KatsOutTheBag

       A lot of what is wrong with the world is that not all girls support rachet girls. When Cardi B emerged onto the hip hop scene, there was an overwhelming need to shut her up and place her right back into the stereotypical world of the sassy black woman. Although I may be guilty of pointing the finger, I too was not in any way ready to hear this outspoken Bronx native on the Billboard 100. Cardi B was simply too ratchet and best consumed in small portions that made her Instagram videos go viral. She was unapologetically funny and spoke her truth that was relatable to girls all over the world but most importantly black and brown ratchet girls. But just as we thought Cardi B would be another Instagram sensation, the lyrics of Bodak Yellow would be echoed all over the world. With hits after hits, it was clear that Cardi did not exactly find her place in hip hop, she bust through the doors and brought her own damn seat to the table. As her bops hit the charts, valley girls now mimick Cardi B's infamous "okkurrrr" and white frat boys awkwardly dance to "I Like It."

I became frustrated and began to think, "oh great, just another hot commodity they can take from the culture." Despite all my efforts not to knock over this white girl practically throwing her body around at a New York City bar to "Money," I could not help but scowl myself for claiming an artist I once could not stand to associate my identity with. It is clear that these same white girls that love Cardi B for her explicit content would not dare befriend their local rachet black girl or even sit next to her in class. I so desperately wanted no parts of Cardi that I reflected back the hatred and humiliation white America and the black community had branded us as to the one woman who spoke our truth with such pride and rage. These sentiments were not just surface level, they tug at the problematic relationships black girls have with ratchet black girls that make our success as a community hindered and limited. Historically linked to the South, ratchetness "both play and resistance that is unconcerned with social propriety, often engages in profane social behaviors (like overtly sexual dancing or unapologetic use of profanity), and adamantly refuses the aspiration to be respectable" (Cooper 2012). With this definition in mind, it is perfectly fine to dance modestly and bop your head to some old school Beyoncé, but to think that holding oneself back from black and brown woman's ratchetness will make you any more respectable to the eyes of white America or even the boys up the block is just not true. What Cardi, along with the founding mothers of hip hop, has done is take what is ours and making the world pay for it, figuratively and literally. Now that the world is opening its palms out to our ratchetness (for profit of course), it still breaks my heart that black and brown girls in academia, middle class, or just simply in denial of their blackness will not open their hearts to the friendship of black and brown ratchet girls. There is no greater force than the friendship and support of black women and denying oneself of that on the bases of whether or not you should sing along to the lyrics of "Act Up" by the City Girls is tragic. You do not need to listen to female rappers talk their shit but take pride in their hustle because our victories are shared and unique to our lived experience. So next time you roll your eyes at your local ratchet girl on the train, simply smile or mind your business because that girl was once Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar and now she is a Grammy award winning artist. - 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​