sound that is used in many of today’s popular club/party songs. The words to the song shine a stereotypical light on “bad bitches,” but there is a twist. Fiasco highlights 3 significant points which is the basis of the song, “Bitch bad, woman good, lady better” (Fiasco, Bitch Bad). By producing this song, Lupe Fiasco points out the relevance and impact that the term has on modern day youth. Fiasco also wanted to make an attempt to steer people in the opposite direction from the normal stereotype of the well-known and overrated term ‘bad bitch.’
As the first verse starts, Fiasco brings listeners into the world of a young male, around the age of 4 or 5 that picks up on the music his mother listens to that has references of women as being bad bitches. Fiasco describes how the mother sings to the song playing and her son is listening to her sing along to the lyrics. Fiasco states the more the son hears his mother play this type of music, he develops a certain complex on how he views women that use the “bad bitch” phrase. By the son being such a tender age, he receives the song based on what he sees in his mother instead of the derogatory way the song is describing women. The young boy forms his own opinion of the bad bitch theory. His own mother, whom he looks up to and admires, calls herself a bad bitch, so he depicts the term “bad bitch” to be positive. To him it resembles a strong, independent, respectful woman because this is how he sees his mother, as opposed to a woman that is weak, dependent and unstable. The hook to the song “Bitch Bad” illuminates the 3 categories of women: bitch, woman, and lady. “Bitch bad, woman good/ Lady better, they
Cited: Fiasco, Lupe. “Bitch Bad.” Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1. Atlantic Records, 2012. CD. Fiasco, Lupe. Interview by Rob Markman. “Clinton on Climate Change.” MTV.MTV News, 22 Aug 2012. Web. 11 March 2013. Hogan, Marc. “Lupe Fiasco Mansplains Misogyny on Counterproductive ‘Bitch Bad’.” Spin Magazine. N.P. 26 June 2012. Web. 11 March 2013. <http://www.spin.com/articles/lupe-fiasco-mansplains-misogyny-counterproductive-bitch-bad>. Viera, Bene. “Who’s the Victim in Lupe Fiasco’s ‘Bitch Bad’?” The Root. 25 Aug 2012. Web. 19 March 2013. <www.theroot.com/buzz/victim-lupe-fiasco-bitch-bad>.