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BREAKING INTO THE BOYS CLUB

Cardi B Makes her Impact on Hip Hop by Being One of Three Female Rappers Charting Solo Tracks in the Top 30 This Decade

Love & Hip Hop Alum, Cardi B, might be on her way to being a household name. Her first commercial single, Bodak Yellow, has been steadily climbing the charts since it’s debut June 16th, and now solidifying it’s place on BIllboard’s Top 15. She shares the rank with her male hip hop peers, French Montana, Dj Khaled, Post Malone, Kendrick Lamar.

Before Cardi played her cards as a burgeoning hip hop artist and reality show star, she made a name for herself through Instagram and Snapchat chronicling her days as a popular stripper in the South Bronx. Her distinct, raspy Bronx accent and unapologetic attitude towards her lifestyle made her popular amongst New York circles, catching the eye of Mona Scott Young. Cardi made her debut on Love & Hip Hop: New York in 2015, only to stay for one season. She has also made an appearance on show, Being Mary Jane in late 2016. Most recently, huge hip hop power players, Drake and Migos co-signed Cardi by inviting her up on stage during Veld Festival and OVO Festival this past week. A monumental moment for a dancer from the South Bronx. 

"With Cardi, we see the inception of a woman who uses her charm and personality in tandem with her sexuality."

As Cardi begins to reinvent herself as a major hip hop contender, the most striking observation is the disconnect between male and female hip hop artists in the industry, most obviously the support they receive from the community. Most often, the come-up for female rappers is toe-in-toe to a grassroots effort, much like a political campaign. We all generally see a star on the horizon and actively cultivate to see it’s full potential. Cardi was weaponized when she appeared on Love & Hip Hop: New York soon after making it clear she did not intend to stay on the show. The hustle mentality are the eyes and ears of hip hop along with female consumption taken from an aggressive male point of view. Miami rapper, Rick Ross has numerously teetered the line of consent in his lyrics and most recently in an interview with The Breakfast Club, Rick Ross states why he hasn’t signed any female rappers to his label MMG;

“You know, I never did [sign a female rapper] because I always thought that like I would end up fucking the female rapper [and then] fucking the business up,” Rozay said in the interview. “I’m so focused on my business. I gotta be honest with you. You know, she looking good and I’m spending so much money on the photoshoots…I gotta fuck a couple times.”

Although he eventually apologized for the comments, the sentiment remains the same within the music industry as a whole. Latent misogyny allows rappers like Rick Ross to say comments like that so freely. Almost all female rap artists in the last two decades have used their sexuality on one way or another to sell records. For almost a decade Nicki Minaj has been the only trailblazer as a female rapper. What Nicki Minaj does, sets a precedence to what other female rap artists do. The Standom culture has only divided viable competition who “compete with their fave”. Cardi B’s fast rise to fame has been an affect of public’s need for honesty and transparency among celeb culture. In a line in Bodak Yellow, she raps, "Got a bag & fixed my teeth, hope you hoes know it ain't cheap” is a simple line that is relatable to quite a large amount of people who admire her or her lifestyle. She doesn’t refrain from being problematic as she acknowledges her faults and takes responsibility for them. In her interview with The Fader, she states, 

“I do feel kind of guilty sometimes ’cause, like, I could buy myself a $5,000 dress or a $3,000 dress and I’m buying these things but I’m knowing that my cousin need money for the rent,” she says. “And then I gotta tell myself, Stop feeling guilty. You worked for this. When I was a stripper, I used to strip like six nights a week. I used to bust my ass. And I didn’t stop [working]. Until today I work just as hard as I did before.”

For a long time, Hip Hop has relied on features and remixes to gain public interest. Hard copy sells, streams and downloads is simply not enough in this current age of music. But for a new artist like Cardi, making a solo record on Billboard’s Top 15 a hard feat. As it remains today, she, Young MA and Nicki Minaj are the only female rap artists to break the number with a solo track in the past decade. With Cardi, we see the inception of a woman who uses her charm and personality in tandem with her sexuality. A vulnerability we haven’t quite seen in hip hop. Her comfort in honesty is what we love about her, and this is why I am a true Cardi believer.

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BRAZILIAN DRAG QUEEN & SINGER, PABLLO VITTAR DEFIES GENDER NORMS

Brazil has had quite the come-up with their artists transitioning over internationally. Their #1 export, Anitta has sold over 200,000 copies of her first and second album and has been streamed more than 130 million times on Spotify. Her latest collaboration with Pabllo Vittar and Major Lazer in the track “Sea Cara”, has pushed Vittar’s career further than ever, being the second most played song on Major Lazer’s latest EP. 

At only 22, Vittar, born Phabullo Rodrigues da Silva has already had 2 top selling hits, “Todo Dia”, “KO”, a full studio album, “Via Passar Mal”, which was released early this year with over 1 million streams on Spotify. Social media has also played a huge part in his success as being the most followed drag queen on Instagram.

“I am a man, gay, gender fluid, drag. I don’t like to label myself. Never considered myself trans. If people don’t understand, I can explain. I don’t act all crazy."

In his interview with Billboard, he mentions that Pabllo Vittar is his drag and that he still considers himself a gay male, but admits that people can be confused by the lines being blurred between transgender women and drag queens, because drag culture has always had a place for trans women to live. With Billboard he states, “I am a man, gay, gender fluid, drag. I don’t like to label myself. Never considered myself trans. If people don’t understand, I can explain. I don’t act all crazy."

Often times LGBT representation in the media is viewed in a very black or white form and with shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race being massively popular in the United States and Brazil with close to 1 million viewers in the United States and overall a 122% rise in viewership since last season. It's not hard to see how drag culture has defined Brazil, colorful avant garde female singers such as Carmen Miranda and Clara Nunes have inspired much of drag culture in LATAM. Recently, It has become more of a norm to see individuals who cross gender lines whiles maintaining their own identity in the media. Pabllo Vittar embodies that grey area you simply do not have to ‘get’.

In this fashion, drag art has become mainstream art, or it is most certainly working towards that. However, Brazil still remains one of the world’s highest murder rates per capita of trans individuals. Such violence that’s engrained in Brazilian culture is learned through ignorance, fear and religious ideology in the most conservative country in LATAM. On the flip side, Brazil also has one of the largest LGBT populations with massive turn outs to Pride events. 

Brazilians are generally confident and open in LGBT culture, and with same sex marriage being legalized in 2013, the fear as dissipated even more. According to Guinness World Records and being in the trenches of a Pride parade in Brazil myself, São Paulo Gay Pride is the largest in the world with an average of 4 million since 2009. So it’s no surprise how fast Pabllo Vittar has made a name for himself in the drag scene to most popular Queen in Brazil.

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CONFESSIONS OF AN 'INSECURE' MAN WITHOUT A PLAN

HBO’s Insecure is a show that follows the lives of young, 30-something black people in Los Angeles. Although the show is very woman-centric in its tone, we see as the second season progresses that the men on this show serve more of an importance than supportive side characters. Issa’s ex, Lawrence is a man who wants to do well and means well in his intentions, but completely misses the mark through is lack of cognitive understanding of how relationships work outside of his previous one.

Throughout the second season we see how Issa, her friend Molly and Lawrence are dealing with being single. Each of them dealing with it in totally different ways. What is most awkward and sad to watch is how clearly Lawrence is struggling with his feelings towards Issa while also exhibiting psychically and emotionally risky behavior. We see in the last two previous episodes that he tries to be honest to Tasha, but still continues to not be honest with himself by sleeping with Issa and ditching Tasha at her family’s cookout. Every choice he has made therein has been a coping strategy. Although he still loves Issa, he wants to control the narrative of their relationship, because he felt like he couldn’t control her actions when she cheated on him. 

With Tasha, Lawrence also seems to lackadaisically go through the motions of an empty relationship rather than putting in the work to make it fulfilling for both of them. He’s essentially using Tasha to cope rather than being genuinely interested in her. A moment of clarity is when he admits to not being over Issa, but goes right down the pattern of what we young people like to call “fuck boy” behavior. In this last episode, he engages in a threesome with two white girls who invite him back to their apartment. The girls aggressively come on to him, during this time Lawrence knew that the threesome wasn’t for him but went along with it anyway knowing full well he was being fetishized in a negative way.

"Being sexually active shouldn’t be frowned upon by any means, however participating in such behavior shouldn’t be a way to disguise emotional instability."

During the scene, it was necessary to show Lawrence’s friend Chad root for him in that moment in a light-hearted way adding to the comic relief of the show. Chad’s character seems to be a reflection of male egos and the way we put barriers on men being emotionally open. In an earlier episode, they are apartment hunting and come across a three bedroom they are interested in leasing, Chad mentions how Lawrence can use both rooms “a room for you and a room for your feelings”. Great scene, but a sad a reality of how men like to communicate with each other in turmoil. Additionally, a lot of men fail to recognize how they lack being accountable for one another. Not having male friends to confide in as a foundation to process emotions in a healthy way only leads Lawrence engages in the behavior because society tells him it’s a male’s privilege to do so. 

Being sexually active shouldn’t be frowned upon by any means, however participating in such behavior shouldn’t be a way to disguise emotional instability. A lot of people were quick to call Lawrence a ‘fuck boy’ after last episode including myself, but does this behavior make him a “fuck boy” or just confused in processing his feelings towards his ex in a society that tells him not to?

Conversely, Issa is processing the same emotional baggage, but sets her sights on being an intentional “ho” or going through the “ho phase” she never got a chance to have. While neither of them seeking therapy or solace in being single. Typically black people relegate therapy to the mentally ill, when most of us need it on a daily basis. You can say both Issa and Lawrence are coping in the same way, but through different emotional outlets. Issa’s range in knowledge of being sexually active has been limited to her ex for at least the past 5 years, so her idea of wanting a ho phase is very superficial and short sighted. Being in a ho phase isn’t something that should be intentional. It should be liberating as a form of sexual expression rather than coping with an ongoing emotional issue. 

Because of this, Issa wants to mold her life like play-doh into something she just chooses as a way of coping. She wants to be an emotionless sex-bot and she is not that type of girl. It’s evident when she meets with her Tinder date she prematurely announces to her friends she’s going to sleep with only to be severely criticized about her psychical appearance and voice and then ditched thereon. 

What really sets the tone for this show is the message. The show’s title says it all. Previously, Adventures of an Awkward Black Girl, now Insecure. We see now that its not strictly held to the producer, show runner and actress, Issa Rae, but to everyone who lives in a world of expectation over reality.

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BRAZILIAN DISSONANCE OF EXPORTED CULTURE

One of the main reasons for my relocation to Brazil has been the lack of perspective as an American. Brazil has a very rich cultural history, one that is very similar to American history, but also differs in intentions surrounding immigrants and blacks living this country.

As Americans, our idea of multiracial cohabitation has been through our own lenses. The majority of São Paulo is Afro-Brazilian and a large portion of them don't identify as black, rather moreno or mulatto; a person of biracial descent or a lighter skin tone. This colonial affect mirrors a lot of American society which idolizes blackness closer to whiteness. One major theme I've encountered is the persistent tense political climate between the middle-lower class citizens and police. Additionally, Feminism and the black pride movement have become very popular within the last 6 to 7 years, and with the popularity of social media, the access to specific cultural information of the western world is more available.

Although the Brazilian population is not majority white, Afro-Brazilians make the majority of the lowest economic class. I've found through talking with various young people here that, there seems to be a lack of perspective from the government, military police and it's citizens. The 2016 Olympics in Rio allowed the economy to surge creating leverage for a thriving middle class. But with the constant heavy handed police brutality and racial discrimination, Brazil's middle class would only suffer only leaving room for non-black wealth in the upper class sector. 

Recently in São Paulo, the current mayor João Doria, who is also called the Brazilian Donald Trump, has made is clear of his position to "clean up" the city by targeting homeless Paulistanos and cultural graffiti also known as Pixaçao. Another thing I noticed exploring the inner city are the constant reminders of a "Cidade Linda" or "Beautiful City". The Metro is exceptionally clean and offers English translations on certain trains as well as high traffic areas of town. These areas are essentially more tourist friendly and run along the main metro stops as you can get to where you're going fairly easily. I myself am not a tourist in the effect I never found the tourist experience enjoyable as per what I'm about to explain.

Many third world colonial countries and especially parts of the Caribbean do this as well. This masking of what the city REALLY looks like. It is like a literal mask. My immediate impression was that of São Paulo being unusually clean, even for the amount of people who live here. Though, I thought that the urge to encourage more international traffic from the 2016 Olympics was a direct cause. But the more I explored the city, the more I saw the immense amount of homelessness, panhandling youth and prostitution clear as day and outwardly normalized. My reflection of São Paulo being an NYC clone was almost right on the money. This deception has pushed Afro-Brazilians and Paulistano's general well being to the side to create a fever dream of a city. However, please don't get the wrong impression of my analysis of this city. It's just as beautiful in all it's imperfections. But there seems to be a problem with the image it portrays and exports internationally vs. what the city and country really goes through. From this dissonance it has made a profound affect on Millenials and the young Generation X'ers here in São Paulo. Almost every person I've met, (of all backgrounds) has had a strong opinion on the racial divide here and every woman I've talked to seems to be deeply rooted in the feminist movement being transposed in replace of the image Brazil actively exports internationally; a white or exotic template of beauty, sex and utopian paradises.

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NO SLEEP 'TIL SP

If you've ever felt a drop of disillusion, you would understand the feeling of wanting to leave everything behind to find something new. My journey as a writer and creative has gone through many changes. One thing that has always stayed within myself is the drive to expound on the black experience, which is often viewed as a monolith. I was lucky enough to have a few friends living in Brazil to help make my journey much easier. There is a lot of truth in just allowing yourself to jump in the deep end without expectations. I'm a bit of a control freak, so opening myself up to the unexpected was stressful. Some of the more unexpected issues would not have been remedied by over planning. I've had to spend the night at the airport in Florida, my flight to Rio landed late which caused me to miss my flight into São Paulo. I had to think on my toes in a country where nobody spoke english. In just the last few days, I've had to test my patience and motivation to keep going. A moment of clarity came full circle when I was sitting at a taxi stop at the Tataupé Estaçao in São Paulo with all my luggage and 19% battery life as the sun was setting, my roommates came to pick me up, and I felt a high i haven't experienced in months.

My first full day in the city was surreal in specific moments when I was forced to take myself out of my head and experience what I believe to be genuine generosity, love and acceptance from a place I have rarely been in America. I have only felt like a foreigner a few times in my life and for this I realize how privileged I am as an American in a terribly immoral country who willingly reaps the benefits of that immorality. Americans for the most part can afford to be apathetic in ways others can't.

Water conservation is a huge issue here in Brazil. Most women here are proud feminists and millennials are more politically vocal on both sides of the spectrum. It's refreshing to see that people are motivated to make their country better because they genuinely love where they live despite it's faults and rampant corruption. 

I spent my first morning talking about politics over Brazilian coffee with my roommate. Our language barrier made things a bit difficult, but it strengthened our connection to knowing more about each other's country's politics. He mentioned how Paulistas want to mimic their city in some sort of earth 2, black mirror, the upside down version of NYC. I see a lot of NYC in São Paulo and often get sentimental at the thought my time in New York and imagine I'm in some sort of Brazilian barrio uptown. Other parts of the city I felt like I was in the French Quarter of New Orleans with people drinking liquor in the streets, uncles and cousins loudly conversing at the local bodega, young college students in deep discussions over politics. The theme of Paulista life – everything ties back to culture, politics, racism and sexism. They speak with passion and interest with everything they do because they live for the experience.

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“Girl In Yellow” |  Photography by Keith Majors

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Dear Diary: May 23, 2017

Senior prom and not-so-lazy summer breaks.

By Lilly Bralts-Kelly and Cammy. Illustration by Lucia S.