Link to “Ratchet Molly Party”. Out of respect to the women in the video who do not want those images to be shown again, we are posting the song and not the video. Warning: Highly Offensive Language
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Trigger Warning
Dylan Leavitt-Phibbs and Malcolm Jamison (DAVIDBLAYNE)
A few days ago a video was released titled “Ratchet Molly Party.” I can speak for the women of Real Life Athena to state that this video/song’s misogyny coming out of OUR community hurt more than we could have ever imagined. This song and video was an attack on us as women, especially those women from Minneapolis who know the men involved in the video and consider ourselves a part of this community. The group “DAVIDBLAYNE” put out the video they claim to be “satirical.” The stars of this video are Dylan Leavitt-Phibbs and Malcolm Jamison and the director is Kale Eickhof. The song is filled with derogatory, misogynstic and violent language such as “shut up cunt”, “she’s swallowing my friend” and “put that body in a body bag.” My anger is difficult to compartmentalize but I am going to try. 
After speaking with the main rapper in the film, Dylan Leavitt-Phibbs, he explained to me this was simply meant as satire to only be shared in his own circle. Quick side note, why is it fun to call women “cunts” even among your friends? Note, the tweet on the right is by the other “star” of this video, Malcolm Jamison (or “Alibastor Jones”) I think we need a little lesson in satire. Satire is NOT taking something bad, like the sexualization of women, and making it worse, like having a girl pretend to be giving oral sex to a guy at the end of the video. Satire is NOT further spreading the images of situations that in fact exist in our society, such as men grabbing women and shoving them into their laps. The latter happens on a frequent basis to women which, perhaps is seemingly small but speaks to a patriarchal idea of male entitlement to women’s bodies. True satire makes light by taking the reality and flipping it on its head, for example if the lyrics had been “shut up prick” instead of “shut up cunt.” That is satirical because it makes light by placing the oppressor group in the position of being oppressed. What “Ratchet Molly Party” did was simply heighten the current misogyny in our culture. When you place such images into the world like a woman who has no clothing on top, one moves from the self-proclaimed place of satire into the reality of misogyny.
I am going to be kind and give these men the benefit of the doubt for a split second and say they were truly trying to be satirical and make some sort of social commentary on misogyny in the world and more specifically in hip hop. But why wasn’t there a single woman, even the ones in the video, then consulted in this process? Just an FYI, when you try to make some sort of social commentary regarding a social group you are not a part of, it is a good idea to actually speak to someone who is in that group.
The men behind this video claim it as satire because they are so blinded by their privilege as men to see their participation in this culture of misogyny, rape, and sexualization of women. They see this as satire because they do not truly understand the reality of being a woman in our world.
I have a question for the women reading this, at what age were you warned about your potential future rape? Can you even remember? I cannot. I have known since I was too young to remember that walking down the street, going to a party, walking to my car or simply living life as a woman is not safe.
I speak of reality and part of that reality is that every two minutes in this country someone is sexually assaulted. One in five women report being the victim of sexual assault in their lifetime. 66% of assaults are committed by someone the victim knows personally. These are scary numbers and perhaps to many men, they are just that…numbers. When numbers such as these exist, it is a cultural problem; a cultural problem that these men in this video are simply perpetuating. The makers of “Ratchet Molly Party” are too blind to understand that when they perpetuate words of blatant disrespect of women such as “shut up bitch stop talking, let my body feel your body” that has real context in rape culture because it normalizes objectification and violence towards women. Rape is about power, control and hate. One asserts this power over someone they do not respect and do not value. This line specifically is problematic in at least three ways: it replaces women with a derogatory term, it silences women, and it deals with a situation that is not consensual.
The line between these lyrics and the recent Rick Ross rape lyric is thin. In neither of these songs is the term rape explicitly used. In many of our minds we do not know the correct definition of rape. We think that rape is a man holding a woman down to a bed and she is unable to move. We think that rape is a man hiding behind bushes and then attacking. This is rape, but rape is also having sex with a woman who is too drunk to consent. Rape is entering one’s body without permission. The absence of a “no” does not confirm what has happened is not rape. That is where we are wrong and that is what so many men in this world do not understand. We have little language in our culture for sex and consent and therefore the lines of what is consensual and what is not is at times difficult to understand.
This conversation is bigger than three men from Minneapolis. This conversation is about a nationwide culture that objectifies women and disregards the notion that women are individuals with self-autonomy over our own bodies. This conversation is about a commercialized industry of hip-hop music that sets standards at shock level, resorting often to objectifying lyrics about women. We are not immune as a society to the culture that is presented to us, about us.
Again, this isn’t satire because this is the unfortunate truth in our society. Women are consistently told through our media, government and our everyday interactions that men know what women’s bodies need and deserve more than women do. Women’s voices are constantly silenced. My parents taught me to speak my mind and because of that lesson, I have been told since I was a little girl how cute and impressive my opinions are. It is expected in our society for women to not speak their mind. We are out of place when we do.
Let’s look at this tweet exchange to the right, regarding this video. Mike the Martyr tells Dylan to ignore the woman (“bitch”) complaining about the “Ratchet Molly Party” video and 
Dylan (who claims to be SO sorry for this video) is in agreement. Once again, our thoughts as women are dismissed. Throughout the past couple of days a twitter debate has emerged regarding this video. There have been echoes of shared horror but also tweets of not understanding the outraged. These conversations indicate that we have a cultural problem, not only in America, not only in the hip-hop world, also right in our nice hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
How do we fix a culture where women are disrespected, raped in large numbers on a daily basis and seen as objects? It has to start within our own community and that is why we will NOT fall back. We are looking at our community of Minneapolis hip-hop where individuals categorize themselves as “socially conscious rappers” and do not see their blatant sexism. Dylan Leavitt-Phibbs is a member of the local music collective Audio Perm. Two other individuals of this collective have known involvement in the “Ratchet Molly Party” video. One has a quick cameo in the video and one was promoting the video with enthusiasm on his Facebook and Twitter (see tweet below from Audio Perm producer Taylor Madrigal). In fact, when I commented in horror on his Facebook post of the video, he deleted the video and my comment without any response. I am close friends with members of Audio Perm and hold them to high levels of respect and admiration and therefore hold them to high levels 
of responsibility when wrong is done in our community. Audio Perm, how are you going to address this situation? We are waiting for your response.
I also need to address the fact that several women who were in the video did not know all of the details of the film such as the cocaine usage, naked women and even the full lyrics of this song. This is inexcusable and is another example of men deeming the viewpoints of women who they call friends as trivial.
Folks, this is a call to action. A call for women to fight back against misogyny and rape culture, and a call for men to stand up for women. This is not only a “women’s issue”, this is an issue of humanity. Men must recognize their role in breaking down our world of patriarchy, misogyny and rape and speak out. We need to not be afraid to speak out against those who we know on a personal level because we too are contributors to this culture.
Thank you,
Real Life Athena: A Women’s Collective (written by Sarah Brammer-Shlay on behalf of the entire collective)
P.S. For the men involved in this, here is a way to NOT apologize.
Resources on Rape Culture, Misogyny and Feminism:
Rape Culture 101: http://www.shakesville.com/2009/10/rape-culture-101.html
Feministing: http://www.feministing.com
Men Can Stop Rape: http://www.mencanstoprape.org
Crunk Feminist Collective: http://www.crunkfeministcollective.com/
5 Ways We Can Teach Men Not To Rape: http://www.ebony.com/news-views/5-ways-we-can-teach-men-not-to-rape-456#axzz2QTB9RXPe
Real Life Athena 
Wow have you ever seen a rap/hip hop music video before? Because they’re the exact same. No one is getting raped by these guys, some of those girls in the video were throwing themselves at these young men and I’m sure were not forced into doing anything. You say these women were too drunk to consent, when I know they are just as willing to hop in bed 100% sober. This might be shocking to you but sex isn’t the worst thing that can happen to a woman, in fact if you chill out a bit maybe you would enjoy it too. To attack the people in this video and even the director, who I am very close with and is a COMPLETE gentleman, is absurd. They have their bad moments but to write an essay on a video that is like thousands of others out there online seems funny to me. Pull the feminist granny panties out of a bunch and roll a blunt or two.
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Ideally the aggression won’t be directed towards Dylan or Malcolm or mike in a strictly negative manner. If people don’t know they can find out easily that these are all pretty stand up guys by most people’s standards. The issue is exactly what you said, it’s “a video that is like thousands of others out there online”… thousands of other fucked up videos that are so focused on females being sex objects and money and bullshit that thats what people seem to think hip hop is… the fact that you just said “Have you ever seen a rap/hip hop music video before” is exactly the issue… you should check out a video where women aren’t some objects and where drugs aren’t the centerpiece. They exist and I feel like everybody has a responsibility to up the dope shit so dope people don’t gotta make nasty stuff to get heard.
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yup real stand up guys
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word.
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Thank you for your words. I couldn’t have said it any better.
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I heard the song and I heard nothing rape-y. I know Dylan, he’s a good dude. I see lots of different women hanging on him all the time and it always looks consensual. Believe it or not, some women are turned on by aggressive male behavior (which sucks cuz it leaves guys like me growing up wondering why all the assholes got all the babes), but it’s just nature. I can understand if you’re not turned on by all the testosterone, some women aren’t, but why not just leave Dylan and the girls that like him alone? Obviously if these girls keep hanging out with him despite his language and behavior, maybe it’s working for them and they don’t feel oppressed or need you to stand up for them? Also, Mike the Martyr is a good dude musically and personally. I think in his tweet he didn’t use the word “bitch” as a blanket term for female, I think he was using it to describe a particular person who was being particularly bitchy. To me, a bitch can be a man or woman, and is just used to refer to someone who complains, or bitches a lot.
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Jason- a few points you are making are extremely uninformed. Many of the women in the video, whom I know personally, were not consented about the lyrics of the song and of other footage that would be used in the video. They were also not consented about the posting of this video on youtube.
A female friend of mine who was in the video personally said this about it:
“I felt sick. I was shocked, angry, disappointed and ashamed. I’ve been grappling with what this video means about my home, my friends and my character.”
If you feel passionate about discussing consent. I suggest you read up on it a bit more. Its an extremely gray area when alcohol is involved.
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Jenna – I was extremely uninformed about the things you mentioned because this article doesn’t mention them. I was just responding to this article as it is written, which is an attack on the musical content of the song; an attack which I don’t agree with. Releasing video footage without consent is definitely something I won’t defend, though. But as far as the content of the song is concerned though, I don’t find it offensive. It’s definitely pornographic, and I understand if people don’t like porn, but you shouldn’t attack the artists for it. If this article was written about why it’s wrong to film people without consent, rather than why it’s wrong to have highly-sexualized rap lyrics, I would be way more in support of it.
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I was focusing on your comment, “just leave Dylan and the girls that like him alone? Obviously if these girls keep hanging out with him despite his language and behavior, maybe it’s working for them and they don’t feel oppressed or need you to stand up for them?”
I am not sure exactly who “these girls” are that you are discussing. I don’t think you can generalize all women that hang around in the same place as him. But on behalf of the women in the video who were hanging out at the party that night, this was an oppressive video to them and the lyrics also offend women who weren’t involved in any manner. I don’t see myself as only standing up for other women that hang around Dylan, but as standing up for myself and the events that have insulted and oppressed me as a woman.
This can also be a lesson in better understanding consent. Maybe something looks like it was consent, when in fact it was the opposite. This video was a perfect example of that. This is not an attack on the individual artists, but on the culture we live in that allows events like this to happen.
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Carmen, since you seem to have missed the entire point of this article (and maybe didn’t even read it?), let me break it down for you. I submit the following points:
1. Just because many rap/hip hop music videos are “the exact same” doesn’t make it okay. It is never okay to produce content that is sexist and explicitly violent toward women. To blame this song on the genre as a whole is ridiculous. Artists have the choice to decide what kind of cultural message they to send with their music. DAVIDBLAYNE made a conscious choice to create a song that objectifies women and contributes to a culture of violence toward women. That was a choice. There are many examples of hip hop artists who are making other choices, even within the Minneapolis community. Dessa and Guante are great examples.
2. “You say these women were too drunk to consent”–Nope, she didn’t say that all. Not once. Although there do need to be more conversations going on in society about alcohol and consent, that’s an argument for another time. Comments like this make me wonder if you even read the article?
3. That the director is “a COMPLETE gentleman,” as you say, is completely irrelevant. First of all, “gentlemen” don’t direct videos that describe women as cunts and bitches who need to shut up and suck dick instead. That aside, Sarah is not individually attacking the people who produced the video. She is providing a commentary on the content of the video itself. It’s called a critique. People do that sometimes with creative work. And yes, people do it with other rap videos too. If the people involved in the production of this video didn’t want to receive feedback on their work, they should have thought twice about putting it out for public consumption.
4. “This might be shocking to you but sex isn’t the worst thing that can happen to a woman.” No one’s saying sex is bad. Actually, we’re all pretty sex-positive around here. However, rape culture, demeaning and misogynistic language, objectification of women? Yeah, that shit is bad. And it’s our responsibility as a community to call it out when it happens.
Sounds like maybe you need to read the article a little more closely and spend some time analyzing the implications of the song and what it’s saying about your worth as a woman. And while you’re at it, you might want to pull those Victoria’s Secret panties out of a bunch and roll a blunt or two.
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Jenna – I was extremely uninformed about the things you mentioned because this article doesn’t mention them. I was just responding to this article as it is written, which is an attack on the musical content of the song; an attack which I don’t agree with. Releasing video footage without consent is definitely something I won’t defend, though. But as far as the content of the song is concerned though, I don’t find it offensive. It’s definitely pornographic, and I understand if people don’t like porn, but you shouldn’t attack the artists for it. If this article was written about why it’s wrong to film people without consent, rather than why it’s wrong to have highly-sexualized rap lyrics, I would be way more in support of it.
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Isn’t aggression between any individuals including men and women made from the disconnection between the two. Shouldn’t we try to come together as hard a possible, as hard as it may be?
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Well said Carmen and Aaron, let people make what they want unless it directly effects another humans health and/or well being.
I think one should refrain from negativity or “hating” and try as hard as possible to fully understand all prospectives before attacking, even if you justify it as retaliation and justice, revenge is never the answer. Also making a page about it is unnecessary. (All of these words are my opinion so please don’t share yours about mine if it’s not positive or insightful, thank you)
Yes, people take it to far sometimes, if you dislike it, is acknowledging it the best thing to do? You’re giving it space in your mind.
Who’s to be the voice of reason and justice? Well, giving your perspective is fine, but making slanderous retorts and opinions as absolutes for morality without proper debate is a bit contemptuous (of course I can’t say that without sounding haughty).
But I understand you were scorned, the best thing you can do is approach the people who angered/hurt you and ask them to explain themselves (I’d say). Confront them personally, not through social media means (I really dislike drama, I really dislike hating and I hate hating even more on “Facebook” or what have you.
I am attempting to write with no bias (because I’m good friends with Dylan and Malcom), from a mediators stand point after reading this whole thing plus comments AND talking with Malcom and Dylan first hand, I would say the video was pretty risky but I wont lie when I hurt the first “Shut up cunt” after my mouth dropped, I burst out laughing. The whole thing was obviously a ruthless satire of a good chunk of mainstream hip-hop/rap videos. Also honestly I don’t think I would listen to the song without the video, let alone watch the video more that a few times before my amusement quelled. I have to admit the shock value gets word to spread, probably would have shared it with a few cunt friends of mine and had a laugh. See “cunt”, like “bitch”, is just a word. I do understand that it can be offending when said offensively, especially to woman because of the meanings. But it isn’t specific to a gender and holds weight when it hit’s a guys ego too. So to take the song personally and seriously would only be valid if you where a ratchet individual on molly at a party…?
I mean if your sense of humor doesn’t find it funny, don’t dwell on it and stay with a frown, go find something to make you smile.
I could go on forever writing so I’ll wrap it up like a good writer does (no offense :-)).
Dylan is constantly being a little bitcunt (that’s bitch and cunt combined, I just made that up right now) worrying about the content of his music as to not offend females, namely the ones in his family. I’m like “fuck it”, you don’t really mean it when you say it you’re just exercising your freedom of speech, but he wants to keep it positive like I do. It’s just that sometimes it’s fun to be blatant and shocking, even though you know it’s vulgar and not in good taste. I find it’s somewhat relieving and dulling to the constant negativity of stereotypes/isms and all that. For example when Malcom calls me a bitch n-word, I laugh in stride. Yes it’s fucked up when used on a serious level, by avoiding that (I’m not saying I don’t acknowledge it’s meanings, I just did) I’m trying to take away (to dismantle, devalue, etc. its) meaning. Repeating a word or phrase takes away meaning as well, which prompts the satirical value of the song even more, unintentionally I’m sure, but still. The intent of it was a satirical joke, though unpleasant, it had to be to mock the original fact of the matter, which I explained earlier.
As for Malcom, he’s cried over a woman before, as have I. So, he knows a womans worth and I know he jokes and says things he doesn’t mean as most all of us do. When in actuality, we’ve respected women to the point of our death for their life. At least I know I feel that way for certain females, my mother being one. Obviously it’s different when you’re “in love” with someone but the strength of the ties that bind can be applied to any female.
Anyways, I’m done rambling. I’m pretty sure they took down the video, so maybe this page should be taken down as well and we can all take something away from this.
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Sorry Malcom, I don’t know that for a fact, just assuming.
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Unfortunately these mainstream hip-hop/rap videos that they were ‘attempting satire’ come with a level of artistry that was nowhere to be found in Ratchet Molly Party.
Without artistry, production value, or any scrap of cleverness, it just came off as a bunch of dudes jumping around yelling ‘shut up cunt’.
To now witness these same gentlemen attempt to contribute to a dialogue on how our culture positions women is laughably hypocritical.
Why should I take what they have to say as anything more than a publicity stunt?
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I agree with 2 chainz (never thought I’d say that..) in that “Without artistry, production value, or any scrap of cleverness, it just came off as a bunch of dudes jumping around yelling ‘shut up cunt’.”
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A lot more than changing the lyric ‘cunt’ to ‘prick’ would have to be done to make this video satirical.
If someone would lie to you about the details of a video in order to get you to participate in it, and then edit and publish a final product so objectifying as to be detrimental to your career if an employer ever came across it, how could you consider them your friend?
Stay Classy, South High Grads!
Minneapolis rappers showing their outstanding character–Trying to make ‘shut up cunt!’ a catch phrase, just another day in the life.
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I doubt anyone in the video actually consider themselves “ratchet” (unless jokingly I don’t know) or a cunt for that matter so why would they actually take offense, they knew it wasn’t a serious matter from the get go. Matter o’fact it isn’t a question of sex, I would agree that both genders could be at risk with employment. I personally would never work at a place that would fire me for being in a satirical music video. But I’m not Danny Brown so I can’t make a living off of offensive satire in my lyrics. For the moment I’ll just have to settle with my life for what it is. Not ratchet, nor on molly or a cunt, though I’m sure a can be all of these if I so choose, but I don’t. Just like I probably wouldn’t choose to be in a video for a ratchet molly party song, maybe I would fuck it you only live once. But maybe some releases should have been signed or something? All I know is I’m pretty sure the video was taken down so… Yeah what’s new with y’all other than nothing at all?
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“sorry your ass got in the way of my had” lolz
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I am super disappointed…wow…such an awesome and respectable/well put article sarah. Very proud of you…I am definitely disappointed in those boys and angered by all this…I thought they were better then that.
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The picture she chose is perfect though, isn’t it?
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Reblogged this on Progressive Paradox.
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I am owner of DAVIDBLAYNEPRODUCTIONS LLC. If anyone would like to contact me for an official press statement (I was not contacted prior to this article being published), DAVIDBLAYNEPRODUCTIONS LLC would be happy to comment. I can be contacted at :
Davidblayneproductions@gmail.con
@peachhhEs on twitter
Cheers
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“Just an FYI, when you try to make some sort of social commentary regarding a social group you are not a part of, it is a good idea to actually speak to someone who is in that group.”
Indeed, perhaps you could try applying your own advice to your own actions. Never once was the publisher behind the video (DAVIDBLAYNEPRODUCTIONS LLC) contacted for comment.
Cheers,
DavidBlayneProductions@gmail.com
owner of DAVIDBLAYNEPRODUCTIONS LLC
peachhhEs
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We are not obligated to contact you to write an article on a piece of work you made public.
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Sarah, I don’t know if you are familiar with tort law or the definition libel.
Expect to be contacted my lawyer.
Cheers
DAVIDBLAYNERODUCTIONS LLC
DavidBlayneProductions@gmail.com
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On the topic of tort, libel and slander laws, I believe the women featured in your video will have a very strong case.
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Just quickly consulted this case with a law professor at the U of M. DAVIDBLAYNERODUCTIONS LLC, if you are still thinking about it, you will need a good lawyer for this…actually the best one you can find if possible. Without giving you too much details, I just want to say that the odds are in these women’s favor.
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FYI – your e-mail address is bunk. how do i contact you with questions?
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My email is not bunk.
Cheers,
peachhhEs
DavidBlayneProductions@gmail.com
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lmao stfu! let her express how she felt bout this wack ass video.
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David Blayne, if the artist and production are willing to put “artistic material” that is offensive, don’t you think they should really think about what they are going to release? instead of waiting to be asked to be part of the conversation, what about just releasing the statement and become part of the discussion? i really want to know..what the thought process of this was, didnt anyone think this through??
satire about rape, never ok.
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I will jump in here and say the attempted satire directly was not about rape but the larger picture of the sexualization of women is connected to our society’s culture of rape.
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Sarah if that’s the case that the sexualization of women is connected to our society’s culture of rape, and therefore this song promotes rape; then Marilyn Monroe was the biggest rapist of all time. Or really God is the biggest rapist because he’s the one that made women sexy. Women are just sexy as fuck let’s be real. Is it wrong that men want to enjoy that sexiness and write songs about it?
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Your argument is severely flawed. There is nothing wrong with sex and being sexy. There is something wrong with men who sexualize women before humanizing them.
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Okay Sarah but I’m trying to get you to understand that YOU are the one who is saying that the women talked about in the lyrics of this song are being sexualized before being humanized. Dylan, me and Mike the Martyr never said they weren’t human. YOU are the one projecting the inhumanity on them because they’re acting in a way that doesn’t support your personal idea of woman-hood. So my whole point is instead of scolding the hyper-sexual males, you should scold the hyper-sexual females that keep having sex with these guys and rewarding their behavior.
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Sarah i concur, objectification of women is never ok, sadly it is connected with the rape culture. im just dissapointed, extremely disappointing.
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Bummer. I went to high school with some of these dudes. Never knew they hated women so much.
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I kind of see where Carmen is coming from. Even though these dudes made a horrible song and they should using their influence to make themselves and their girl friends (in the video) look better, these ratchet molly parties happened a lot of the women there degraded themselves far worse than the men there did.
Girls being hot and doing drugs is not a reason or excuse or invitation for her to be taken advantage of, but if you’re hot and doing drugs and pretending to go down on a dude in front of a video camera and the video comes out, you should attack yourself and not the people who posted it.
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How do you know all the women featured were on molly, you don’t! Yes they have to live with the fact that they made some bad choices while attending a party, the sad part about it is they were taken advantage of while they were under the influence (something a male rarely has to worry about). It’s perpetuating rape culture and objectification period. Also what you fail to realize that a large majority of women do attack them selves after experiencing these types of parties and then have footage or pictures spread across the web. Satire my ass!
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To every man no matter who you are, you have mothers, sisters, wives, friends, girlfriends, grandmas, cousins and you owe it to each and every one of them to stop perpetuating a misogynistic culture. Watch your mouths and your actions.
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1. Effective satire is both comedic and at least a little absurdist, using humor to reflect the threat of a not-so-distant reality — this video, and song for that matter, are neither. The vulgarity “cunt,” for example, has no place here.
2. Showing a repeated GIF-like clip of a girl’s breasts bouncing around while a man shoves money into her thong, over and over and over for 10 seconds, is not satire. Neither is subversively getting young girls to perform for a video when they obviously have no knowledge of the final content or the offensive images contained therein. Thoughtless actions like these are how reputations are ruined, jobs are lost, lawsuits are filed, and why fathers, big brothers and boyfriends feel protective.
This situation is a stain on an art community known for it’s progressive and conscious output — but if that video was still online in its original form, the fallout would be severely multiplied, and this would be a topic in women’s activist forums across the country. It’s debasing and shameful that these three Minneapolis artists would abuse their platform with such a humiliating and poorly-thought-through exhibition of misogyny.
Maybe next time, have the girls sign Consent Agreements while they’re still drunk.
(see: Sarcasm)
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the crazy thing about it is that the stripper and the other girls were filmed at two different times and at two different parties. I guess the guys wanted to make a point that they have “hoes on deck”
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Thank you
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Such anger, makes me want to apologize for misogynistic men world wide, even though I am not apart of it. Please be happy, life is beautiful. Why even acknowledge something you don’t want to represent you as a “stain”? You’re cloth is pure and has nothing to do with that community, right? People make mistakes, who am I to slander and judge? I mean you can do what you’d like, but I believe by disregarding something you don’t propel it, wether you’re for or against it. Visa versa too, by regarding something you propel it, good or bad. I’m pretty sure we can all just get along if we try… Right?
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Otis, I’ll leave your decisions to act or not to you but I firmly disagree with your statements about negligence: “Why even acknowledge something you don’t want to represent you as a “stain”?” and “I believe by disregarding something you don’t propel it.”
Sure, ignoring something like this video would have perhaps resulted in less attention and discussion surrounding it, but it would have also been a silent “yes” to the values represented by the content of the video. As a friend of mine said in a voicemail he left me earlier today regarding the video, don’t we want more for ourselves than drug addiction and misogyny?
I am extremely proud to be from Minneapolis and I spread Minneap music far and wide. When I see something painful and regressive born from the scene, I can’t simply dismiss it and expect it to go away. By not acknowledging it, I would be passively giving it the okay.
By responding, I show that I want to contribute to a healthy, creative, sex positive, empowering, danceable music movement.
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my only problem with this comment is calling the creators “artists”
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fasho fasho defamation of character. you should have contacted david blayne productions at least for a statement. you’d think that be the first thing you did? i know i woulda.. not trying to be TOO critical on the writer of this because in principle i do agree with you that joking about rape isn’t funny, but i can’t stand seeing only one side of an argument being presented, so i took it upon myself to play devils advocate. not defending ” rape culture” in any sense of the word.. but i think you should re write or atleast include a statement from the people who your so upset with. I AINT EVEN LIKE THE SONG .. n didnt really care for the lyrics.. but i dont like demonizing people especially without giving them a chance to explain themselves..
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I think she talked with Dylan, who appears to be the creative force behind the groups direction.
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The satire is NOT effective. The song fucking sucks, and so does the content. ::Sowwy if you don’t agree:: Thanks.
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wow…some of these comments just show how deep society successfully promoted rape culture. So much so that god is to blame because “god” also usually seen as a “he” created sexy women for men to enjoy…….so does it matter how the men go about enjoying these sexy women?
Also, yes some women have grown up in abuse or being raped and molested..me being one of them…does iT attract me? Abuse? Yes…does it feel good? No. why am I most comfortable with abuse and unhealthy relationships? Because its what I am used to..I grew up thinking I didn’t deserve anything better, also grew up In this society where we were taught to keep our mouths shut…where music has def been degrading to women and promoted just what we are putting into view here…fashion has never helped. TV either..media in general..
So years of training my mind to think that I didn’t deserve healthy love has a HUGE affect…and has taken me years to even realize…for the simple fact that I was a child and not yet fully grown into my mind when all those abusive things happened to me…its easy to trick an innocent childs mind into believing many many things…but our job now is to help the women AND men who have NOT YET REALIZED they deserve better…OR…can do better.
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I agree with parts of what Amy is saying, the article, and members of Audio Perm. I didn’t see the video of this but the men can’t completely be blamed. They didn’t force some of this women to act so disgusting (Based on what Im reading that was in the article) I am a HUGE supporter of women’s rights and even started a business on women empowerment and knowledge of molestation and rape victims.
Women and Men both need to be taught to respect each other and themselves. Also how can Dylan and them be persecuted for the usage of words. I understand photos but not words. Lil Wayne is called out and told to get rid of his lyrics and he says some disgusting nonsense about women. Music is freedom of speech.
What I can say is I am disgusted by what I am reading, personally, but as a born and raised Minneapolis woman I can say that the women are ignorant and the men were disrespectful. But we all have room to change and respect each other.
And Amy it is great that you just put your business out there on this subject. No fake names or nothing. Real as hell.
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Thank you Amy. You are so wonderful and am lucky to know you. I always learn from you.
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its art, if you dont like it then change the channel.
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“its art”
debatable
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All I wanna say is that these men had the power to portray their FRIENDS as women, or ‘bad bitches’ (sorry I hate that terminology, but it’s true). They chose the latter, and with that chose to perpetuate the degrading view of ladies in our culture today.
Hyper-sexualization in our media is generally created in order to fulfill MALE DESIRES. This is harmful because while sex is viewed as a “want” for women, it is viewed as a “need” for men. Or rather, as something that is owed to them.
It just pisses me off.
Where are my rights? Why can’t people owe ME sex hmm?
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I’ll owe you some sexing (I don’t mind)… 😉 True though.^ Sex should always be a consensual choice and viewed as such. Being a man I’m offended when it’s viewed as a need, like that’s all I’m after from the get go. Damn you MEDIAAAAAAAAAAA fuckin’ up my chances by generating fucked up perceptions… I’ll never get more girls that are just friends.
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Damn, rape never crossed my mind until I read some of these posts. The connection to the Rick Ross date rape line too. I think we can all agree the song was in poor taste and extremely offensive satirical humor, wether it gave you that sense or not. Releases signed? Most definitely. I have no idea on the legalities but the choice to be apart of the final cut would have been a good thing to give morally. Are people giving this too much though, including myself, probably. Are people making this out to be about things it’s not? No doubt. Rape? Really? That is such a strong ad terrible matter, I would never sexually harass another person nor do I think about doing so ever, this video did nothing to stimulate/emulate that with me. The fact that this was turn into a sexist issue is taking the intent out of context, I know this for a fact. The dignity of all women is not degraded by this video intentionally, though I can’t tell you how to feel. I laughed at this video scoffingly, I wasn’t thinking the lyrics were directed at anyone in particular, but now I feel bad that people took this seriously and personally. Could they be called oversensitive and their argument farfetched? Sure. But really that’s negative and also an opinion. I have empathy for those who took offense, but not a complete understanding of why. I mean I see your point but why as is why do you choose to even show that this effected you? FUCK IT. I guess that’s just how go about things, even when they’re directed at me. I care about what matters, and disregard what doesn’t (yes I am saying I regarded it in the first place). I have no empathy for those that intent to degrade, I understand that they are ignorant or just a terrible person, but I do not condemn. I take a lesson from the supposed man J.C. and turn the other cheek. But to the matter of sex, they guys in the video are considerably more ratchet then the females, in my opinion. What about them? Do they have feelings too? Can a man feel degraded by being called a cunt or bitch or whatever?
Let’s have love for our fellow humans. We all make mistakes in others perception, but who am I to judge? Who am I to even say any of this? I’m not. So I retract all past opinions, do with them what you will. I choose to stand in a void and not let the negativity effect me. Long live Bruce Lee.
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“Can a man feel degraded by being called a cunt or bitch or whatever?” hahaaa! NO, dude do you even live in society?
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thought** . I forgot to proofread this one.
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I have so much love and respect for our artist here in the twin cities. This is disappointing, i expected so much more than this mainatream shit. The video and song is world star hip hop trash. And some of thre men on here have no clue as to what rape culture is.
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I am a male and would not want to be in this video either. I understand it was demeaning to to females especially, but as a person I would feel embarrassed. Kind of embarrassing for everyone. These guys weren’t tryng to promote rape culture, just an all around fucked up scene. But it came off pretty darn macho though
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Now that it’s a day after the initial firestorm, it’s wild to notice how some people are responding to all this. Some guys made a goofy song, but humor/satire or not, elements of the song and video hurt people. Those people attempted to call the offensiveness out, and now are catching all kinds of flack for speaking out. Three things:
1. It’s not about censorship vs. free speech. It’s about being part of a sexist culture vs. fighting back against that sexist culture. As an artist, you are FREE to say whatever the hell you want, but your audience has that same right. If you’re going to be provocative, expect criticism. Responses like “it’s just a song” or “if you don’t like it, don’t listen to it” are enormous copouts.
2. There are ways to push the boundaries and be edgy and interesting without calling women cunts. A lot of what I’ve heard from people amounts to “I like that they’re doing something different” or “it was just satire” or “they’re shaking up the scene.” I’m all for all three of those things, but is THIS the best way to do it?
3. “Rape culture” doesn’t mean that there have to direct references to forcible sex on a song. We’re talking about anything that contributes to a culture that turns women into objects, devalues the experiences and perspectives of women, views sex as all about power, etc. None of the stuff in the song is going to magically turn anyone into a rapist, but the question is: are you part of the solution, or part of the problem?
And I don’t even mean to pile on to Dylan and them. I think it’s really healthy that people are trying to hold them accountable and we’re all having this conversation, but it’s a lot bigger than one song. Hopefully this can be an opportunity for growth for all of us.
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alright here goes…..
first thing first i do want to apologize, not for making RMP, but to the strong powerful ppl in my life that were deeply offended by it.
The (very little) thoughts going through my head while freestyling RMP was to make a turnt-up, over the top offensive, in your face satircal song making fun of Hip-Hop, myself & two of the most common phrases I heard this summer ” Ratchet ” & ” Molly ”
( one of the reasons i OK’d the video dropping is its been almost 8 months since i recorded the song and both of these terms are still very prevalent in our society and music especially……we need to change that)
I am young artist trying to find my voice & a balance in-between the world my parents raised me in, & the world i find myself emerged in on a daily basis.
I have the had the privilege to raised by two strong intelegent enlightened outspoken Lesbian women, & two powerful grounded compassionate gay men in the wonderful progressive excpeting bubble of south minneapolis.
I believe in a higher power & I have always associated that higher power with femininity. One of the first spoken word pieces i wrote & preformed was about my spirituality & the creator (who i portrayed as a female). I love woman very much & not just in a sexual way, i would not be the man i am today if it wasn’t for a small army of powerful women ( and progressive feminist men ) that raised me. A random memory that came to me while writing this ( for three hours at the Namaste cafe ( way more time then went into RMP)) is my little sister going through the bible bored and adding an -DESS with a purple crayon after every time it said god, and arguing with our Lutheran grandmother about why jesus couldn’t have been a woman.
Im not saying this to try & save grace with the feminist community, I am saying this to educate the people that the RMP party video & the article that Sarah Brammer-Shlay wrote reached ( that may not know me personally ) That the character I was portraying in the RMP video is not truly who i am & just that a character.
The song is brash, in your face, hurtful, overly misogynistic & offensive and i once again apologize to the ppl that were hurt & offended by it. However my intension of the song was not an attack on women but actually an attack on the type of hip-hop that sounds like RMP.
I went in the booth with the intentions with making a satirical…..( quick definition on satire )
“Satire is a genre in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement. Although satire is usually meant to be funny, its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism”
….offensive song that emulates a lot of the negative aspects of mainstream hip-hop & pop culture.
I knew that this song would evoke allot of emotion & negative attention towards me and hopefully debate & ultimately change in our community.
I know that people were hurt by the song and in turn are trying to hurt me back via social networking ( understand it, I’m not mad atcha )
I feel that saying that I am promoting Rape is a bit slanderous and out of pocket.
Rape is a very serious issue and fucked up part of our society ( so is mysgony in hip-hop and sexism towards women in general ) I have had unwanted sexual experiences myself and am in no means making light of the issue.
But we all need to get off Facebook & Twitter & Blogs and talk about the issues RMP has raised as a community and not “twitter-beefing” from the comforts of our own studios, dens or dorm rooms.
Im glad RMP has evoked discusion, now lets work on the hard part, taking action and actually changing shit!
I would be more than happy to help organize a forum, meeting or discussion where we as intelligent civilized young men & women can come together face to face and figure out ways to make a change & move forward as a community, this weekend maybe?
ps. i would like to apologize to all the ppl at the RMP video shoot that we did not show the video to prior to publicly releasing it on youtube ( male & female )
pps. props to Sarah Brammer-Shlay for speaking out & writing this response she is 100% entitled to her opinion and made me question some things about myself & society i most likely wouldn’t have
-Sincerely Dylan
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We appreciate your response and are glad to have had this conversation. It sounds like you have some ideas about how we can get more people involved and take steps from here on how to address the topic of misogyny and rape culture.
Many of these issues perpetuate a normalized view in our society of degrading women, ultimately causing people to not even recognize how harmful it can be. We want to create change by raising awareness through discussions, events, and by collaborating with others who want to see the same change. We are striving to create an environment where all opinions are heard, welcomed, and challenged. While social media can be a great source for spreading awareness, it also seems to get people caught up in the drama and move away from having the thoughtful conversations needed. So we agree with your suggestion of moving past this platform.
If you and other local artists are ready to improve the treatment of women in the rap scene we should get together and talk about what we can do to move forward from here. Minneapolis is known for having individuals who are working for positive change, and we want to make sure that image is lived up to. As an artist you are in a position to directly promote this change and get more people on board with these issues. We want to hear your ideas and look forward to hearing these values reflected in your music.
-Real Life Athena: A Women’s Collective
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Wow, Guante, you give me hope for a better future as a 42 year old woman seeing this play out. Some of the stuff said in response to this, mostly by young men have been ignorant, violent, and depressing. Not sure why Dylan is not apologizing for the video, I suppose he still justifies this obvious violence against women as I don’t know…I don’t even know what to think of it… It does not matter if he apologizes to the people who were “deeply offended” in his life as long as he thinks its fine to make films/write lyrics that are deeply disgusting. You are articulate and courageous in your thinking and words by defining rape culture for what it is. I hope some of these young men/young women can come to understand this more deeply. May more younger activists speak up.
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This is, in my opinion, the most rational comment here. But, (devil’s advocate) why aren’t people looking at RMP as an extremely effective method of raising awareness? Yes, it makes you uncomfortable, and maybe there’s some truth to the arguments on behalf of the women appearing in the video (though I find there’s not enough factual evidence of this happening). And yes, it might be a trigger for some people. So maybe it’s not an effective satire if it’s just so damn close to what’s normal and accepted in some videos?
Nah, that’s not my problem with it. I get it, the song is a caricature of oppressive culture, where women are treated like sexual objects and men feel forced into dominating roles. Obviously these two dudes aren’t the persona they embody in the song. It’s pretty effective to be this over-the-top when your thoughts afterward are, “man, that was bad, but damn, a lot of hip-hop videos are like this”.
But, honest opinion, it’s kind of like making a song/video in which you’re a gang banger and you shoot up 5 or 10 rival gang members. Unless you come from a place where you see this kind of activity, it’s not really authentic to just rap about it. So it’s pretty hard for most men to satirize rape culture.
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I didn’t “get” to see the video, just listened to the song. If that song was intended to be satire, it was pretty freakin’ bad satire. In fact, I’d say it failed at being satirical entirely, because just by listening to it one really does not get the message that it is intended to humorously critique misogyny in hip-hop culture, as the writer claimed. (If it was, if it did, I’d actually appreciate it… because misogyny in hip-hop culture really needs to be critiqued. Hip-hop is a wonderful, wonderful art form and used to great effect by some… but tainted by far too frequent usage of offensive & derogatory terms like “cunt” “bitch” and “ho.”)
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I’ve held back about commenting on this article because I wanted to make sure that I said what I meant this time. When I went for a shocking low blow to Dylan, I felt bad about it and again I’m really sorry about that. I went for the easy shock, and when I realized I had really hurt people I quickly regretted it.
I guess my biggest problem with the video is that it shouldn’t be up to men to determine how women react to demeaning words about them. They won’t understand what it’s like to be seriously called a bitch or a cunt, and just because it was a joke to them, doesn’t mean it has to be for us.
That being said, I personally wasn’t hugely offended by the video, it was gross and misogynistic but I took it for what it was, a music video. I know that the people involved aren’t bad people by any means. It was messed up that I heard not everyone consented to being in the video, but that seems to have been dealt with.
I think that everyone is entitled to their opinion, and in now way do I want to demean people’s reaction to the video because I didn’t have as large of an emotional one. I think that’s what I’m struggling with is that people who are highly offended will just be marked as ‘too sensitive’ when really they shouldn’t have to deal seeing themselves always being demeaned. It gets complicated very quickly though, as I know that I myself participate in sexist culture all the time, listen to hip hop songs that are misogynistic and cruel — often without criticism.
I really admire what Guante said, I think he brought up some fantastic points.
Thanks for the conversation, everyone.
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Really happy to see that this conversation is taking place. Lets try and set up a time in Minneapolis in a place where we can have a direct talk about all of these issues being brought up.
Thank you Dylan for your sincere thoughts.
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thank you for your words and for breaking this down for all of us. necessary.
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Why thanks! Thank you for sharing us as well 🙂
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Why aren’t you talking about the fact that these guys are white (or seem to be, I refuse to watch the video)
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They aren’t both white.
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[…] for many, myself included, manifested the reality of rape culture. When women in the community via Real Life Athena called for accountability the response was one of elevated disrespect and violence. It was this response that caused me to […]
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[…] and the founder of Real Life Athena (RLA), a feminist collective blog. She recently wrote a controversial piece calling out the Minnesota hip-hop group DAVIDBLAYNE for what was a deceitful, misogynistic, and […]
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[…] Because [they] put up a public piece of work, we needed to make a public response to it.” The post was published on RLA’s blog, then linked to member’s Facebook and Twitter […]
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I love the part about shock value in hip-hop and resorting to objectifying lyrics – it really shows a lack of creativity in the music.
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