Sexist Hip Hop

A song currently on the top ten of the music charts depicts typical gender roles and stereotypes of men and women in today’s society. This song is called “Whatever You Like” by the famous rapper “T.I.” The speaker in this song is male and the subject of the song is a female. The theme of this song is about a woman that can live a rich and glamorous life if she is involved with T.I and his famous lifestyle. The woman is constantly told she can have whatever she likes, and throughout the song he uses sexual remarks that convey the only way she can have whatever she likes is if she is sexually available. The words in the chorus are as follows:

Stacks on the deck/ Patrone on ice
And we can pop bottles all night
Baby you could have whatever you like (you like)…
Late night sex so wet so tight/I’ll gas up the jet for you tonight
Baby you can have whatever you like…

The line “Late night sex so wet so tight” is an example of how the speaker is suggesting that the only way this woman can have whatever she likes is if she engages in sexual activity with him of course. It also shows that he thinks of the woman as a sexual object and a gold digger, convincing her that she can have whatever she like, because of course she wants it as suggested by typical stereotypes. The qualities here wanted in a woman are mostly associated with sex and appearance. Throughout the song, he says “I want yo body, need yo body,” suggesting that the woman’s body and sexuality is her success in being able to have “whatever she likes.”

The male speaker of the song is definitely the one with the agency here. He has the money and all the riches, and the woman has to be the one to receive these riches via passivity and sexual openness. If the woman is not being passive and submissive, then the male has the power to break the relationship off and not flourish her with all these goods he talks about in the song. These lyrics conform to the idea that women are gold diggers and are looking for men with money. It also conveys that the only way a woman is satisfied and considered to be treated good is by being flourished with goods and having a man be the bread winner. For men, this reinforces the norm that men should be rich and powerful. This song really doesn’t challenge any stereotypes. The reinforcements are clear in the sense that the song is portraying money with happiness, sexual availability as a key to success in women and most of all, men as more powerful than women when it comes to money and success. The main message listener may get from this song is that living the glamorous and rich life will make you happy, and women in particular should be looking for a man who can make them happy via money and a rich lifestyle.