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Hello and happy (?) Monday!
It’s time for another round of Tate Talk™, a weekly series where the Genius community comes together to discuss annotation culture, with the intention of improving site wide editorial standards. Check out the community page to see previous episodes, peep what’s on the horizon, and consider signing up yourself!
Today, I’m going to cover a somewhat downer topic, but I’m gonna try to do it without boring or annoying anybody too much. To that end, let’s talk about best practices when approaching and annotating problematic lyrics.
First things first, “problematic” itself is a questionable word, built to encompass all manner of ills—controversy, awkwardness, and things that are generally troublesome. For the purposes of this conversation, we’re going to be very specific and say that a line is problematic when it perpetuates conceptions in society that are either actively or passively harmful. We live in a world where we are constantly bombarded with and indoctrinated into bullshit that we don’t even realize hurts people—expecting women to be “nice” and men to be “strong,” using common phrases like “I got gypped” and “basket case,” assuming that people who are mentally ill are more likely to become violent. Popular culture is a part of this world, and often it absorbs these conceptions and parrots them without actively questioning them, which in turn spreads and perpetuates them among the people who interact with this culture.
Part of the mission of Genius is to unpack texts and to explain the layers that go into the making of each lyric and reference. When an artist says something problematic, we have an opportunity to stop the cycle of bullshit. We get to interact with pop culture on our own terms, influencing it by spreading informed analysis instead of harmful stereotypes.
To that end! When annotating, it is always good to think about:
1. Is this artist saying something problematic (i.e. are they expressing harmful expectations/conceptions)? If so, does my annotation explicitly say that?
At this point, if you are a fan of that artist, you may be tempted to defend them, to try to explain away the problematic interpretation of the line in favor of the “good intentions” of the artist. This is normal! If the artist has responded to the controversy, then you should absolutely link to them and give them their fair shake. However, what you want to avoid is outright dismissing problematic implications when they’re there. People can and probably will be hurt by them, and dismissing those people and their experiences hurts everybody in the long run. Acknowledging it is the first step to changing it.
2. Am I perpetuating a harmful expectation or conception in my annotation?
The primary purpose of an annotation should always been to explain the reference and place it in context for the Genius reader. However, if you’re annotating a line that says, for instance, “Catholic schoolgirls rule” and only explain why Catholic schoolgirls are seen as particularly sexy and desirable, then you are speaking directly to the stereotype instead of interrogating it. Doing that just perpetuates the misogyny inherent in the trope. Saying explicitly that it is problematic and talking a bit about it as such—for instance, how sexuality is often forced on young girls through such stereotypes—forces the reader of your annotation to step back a second and actually think about the song in its wider cultural context. Not all culture is good, but the more we know, the better equipped we are to defend ourselves against it. Knowledge is power, etc etc.
3. Is there a link that I can provide which unpacks this problem, so that I don’t have to go off-topic to explain it fully?
Related to that last point, there is almost always something on the internet that talks about the problem, you just need to use your handy dandy google to go find it!
Some things to keep in mind when you are searching for breakdowns of problematic tropes:
- Always give voice and props to the people who are hurt the most by it. If you’re explaining something misogynist, link to a woman. If you are talking about racism, link to a person of that race. They know wtf they’re talking about.
- Resources exist! I recommend using keywords like the ism involved, “syllabus,” or even just “resources” in your search to pull up more in-depth posts. For instance, there’s the Black Lives Matter syllabus and the geek feminism wiki!
But even with all that knowledge, how can we shift the Genius culture to be aware of this kind of stuff? Here are a few ways:
- RESPOND to this thread! Specific examples of ways that an annotation can be turned around to both explain and interrogate lyrics are dope!
- LEAVE SUGGESTIONS/EDITS on tates. If the annotation doesn’t explain a trope fully, it is “missing something!”
- MESSAGE your peers. If you see someone doing something and you think “that could be better,“ you should always feel like you can say something. NO ONE here is above constructive criticism or feedback, staff included.
What do y'all think? Are there other things we should be thinking about to keep our annotations both informative and constructive? By our powers combined, etc.
Not sure how long I’ve been doing this, but I remove “this/these/those bitches” and other degrading terms from annotations. Gotta teach 14-year olds that writing “Drake wants this bitch to make that ass bounce like jello” is idiotic, misogynistic, and speaks volumes about their maturity.
This is great! Sometimes the distinction between writing something offensive in an annotation (intentionally or unintentionally) can be as simple as a change in language or phrasing.
Am I perpetuating a harmful expectation or conception in my annotation?
This is the major key. I see loads of people with good intentions writing or abandoning offensive language in their annotations without realizing it.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, I think it’s also important to keep in mind not to diatribe. In the interest of staying inside the scope of the referent, it would seem out of place to embark on a full analytical/historical breakdown in opposition of a trope in an annotation with a referent that simply mentions one of these tropes in passing. Of course, that’s totally different from a referent that’s about the offensive material. Above all, it’s about being mindful.
This is a lovely post, and a great way to spread awareness! I’m wondering though:
However, if you’re annotating a line that says, for instance, “Catholic schoolgirls rule” and only explain why Catholic schoolgirls are seen as particularly sexy and desirable, then you are speaking directly to the stereotype instead of interrogating it.
This sort of thing is really common in hip hop (making a supposition / value judgement which is contradictory to societal conception), e.g. lean rappers talking about driving while screwed, or killing or robbing or whatever. Just like it’s tedious, and not strictly necessary to explain what they mean by Actavis, where do we draw the line in terms of extrapolating deeper cultural cues that these problematic lyrics play in to? As in, when do you let that sort of ethic slide?
@Empath Definitely, definitely, the goal is to stay on topic. A big part of being on Genius and learning how to write tates is to figure out how to distill information into the most relevant points. That’s why I included part 3 and said links are better for larger issue breakdowns, because there is a point where you’re not talking about a song anymore, you’re just on your soap box. Soap boxes have their time and their place on Genius (such as the GWA and the forums!), but annotations as a whole are not it.
That being said, sometimes the best place to write a long annotation going into a problematic trope is on a song that fights against it! If the song is commenting on a stereotype, then it’s important to that song’s context to break it down! Relevancy is key~~ Also, it doesn’t give undue attention and word count to the problematic lyric, instead spotlighting the progressive lyric. Everybody wins.
Very important Tate Talk topic, especially when annotating rap. It’s amazing how people don’t even detect misogyny sometimes. In the new French Montana song the line “I just told Drizzy let me take Serena can go to tropics” is quite problematic. Cmon fam, put some respek on her name.
As in, when do you let that sort of ethic slide?
@YungMikado That’s a great question, and I don’t think there’s an easy answer tbh. I think it just one of those case-by-case situations where context is needed. If Future just passively mentions drinking lean while partying then going too deep is going to come off as unnecessary and preachy. But, on a song like “Codeine Crazy” it may be more appropriate to bring up lean’s infamous history. You almost have to apply the “What do I need to explain with this annotation” principle to how deep you go, I feel.
@BasedGator When you are being introspective, where the range of that subject matter then goes beyond mere, generalized statements, I’d say that’s when you can draw the line. Remember Rap is prominently negative, which is why it’s mostly entertainment – meaning most Rap artists have had, or still say offensive things in their career. When a Rap artist dissociates themselves from social norms, that is realistic, personal and not taken out of context.
And stop labeling everything “misogynistic”, that’s hedonism like most male Rap songs, misogyny is actually only found on in certain occasions.
Interesting subject. I’d be curious to see the community’s view on lyrics such as these. I won’t post the lyrics, but I’ll post the artist
@BasedGator how do you think we should have approached that French Montana lyric?
@TheeMurkiness Hold up, I think that particular line was a great example because it’s subtle, but the misogyny is definitely there. It’s deffo sexist to treat girlfriends like property that one can borrow and trade. It’s a common way to speak, especially when you’re posturing for your fans, but that doesn’t make it right.
Of course, misogyny is only found on certain occasions, and true facts, “misogyny in rap” is so overplayed it’s ridiculous, but this thread exists to show that those occasions where it does exist can easily and constructively be pointed out as such.
At this point, if you are a fan of that artist, you may be tempted to defend them, to try to explain away the problematic interpretation of the line in favor of the “good intentions” of the artist.
This is super important and I think it’s what many of us (myself included in the past) have fallen into. It’s crucial we stay objective because if the artist is being misogynistic and we’re annotating in the same vein, we’re enabling it, rather than being the objective stewards of popular culture that we should be.
@Theonlydjorkaeff Yeah honestly I’ve kinda avoiding that tate because I wasn’t sure how to address it without getting into why it’s problematic. I guess I would just leave it at explaining Drake and Serena’s “relationship” and ask for some help in figuring out how to further dive into the line appropriately. Anyone got any suggestions? I think that line pretty good example of a problematic lyric. @genius-editorial-board @epaulettes
@Theonlydjorkaeff @BasedGator – which lyric? let’s work on it together
My bad I thought I linked it.
https://genius.com/10108584
dope. first step: what’s problematic about this lyric?
As I said above,
It’s deffo sexist to treat girlfriends like property that one can borrow and trade. It’s a common way to speak, especially when you’re posturing for your fans, but that doesn’t make it right.
Especially when Serena is a world-class badass in her own right.
If I was gonna go in on that tate, I’d say something like
“Good luck getting Serena to make time for you, bro. Between winning tk [at this point I’ve honestly forgotten] championships and firing back at North Korea, she’s a bit busy to be playing damsel in a petty rap beef.”