I would like to know what alternate universe Slim Thug is currently smoking in where it’s okay for him to comment on the state of Black women. That’s all I want to know. This week, the rapper caused a firestorm with a blog that he posted on Vibe.com that basically says Black women should lower their standards and be “down for their man more”. This coming from a man who cheated on his Black woman, had a baby by another woman, causing the demise of their relationship. Maybe if she had been more down for him, they’d still be together…

Via Twitter, Slim Thug said that his dissenters were overreacting, that he was just keeping it real. Once Professor Mark Lamont Hill started in on his illogical comments, Slim Thug changed his tune to say that he was only speaking in jest. Whatever. I could care less about what he meant and more about the fact that he felt okay to say it. I can almost take Jimi Izrael, Steve Harvey and Hill Harper speaking on the state of the Black woman but Slim Thug?

Most were inclined to dismiss him as ignorant, just another rapper. Eager to let it slide because he’s disrespectful in his music so what’s different? Some were even fine with his comments because, “truth is truth” and “he wasn’t talking about women like me so I don’t care”. It’s not funny anymore y’all and I’m tired of my sisters playing this slip and slide game where we dodge the comments that we feel aren’t meant for us. The simple fact of it all is that Black women have no control over how we’re represented in the media. Zero. And when we do attempt to exact some control over our collective image it isn’t taken seriously. Rappers hold the rights to describing our bodies, Tyler Perry seems to hold all other rights, but now we have rappers talking about our wants, needs and desires. Any Black woman that feels okay with Slim Thug evaluating her standards might be more messed up than Slim Thug says.

This is about more than what he said. It’s about the fact that he felt okay to say it in a public forum, about the fact that Vibe felt okay to publish it. I’m sick of people speaking for me and about me. I feel disappointed when I hear Black women say don’t let him define you, define yourself. Yes, I have a very strong and accurate definition of who I am but it’s Slim Thug’s comments that are plastered across every website for young Black men and women to read and in some cases internalize. And when the educated and enlightened among us are ignoring it while his fans are imbibing it, I get frustrated. I don’t think that’s unreasonable.

Let me end by apologizing for my incoherent rant and by saying that I appreciate everyone struggling to give Black women some agency over how we are depicted and represented in mainstream media.