This week, comments got heated on Who Can Make a Rape Joke?, inspiring a forthcoming piece, “Who Can Write An Article About Who Can Make A Rape Joke?”

Art says:

To say that Foxx’s Blame It has a “date rape theme” is a misinterpretation of the song at best and disingenuous at worst.

Amanda Hess says:

@Art: Can I entice you to change your mind with the following lyrical sample from Blame It (On the Alcohol) Remix?

T Pain:

Shawty didn’t you know? / it’s going down, we can go and kick it like judo / You know what I mean / Shawty got drunk, thought it all was a dream / So I made her say ahh, ah aaa

So, Shawty was so passed out she thought she was dreaming, so T Pain confirmed she could consent by forcing her to say “ahh.” AAHHHH! It must be real hard to get that noise out of a passed out drunk woman that T. Pain is fucking.

Joe says:

There’s no chance that Tribe Called Quest would ever EVER be considered a gangsta rap group or a group capable of making a gangsta rap song. Do you personally know any black person’s middle name? Because if you did that would probably mean that you were comfortable with hip hop and could distinguish between the genres. You do an excellent job of identifying misogny in everyday life, you just happen to be dead wrong in this regard.

Ryan says:

I agree with Joe. A Tribe Called Quest is as close to gangsta rap as the Beastie Boys are. Actually, I think the Beastie Boys are a bit closer to gangsta rap than Tribe.

Amanda Hess says:

Joe & Ryan –

I would not describe A Tribe Called Quest as gangsta rap, and I’m sorry if that wasn’t made clear.

My point about Tribe is this:

When “The Infamous Date Rape” was released, reviewers called it “just plain misogynistic.” Since then, however—”fifteen years of gangsta rap later”—reviewers have been forced to parse the misogyny of many, many rap songs that are (unlike Tribe) straight-up, unapologetically misogynistic. So through the lens of gangsta rap’s mainstream popularity over the past 20 years, the song now looks pretty positive to women.

Art says:

Amanda H., I still say you’re reaching. I will certainly admit that the T-Pain verse you quoted is disgusting and describes what I would consider date rape. No argument from me there. If you want to call T-Pain out for the verse…fine. If you want to call Foxx out for allowing the verse on his single…fine. BUT, I still say your assertion that Blame It has a “date-rape theme” is either either misguided or disingenuous. One verse does not a theme make. Further you wrote, “The song is, essentially, an attempted date rape by a movie star [Foxx] and a dude who sounds like a robot [Pain]“. The problem is there are no lyrics from Foxx that describe date-rape. In fact, other than the Pain verse you quoted, there are no others period.

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