The Blue Side of Hip-Hop - Chris 'Preach' Smith

Tyga.

I’ll admit, I was tempted to let the news that Tyga, the often overlooked
member of the Young Money camp and brother to Yung Berg, had not
only launched a porn site, Rack City XXX, but was planning to direct AND
star in a movie, slide as a non-issue. But in talking with a couple of people,
I saw that besides this having more than one heaping helping of comedy,
this sudden business move was more than business.

Sex has always had a boudoir chair in hip-hop. When you look at the comedic
stylings of Dolomite, as well as the career of Blowfly, it’s been about as brazen
as a crack-addled denizen off Hoe Avenue in the Bronx. Big Daddy Kane is
revered for his smooth sex appeal as much as his lyrical prowess, to the point
that he even got down with Madonna AND Naomi Campbell for Madonna’s ‘Sex’
book in the early 90’s. Akinyele’s most memorable single? ‘Put It In Your Mouth’.
He wound up riding the triple X train to near obscurity. Kool Keith has definitely
indulged that split personality, claiming a lyrical style that focuses primarily on
sex as ‘pornocore’ and releasing an album, Sex Style, that explored it to the
fullest. I remember working in the Times Square area years ago and seeing the
Ultramagnetic MC around those lurid video stores during that time. Some may
remember Funkdoobiest, the LA-based trio mentored by Cypress Hill’s DJ Muggs
who drew on triple X-rated subjects for a bulk of their music. Son Doobie, the
lead MC even starred in a flick himself and called himself the ‘Porn King’. And of
course, various DJ’s and MC’s make the strip clubs another day at the office and
their second home. I remember being up at the infamous Sue’s Rendezvous way
back in the day and seeing Fat Man Scoop host festivities there. Porn has always
been that aspect of hip hop we accept in small doses.

That’s not to say that it isn’t troublesome to some degree. For one, moves like
Tyga has made aren’t without financial implications. Let’s be frank, he won’t be
making real money off of it. If you’re charging 25 dollars a month for your site,
in an era where people can snatch that content off the web for free if they so
choose, your name alone isn’t going to generate traffic. Especially if you’re still
an afterthought to a good deal of rap fans outside of the tattoos and snapbacks.
It’s an indulgent fantasy that does reinforce the undercurrent of misogyny that
exists within hip-hop, in an overt way. Female MC’s, if they were even inclined
to, wouldn’t make such a move. They may draw upon their sexuality and play
to men’s fantasies, i.e. Lil Kim, Foxy Brown and H.W.A., but they wouldn’t go
there. Why? Because as women, they already are ASSUMED to be in that position
unless their persona and skills dictate otherwise. The female MC with skills
does suffer in a sense somewhat because of it. And then you also have to look
at what this brings about in the form of crumb-snatchers who look to use the
tool of porn & hip-hop to make money. How many flyers have you seen from
‘entertainment’ groups you’ve barely heard of looking for video models? Or the
Craigslist ads? It exposes the exploitative roaches and inflicts damage on the
naive and unsuspecting young women out there.

Tyga’s move may make you laugh. It may just be something you look at and
go, ‘whatever.’ And you’d be right in both instances to do so. But it would be
wrong not to understand that porn and hip-hop have always been bedfellows.
And even that can give birth to things both entertaining…and disturbing.