Prepare for a rap battle.

[Enter Ellie stage left]

So we were sitting in the newsroom and I was telling my dear friend Elissa about the “Love Me” music video by Lil Wayne. We all wanted to hear the song, so I played it and summoned Elissa to come take a look. She was appalled to say the least. Women in cages, swimming in blood and just loving Lil Wayne, she could barely watch a second of it.

This started to make me think, how come I’m not as insulted as she is. Am I some sort of misogynistic woman… uhhh no. Then I think, maybe I don’t notice the lyrics, and I know that’s not it because I listen to Too $hort and love every minute of his sexual prose.

I think I just don’t take it seriously. All these hyper-sexualized images of women are fucked up, but that’s kind of the joke. I don’t really think Lil Wayne has a hoard of women in cages back at Wayne Manor, and I really don’t think he’s showering them in blood all while he’s getting his dick sucked.

These types of images and lyrics probably aren’t meant to insult women all over and I highly doubt that’s the mission of Juicy J, 2Chainz and Yeezy. I mean they all probably love their mothers, right? So that would make them sons of bitches. Bam! Roll reversal.

All I can say is while I’m cleaning my room, stuck in traffic or doing pretty much anything, I love being able to blast some hip-hop and pretend to act like I have enough ass to twerk. And sure, Too $hort can call me a bitch, but that’s it — he’s the only one. I mean once you start listening he warns you, “One things for sure, YOU WILL BE CALLED A BITCH.”

Listen at your own risk. *drops mic*

[Enter Elissa stage right]

Saying I’m not a fan of rap lyrics is an understatement. The only way I can get through a rap song by Lil Wayne, Too $hort or Three Six Mafia is if I block out the lyrics entirely. I will admit that I get down to hip-hop when I’m at a bar or at a club with my friends. It’s at those moments, that aren’t in my day-to-day schedule, that I can let go a little and just dance the night away. Although the lyrics are still in my mind, I try to keep in mind that I’m having fun and trying to let go.

The artist’s lyrics include actions like make it clap, bounce that ass, drop it low and she does.

Most of these songs display violent and abusive lyrics that that could mirror a police report. They depict horrible ways to treat women. As a woman, I would never let anyone talk to me in the ways these songs do.

These are the songs that are on my activity feed on Spotify and Facebook. My co-workers also love blasting them in the newsroom on our down time. If it were up to me, I’d play some T-Swift, perhaps some Foster the People. It’s at that moment that I hear a rapper call a girl a b**** that I plug in my headphones and do my own thang.

And what about how these songs affect the younger generations in middle and high school?

Studies have shown that degrading lyrics lead to early sexual experiences, according to the Post-Gazette.com. The Rand Corporation Study states that the more often teens listen to sexually degrading songs, the more likely they are to have sex at an early age. It seems that every young person in high school talks about getting drunk or their getting pregnant. That’s ALL the girls who were a grade or two younger than me were doing. They were all blasting The Pack and had a clique called “The Bops.” They all had T-shirts with Baby Bop (the Barney character) as well as demonstrating that they would bop their heads… while giving head. I’m sorry, but I don’t want my kids, if I end up having them, grow up in a society that is so obsessed with sex, where sexual comments and derogatory language is everywhere they turn.

I’m aware that throughout this blog I sound like an uptight girl living in San Francisco, who doesn’t really sound like fun…at all. But this is just my opinion and I can’t understand how someone would want to talk to a woman the way these lyrics do. I will continue to roll my eyes and listen to my Black Keys or Ellie Goulding. *drops mic*