Rick Ross needs to clearly and definitively apologize for describing a scenario in which he rapes a women in the song “U.O.E.N.O. (You Ain’T Even Know It)“. His half hearted attempt to deflect the legitimate criticism of the song at a New Orleans radio station, while being cheered on by the DJ, actually made the situation worse.

His justification for this “misunderstanding” was that he didn’t use the word rape, so we shouldn’t be offended by what he said. This could actually lead his fans to believe that drugging a women and having sex with her, without consent, isn’t rape. Ross also said, “I would never use the term rape”, but  my brother and mentor Paradise Gray, pointed me to a song  by Rick Ross called, “Gun Play“, where Ross brags about, “getting niggas wives tied up and raped”.

Until Rick Ross apologizes pressure should be put on not only his record company Def Jam, but also Warner Brothers, home of his Maybach Music group, Reebok and Diddy’s Ciroc which have endoresment deals with “The Boss”. But trust and believe this is bigger than Rick Ross, much bigger.

This country was founded on the genocide, murder and rape of the indigenous people. Christopher Columbus, and founding fathers like Thomas Jefferson, made slaves of and raped women, and they are honored in this country every day with hardly a mention of the atrocities they committed. To this day huge corporations sell products that enforce “rape culture” like this recent ad by Ford.

One positive that came out of this is that we’re now having conversations around the impact of negative lyrics and images on our culture. Even rappers like Talib Kweli, who is the first and most established artist I saw call on Rick Ross to apologize, and Lupe Fiasco had a spirited debate on twitter over rap lyrics. I thank Rosa Clemente for standing up and leading the charge, and I hope America finally realizes and admits, and atones for her rape problem.