A recently released video titled "Watoto From the Nile — Letter to Lil Wayne" opens with three preteen girls explaining why the rapper's lyrics offend them, and then launches into a song in which the 10-year-old star questions why the rapper has made a career of degrading black women, and pleads with him to use his platform to deliver a more socially responsible message.
Memorable lines include:
Mr. Wayne, I must complain/about what you do and what you say
I’m a girl that's only ten/But for my sisters I must represent/How old are you? I hear you're 20-something … I guess that means that you're a man
My daddy tells me I'm a queen/But you call women other things/It makes me mad/I can't pretend
The song gets disturbing/Please, Mr. Wayne, can you stop all the hurting?
I hear you got a little girl/Does she get the same referral?
I hope that we can work together/and help our people/that's what we need/one love/forget the greed
The criticism is constructive, too. "Watoto From the Nile" provides some examples of artists the rapper could consider emulating (Lauryn Hill, Jill Scott, Public Enemy, Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder, to name a few).
Who knows whether Weezy himself will get it, but we're not sure that matters. The video's most important impact just might be as a wake-up call to those of us who tend to shrug off misogynistic lyrics because our relative privilege and success (or just our adulthood) make us feel immune to them. Meanwhile, we forget about their impact on others who are more vulnerable.
If a child can be a little more thoughtful and hold entertainers to higher expectations, maybe we can, too.
Read more at AOL Black Voices.
In other news: Fox News Suspends Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum.
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