S. Samuel
Maybach Music Group rapper Rick Ross is catching a ton of heat right now after his lyrics from fellow Southern hip-hop artist Rocko's "You Don't Even Know It" have been closely reexamined.
In his verse, the “Boss” references the usage of Molly to help drug a woman, bring her to his place and, essentially, rape her.
What do former Republican politician Todd Akin and current Miami rapper Rick Ross have in common? Rape flubs, apparently. Maybach Music mogul Ross is currently drowning in a torrent of negative press thanks to his date-rapey lyrics on the track “U.O.E.N.O.,” which was released on a mixtape from rapper Rocko back in February. The ill-advised portion of the song in question go a little something like this: “Put molly all in her champagne/She ain’t even know it/I took her home and I enjoyed that/She ain’t even know it.” (Entertainment Weekly)
Ebony writer Jamilah Lemieux immediately took aim at Ricky Rozay over the controversial line.
“What’s so scary about Ross’ line is that this is something that a good number of men and boys actually do. Maybe a rap lyric won’t inspire an impressionable young dude to go and try to flip a couple keys, but normalizing this sort of rape? I see it. I see it and it scares me. Because he’s tied to a major label and because the rape reference was so blatant, it’s likely that Ross will issue some sort of apology or come forward to say that it was just a joke — “Don’t really go out and do that now, y’all!” To that, I’d say … the title of his last studio album was God Forgives, I Don’t and, well, that’s one thing I have in common with the ex-cop. Not unless he commits himself to actively working to change his tune, and if that happened, he probably wouldn’t be signed to anyone’s major label anymore. So while this sister is praying for him and urging him to be some positive person that I’ve never observed him to be during his rap career, I just hope he goes away and fast.” (Ebony)
Huffington Post writer Rosa Clemente shared a similar stance in her write-up.
“This lyric is obviously promoting rape. Not just date rape, but rape and rape culture and violence against women. We live in a society by the time that African American women and Latina women are 18, almost half of them — 44 percent — have been sexually abused.” (Huffington Post)
The controversial line has sparked so much attention that a petition is currently floating around online.
In the petition “Rick Ross, Rocko, Maybach Music, and A1 Recordings: Remove ‘You Ain’t Even Know It’ from distribution & publicly denounce rape,” which was created by Brittany Packnett, demands are being made for Ross and his collaborator Rocko to pull the song from airwaves while attempting to hold hip-hop music accountable for its content. “We demand that Rick Ross, Rocko, Maybach Music Group, and A1 Recordings pull and publicly denounce the song ‘You Ain’t Even Know It’ for its blatant and unapologetic glorification of the drugging and rape of women,” the change.org petition states. “Hip Hop music was created to give a voice to the voiceless. Given this history, these labels and their artists should take more seriously their responsibility to lead by example.” (Christian Post)
Listen to Rick Ross’ verse:
