"Bitch Bad" by Lupe Fiasco

Lupe Fiasco, a very successful rapper from Chicago, is known for going against the grain in almost every aspect of life. His anti-establishment views from his personal life often spill over into his music. Initially, he had a strong dislike for hip-hop due to its vulgarity and misogynistic view of women, but developed an interest in it after discovering that not all hip-hop is the same. Ever since, he has been flipping the "rap game" on its head.

One of his proudest moments of his career was the release of his 2012 single "Bitch Bad". The single received praised from critics and other artists such as Kanye West and Janelle Monae. The single itself challenges hip-hop's use of the word "bitch" and its effect on children. The song is also a mockery of mainstream hip-hop as Fiasco even dumb downs his flow to match the simplistic and elementary flow of mainstream rappers. The title is a play on a common phrase used throughout hip-hop--"bad bitch"--which is used to describe a very attractive and voluptuous woman.


In the first verse, Fiasco discusses the effects of a single mother reciting the lyrics, "I'm a bad bitch", in front of her 5 year old son. Fiasco explains that since the boy is so young, he has an underdeveloped perception of women and he still does not understand what is exactly right or wrong yet. So the boy is learning to associate the word "bitch" with his mother and his view of respect towards women is now skewed.

The song's chorus represents female empowerment and a call to action to discontinue the use of the word "bitch" to refer to women as Fiasco raps "bitch bad, women good, lady better, they misunderstood." He is attempting to shift the mindset of hip-hop to start referring to females as women or even better ladies. He is demanding that women be treated with dignity and respect especially in the world of hip-hop. Fiasco is also targeting women who are fine with being referred to as a "bad bitch".


The second verse explains the effects that hip-hop music videos have on a group of girls aged 9 to 12.  Hip-hop music videos usually feature very attractive and voluptuous women dancing in a sexual manner and rarely shows their faces. The main focus is on their bodies and the rapper portraying the women as trophies and showering them with money and alcohol. Back to the second verse, the group of girls are watching videos on the Internet, most likely without parental clearance because they understand the Internet better than their parents. Fiasco explains how their young minds can be manipulated to believe that being a "bad bitch" is something they should aspire to be. He states that the girls are less worried about the rapper in the video, but are fixated on the women in the video. They began to believe that if they want to attract males that they have to emulate the women in the video to get what they want.

The final verse displays Fiasco telling his intentions of creating this song and merging the children from the previous verses. He immediately shuts down critics by saying that he is not using the song to teach children the word "bitch", but to use it against hip-hop norms and attempt to change the way people treat and respect women.

 The next line features the little boy meeting one of the little girls from the previous verses. Fiasco explains how the boy and girl both have different meanings of the phrase "bad bitch". The boy views the phrase "bad bitch" in a disrespectful manner, but the girl views it in a sexual way. In her mind, she thinks that he is attracted to her just because she looks the part of a "bad bitch", but the boy does not find her attractive because of the way she is dressed. The boy's first experience with the phrase "bad bitch" was with his mother so he is comparing how is mother used it to how the girl is using it. Fiasco explains that the girl is caught in an illusion as he raps "Bad means good to her, but she really nice and smart/ but bad mean bad to him, bitch don't play a part/but bitch still bad to her if you say it the wrong way." This difference in ideologies results in heavy miscommunication and can cause an entire generation to be heavily divided when it could have been easily avoided if parents were careful not to expose their children to certain forms of media at an early age.

Lupe Fiasco's "Bitch Bad" is call to action, especially for the hip-hop community, to discontinue the mistreatment of women. He effectively discusses the very possible consequences and effects of this mistreatment among today's youth. He wants to restore respect towards women in the hip-hop community and in society, in general.