Niggas have been trippin' a lot lately, bringing all the Louis Vuitton luggage with them. Let's unpack, shall we?
Yes, let's.
Amber Rose is having both the best and worst last few weeks ever. Now she seems built for all of this so "worst" is more of a "nuisance" than it implies she's holed up somewhere crying over the shenanigans of former famous exes Kanye West and Wiz Khalifa. Unless you've been under a rock, you already know the Amber Rose vs Khloe Kardashian dustup that resulted in Kanye West stating that he had to take like 30 showers before Kim would go out with him, which was an irony not lost on anybody considering that his now wife is kind of a famous jumpoff. I'm not even trying to be mean, that's purely #factsonly. After dating Kanye, she dated and then married and then filed for divorce (is it finalized?) Wiz Khalifa and that has been a wee bit more messy, culminating with the recent release of the Juicy J featuring Wiz Khalifa song "For Everybody" in which Wiz takes aim at his estranged wife. That might be a little bit too clean of a wrapup on where we are today with this triumvirate, but hey, word counts matter.
I've seen lots of arguments, especially after Kanye's comments that go at this idea of "how could you talk like that about a woman you used to love?" This is pure biship. EVERYBODY talks about their exes. Just because you aren't doing it publicy doesn't mean you aren't dragging their names through the mud privately. While I understand the sentiment, you lose ALL moral highground when you talk about your ex privately and then publicly subtweet or subIG or subFB or however niggas sub these days. Just because you don't say their name doesn't mean people don't know who you're talking about. Wiz never said Amber's name in his verse. Does that make it okay since its how most niggas operate? He's a rapper. You gon' get rapped about. Big Sean dropped "IDFWU", one of the most petty songs in the history of pettidom - I think its brilliant, by the by - and never said his ex's name? Does that make it okay? Exes slander exes. It's what folks do. If shit was going well it wouldn't have ended.
Now, many of us ATTEMPT to not be AS disparaging as we can be when talking about our exes under the cover of respecting the relationship. But shit, we don't know what happened between Wiz and Amber short of the story we got that he got caught smashing twins or his (alleged) rampant infidelity. They might truly hate each other and the behind-the-scenes back and forth is getting to him. You've seen Wiz's jeans, that man is an emotional wreck. No man whose jeans are that tight isn't going to emote. It's impossible. Wiz just so happens to have a much bigger platform, so technically he can't "sub" without everybody knowing who he's talking to. Is that his fault? No. The game is cold. My overall point here is that while I think Wiz need not write verses about Amber it's not out of respect for his likely messy breakup…
…it's because there are kids involved. Kanye needs to shut the fuck up talking about Amber Rose unless he only has nice things to say or at least non-negative things to say. Amber answered a question, perhaps kept it too real for some and then Kanye, when asked, decided to take aim by doing a bit of slut shaming (we'll get to slut-shaming in a minute)…again, the irony and convenient amnesia. But Kanye has no truck here. He dated her. It didn't work out. You got out without any permanent responsibility to her and then married the woman you had posters of up on your wall. Congratulations Kanye, in the world you live in, you won. Shut the fuck up.
Wiz on the other hand is a whole different story. Look, every last person alive who was dating somebody and it went terrible and you break up should be thanking their lucky stars that they had no kids. Stop being mad. You got out free. Maybe you lost a windshield. Maybe you got you got your heart broken. And maybe that was your fault. Sucks for you. But ultimately, you can move on and never deal with this person ever again if you so choose. This is a win.
However, the second that busted nut lands on the moon, the entire game changes. Kids require people who may actively hate one another to deal with each other for AT LEAST 18 years. And that's assuming both are responsible adults who want the best for their children. That shit isn't easy, b. People are petty. And when you're forced to engage with somebody you can't stand for personal reasons (regardless of whose fault it is) because of a child that you share, things can get dicey. Everybody thinks they're above using their kids against another person. And many folks are able to be adults. But there are a SIGNIFICANT number of people - both men and women - who use their kids as pawns and collateral damage. I have no idea if that's happening here between Wiz and Amber, but considering how they broke up and his subsequent birthday pic and statement and now this song, it's not ENTIRELY out of the realm of possiblity that they really do not fuck with one another at all. And the kid is ending up in the middle. And when kids end up in the middle of grown up beef, shots get fired. Publicly and privately. Pain is real. Pain because of your children? That's the pain that makes you act out.
To quote Chris Rock: "I ain't saying he should have did it, but I understand." It's just stupid because nowadays these songs live forever online. One day, their son will hear how his father felt about his mother. At that point, who knows how his son will feel about his father then. How the fuck is he going to explain THAT to his son?
And even in that understanding comes the "why bro????" devaluing of this woman you dated and married into her stripperdom and basically saying she's a ho who is just out for your money. You married a woman you loved who at one point happened to be a stripper. Same with Kanye. What is the point of trying to make her seem like a woman who was beneath you and not worthy of the slot you so apparently so graciuosly offered to her when you dated (and in Wiz's case married) her with intentionality? The stripper thing is an easy target. Turning strippers into money grubbing whores is also low hanging fruit. But that shit is getting old. While I don't think "you used to love her" is a good enough reason to not talk shit about somebody - circumstances are what they are, and peoples gon' people - reducing her to a tired trope because your feelings are hurt, or worse, just because you can and folks won't hold you accountable to it seems bitchmade. Ultimately, Kanye and Wiz look like bitches. Amber has seemingly taken the high ground with both of them and they look like petty bitchmade niggas now who are taking shots unnecessarily at a woman who seems willing to live her life while men and women far and wide stare in amazement at her body. She's winning even when she's "losing" as Kanye (who probably won't do much more reckless talking about her when prompted) and Wiz take shots.
Every last one of us who has seriously dated anybody probably has TONS of ammo we could use against anybody. You date people, you get to see the inside of the closet. If you're together long enough, you get the vulnerability and the super annoying shit. You get all of the mess and if both parties play fair, maybe you end up married despite it. Considering who they all are, Wiz, Kanye, and Amber probably have MORE than enough ammo to fill a few books. But the attempted slut shaming here just seems out of bounds. And mostly, ridiculous considering who is doing the shaming. It's hustling backwards.
It's how Kanye West and Wiz Khalifa continue to win at life but in this instance, both lose.