New Track Highlights by MK xyz, Ashnikko, & Alina Pash + Body Shaming in Hip-Hop Strikes Again
7/13/20
Happy Monday, everyone! Can you believe we’re already halfway through July?? Anyways here’s the latest playlist, some new track highlights, and a rumination on body shaming.
Playlist Highlights
“Pass It” - MK xyz
I'm calling it now, by the end of 2020, MK yxz is going to be a buzzed-about name that’s on everyone’s lips. This past week, the young Florida native released her newest track, “Pass It”, which features rapper G-Eazy and is her most hip hop laden song to date. It wasn’t too long ago, however, that the rapper and R&B songstress found herself experimenting in a science lab while pursuing a degree in biochemistry. But as fate would have it, in 2019 MK released music that earned her a grassroots fan base, and she was quickly signed to Epic Records thereafter. Minus the Caribbean flavor, MK definitely has that genre-mixing Rihanna vibe, as she can deliver both the swag and ferocity like on “Bitch Better Have My Money” and smoothly carry a sultry tune like on “Needed Me”. “Pass It” is a bass heavy track over which MK shows that she’s unafraid of who she is, immediately making it clear that she is a queer woman of color in total control: “I’m just tryna fuck, there ain’t no emotions”. The macho, masculine energy that MK gives off on “Pass It” serves as a stark contrast to the delicate and feminine side she exuded on her previous single, “Lost” which was a very Toni Braxton-esque R&B ballad. Get you a girl who can do both, I say, and I look forward to seeing what stops this 22-year old will put out next.
“Daisy” -Ashnikko
North Carolina’s resident blue haired weirdo Ashnikko is back with her 3rd single of 2020, entitled “Daisy”. Ashnikko first gained recognition when in 2019 her single “Stupid”, a duet with fellow femcee and personal favorite of mine, Yung Baby Tate, wnt viral on TikTok, the official venue for making or breaking new artists of our time. Her new song dropped together this past week with a re-release of her previous single “Cry”, which was an electric guitar heavy rock rap duet with fellow multi hair colored weirdo, Grimes. “Daisy”, however, shies away from the rock sounds in favor of a more interesting electronic and experimental sound coupled with the bratty and boastful lyricism of Ashnikko. Just read the lyrics of the chorus and try not to feel just a little bit more confident: “Fuck a princess, I'm a king/Bow down and kiss on my ring/Being a bitch is my kink/What the fuck else did you think?” According to Ashnikko in a press statement, her new single “is for the brats (brattiness being a recurring theme in my music). It’s about this absolute boss dominatrix vigilante character of mine. She rids the world of rapists and throat punches the patriarchy, leaving daisies behind as a calling card of sorts. She's sexy as fuck, wears only platforms, latex, and blue diamonds.” Take that and let “Daisy” help you be the boss bitch that you are this week.
“N.U.M.” - Alina Pash
Alina Pash’s new track, “N.U.M.”, released this past week, starts off with the rapper taking a humorous jab at herself when she spits: “Nobody understand me, say yeah if you understand me, say yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah...do I need to speak slow, whatever you want, no”. Perhaps that’s because Pash is from Ukraine, from a small town of just 8,000 people called Bushtyno, and she frequently wavers between rapping in her native language and English. In addition to her hybrid lyricism, Pash often incorporates and fuses traditional ethno music sounds and influences into her hip hop songs as well. Though you may not have heard of Pash, she is no stranger in her home country, having come in third place on the sixth season of her country’s version of the hit show X-Factor. When she released her first music video, for the song “Bitanga” in 2018, it blew up in Ukraine and by now has racked up over a million views on Youtube. Also In 2019, Alina rapped a variation of the Ukranian National Anthem in front of the country’s president and thousands of others, in honor of Ukrainian Independence Day. On “N.U.M.”, short for “nobody understands me”, Pash displays incredible intensity and assertion in her rapping, spitting in her native tongue so fast that even if I spoke the language I’m not sure I would catch all the words. The tempo-keeping beat is also incredible, as what sounds like a traditional Ukrainian folk instrument mixes with a booming bass, birthing a uniquely sounding sensation of intensity and fervor.
News & Rumors: On The Oppression Of The “Big Girl”
They say that the video killed the radio star, and I say that it also brought about the exponential rise of body shame in the music industry. Not that the problem didn’t exist before, however with the increased visibility of an artist on screen certainly came the increased pressure to look a certain way, eroding the days when one could be revered for the power of her voice alone. That being said, this past weekend Twitter erupted into mayhem after a series of tweets from former NFL linebacker Kyle Quiero were perceived as shots fired at legendary hip hop/soul songstress Jill Scott’s appearance and size. The smackdown transpired after Quiero initially tweeted “People are attracted to JILL SCOTT!?” And if that first comment wasn’t proof of his intent, Quiero proceeded to follow up with several more tweets: “So it’s an energy thing. Got it.” followed by “& by no means is she ugly. But y’all really sexually aroused by her, huh?”
Fortunately, social media’s response to Quiero’s postings was savage, with tons of people including multitudes of celebrities clapping back at the athlete in defense of Scott. Famous replies included ?uestlove’s “Jill Scott is the sexiest human EVER. Sue Me.”, K. Michelle’s “Jill Scott is literally one of the sexiest singers of my time. I hate dead brain jocks.” and Tory Lanez’s “You can’t trust a nigga that don’t find Jill Scott attractive.” Collectively and effectively cancelling the athlete that most people had already forgotten about anyways.
While this particular fallout is a clear lesson that no one should ever come for the much beloved Jill Scott, it nevertheless joins the endless encyclopedia of moments when women in hip hop have had to deal with distorted perceptions of beauty and body image. While sure, it is nice to see that in this particular moment the majority of the internet can now come together in a defense of a “bigger” woman, what begs to be explored further is why this predicament in hip hop still persists on a daily basis, and why it is exclusively geared towards women. In fact, look through hip hop history and you’ll have no problem finding a plethora of instances in which larger sized male artists were not only accepted without the blink of an eye but even revered for their size. Think Fat Joe, Fatman Scoop, Biggie Smalls—male rappers who were able to propel to stardom by in fact marketing their corpulence. Now try and name me a female artist who did that.
At this point you could be thinking, but what about Missy Elliott, who was able to thrive despite her appearance? But think a bit longer and sift through some chronological photographs and you’ll observe her size diminish over time, not to mention that she cleverly covered up in cosmic costumes to distract from scrutiny. Da Brat? The 1994 rapper debuted in excessively baggy sports jerseys and jeans but by the early 2000’s was squeezed into being a bikini donning video vixen. Though I could scroll through countless more femcees through history, I do have some hope, in finally seeing the landscape for what female rappers can look like begin to loosen up. But that’s not to say that we still don’t have a long way to go.
Today we have the likes of Lizzo, for example, but there is still a reason why she is heavily marketed as “The Body Positive Rapper”—she’s charged with the burden of having to right the wrongs of those who suffered before her. And she is still far from being attack free. In fact, just recently Lizzo was dragged into controversy for no reason at all, when the slender femcee, Saweetie, innocently posted a video of herself indulging in a gigantic monster of a cheeseburger. Literally, the video had nothing to do with Lizzo, but fans called out how much of the reaction to Saweetie’s consumption of the unhealthy snack was extremely positive, while the reactions to a video of Lizzo working out from a couple weeks prior were full of commenters deriding Lizzo’s size and weight—all while she was literally exercising for her health.
Nevertheless, today I am starting to see an influx of new artists gaining recognition who don’t fit the cookie cutter female body mold, with the likes of CHIKA, alyona alyona, or Jucee Froot to name a few, and I do hope that we continue with and stay on this path. Do I think that this upward trend coincides perfectly with the downward trend of the necessity of the music video? Absolutely. But I can get behind that fact if it means that all women will finally have the chance to shine for their talents alone and for being exactly who they want to be.