by
Black Girl With Long Hair
Okay, okay… I know I am *super late* on this, but many a natural were pleasantly surprised when Drake gave a shout out to natural hair in ‘Poetic Justice, a Kendrick Lamar single released in January.
The lyric is:
I mean I write poems in these songs, dedicated to the fun sex
Your natural hair and your soft skin, and your big ass in that sundress (ooh!)
Good God, what you doing that walk for?
When I see that thing move, I just wish we would fight less and we would talk more
You can catch the lyrics at the 3:17 mark.
Rap music is notorious for promoting one standard of beauty (light skin), and even speaking against different beauty ideals, so it’s definitely a change of pace to hear this — especially from a top rapper.
What do you think ladies?
33 Responses
He is definitely speaking about a light skin East African woman with a loose (sterotypically “pretty” hair) curl pattern. Nebby (the girl he is referencing) is his ex who fits this description, not a dark girl with “kinky” natural hair. Two totally different things.
Not all East Africans are the same, the ones I have met are dark skinned and are mainly from Kenya and Somalia. East African does not only just refer to those from the Horn of Africa but Sudan, Uganda, Malawi, Rwanda, and Tanzania etc are also part of East Africa. This being said, East Africans don’t all have loose curls. Most Kenyans, Ugandans, Tanzanians etc have kinky hair. Plus the model Alek Wek is Sudanese aka East African, however she is the exact opposite of what you are saying East Africns are.
Rap music influenced by white media moguls who employ sellout artists only talk about one thing because they are still bounded and chained.
Highly recommend we start listening to HipHop. Artists who realize our beauty are
Pharaohe Monch
Rakim
Common
Nas
Talib Kwali
Mos Def
Asheru
Little Brother
The Beauty Within by Dead Prez is one of my favorite songs celebrating natural hair and black beauty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvYDhRyW9Xw
No indirect or hard to decipher appreciation, just straightforward love for black women and natural hair. It’s kinda old (2011, I think) but I hope it got some love on here like this 4 line lyric from Drake did.
i just watched the video and read some comments lol apart from the hate random lost people come to give you have people arguing on whether it’s right or not to talk only about black women because ” the other races of women are beautiful too he should be praising women in general”?. while i’m all about seeing beauty wherever it is i also highlight that you only have that debate when black women beauty is praised. when they are forgotten i wonder if those people arguing remember them?
however great video!
Exactly other races of women can open a magazine or hell talk to any black man to hear their glory and praise.
I feel like this is a lotta hype over nothing…The lyrics are just lyrics, maybe if I actually say Drake with a kinky-haired chick….I’d be more excited…
I don’t need drake saying he likes natural hair (whatever his interpretation is) for me to like mine or feel comfortable with it.
And from the women he’s been with he seems to like straight hair like the rest of them.
Meh.
I think Drake is one of the less despicable/offensive rappers out there but I didn’t find these lyrics particularly uplifting…I see him talking about a specific girl’s natural hair, but not about natural hair in general. then again what do I know about rap lyrics? -_-
what’s wrong with that? At least he was able to find her beautiful with the natural hair, assuming he really means “natural” hair, and not relaxed hair that is “natural to men” because it grows from the scalp.
What I am trying to say is that according to MY interpretation of this verse,Drake is praising this woman for her natural hair because he finds it pretty ON HER. It’s kinda like the people who compliment my natural hair because I have the face/texture/color/styles to PULL IT OFF. But they do not like kinky-coily hair in general. Or Drake could just mean that the girl is wearing her own hair and not a weave.
So, no there is nothing wrong with that…it just may not be as uplifting as people would want it to be. Anyways, only Drake could tell us what he means… 🙂
I thought he was talking about not having a weave…anywho, I like the song
i don’t really know drake’s music except his duos with rihanna (what’s my name and take care haha) and from some comments i read it seems like he stated a preference for some kind of natural beauty. i don’t know if it’s true but i think it’s refreshing to see a popular rap singer who upholds a kind a beauty that differs from what most of his counterparts usually love.
At first I thought it was cool that he was shouting out natural hair, but when I saw the video he was with a girl who didn’t look fully black and not even really East African. Like he was talking about her hair being naturally straight.
we can’t base it on a video, the director picks out who they play scenes with and everything. It has nothing to do with what he was thinking about when he wrote it.
Maybe I’m just being an asshole but I have the impression that he only means a specific type of natural hair. He has talked multiple times about having a thing for East African women, who are beautiful, but often have looser smoother curl patterns. So it’s really not that grand to be upholding the existing beauty standard.
well at least he is speaking about natural hair and upholding african women even if he has a preference for some of them.most east african women don’t have “light” skin so they don’t fit the usual rap ideal of beauty (light skin and weaves). let’s be positive about this and see it as the beginning of a (possible) era where beauty in all its forms will be celebrated.
Yes, let us take what we can get. *sarcasm*
Honestly, I’m not jumping for joy because some rapper validated natural hair or a look that’s not usually praised by the rap community. Popular culture will always be 10 steps behind reality and I think family and friends complimenting and valuing the diverse beauty in the black girls and women in their lives will forever be most important. Just my opinion.
@deb i agree with you that family and friends’ opinions matter more. however we can’t deny the impact of celebrities on young people. some of them follow what they see on TV so from time to time it’s a bit refreshing to see a celebrity that shows a bit of a more respectful image. that was my point. but anyway you’re right.
While it’s true that the light skin preference may not be upheld you can’t ignore the implications of black men specifically liking looser natural hair. This is only expanding the “I only like mixed/light women with loose curls” to “Oh yeah those girls over there can come too cus they have loose curls aka they don’t have that nappy stuff.” Preferences are not created in a bubble. This preference is built on the perception of them not being like “those other black women”.
And to be clear I’m not saying this makes East African, mixed, or light women are less black because of of their hair. The aesthetics of the diaspora is so varied. But the preference for a more European/less stereotypically black features exists. I am completely black and have light skin. It is insulting for a black man to ask me if I’m mixed with something. Because they think I have to be, since they find me attractive. The attractiveness must be because of something else. It’s in spite of my blackness. It is not a compliment for them to devalue blackness and other black women that have other features different from mine. Yes, East African women are beautiful. Yes, mixed women are beautiful. But just regular old black girls are beautiful too.
I don’t agree with just taking whatever we can get and I won’t applaud him for doing the same old thing. I’m not here for it.
well i get your point. i guess beauty perception starts at home with education so we’ll have to rely on it to teach young people that beauty comes in every shades and hair types.
@JL Bingo!
That man is just too fine.
LOL i caught on to that and i wasss like he like Natural Hair …. HEYYY!!!
He’ll always be Wheelchair Jimmy to me.
LOL I always remember Jimmy. Never slips my mind. =)
This is precisely why I can’t take him seriously. Haha
but if he can rap, he can rap, right?
oh my damn yes
Old school Degrassi FTW!
He did end up walking again though.
I heard that too and thought “Oh, how sweet”. Hate that I might come across as a Debbie Downer though to some of you but honestly, the fact that he might be simply saying the girl’s just weaveless is possible. Not most black women’s natural hair texture but if it grew out of her scalp, it’s hers, so it’s NATURALLY hers. Believe it or just continue to not accept that some black women can grow long hair. Even before the natural, “loving-me-for-how-God-made-me” epidemic a lot of us naturally grew long hair. Relaxed or natural. And he could’ve been just talking about a girl with her own hair w/out weave, that happens to be short. Black women can wear their hair any texture that they want. =) And we’ll look beautiful, any way.
Drake gave me another reason to love him 5 or 6 months ago when I first heard ‘Poetic Justice’. <3