A Dialogue on Fetty Wap’s Concert in Denver

My friend, Annie Kane, and I recently attended Fetty Wap’s concert in Denver, Colorado at the Fillmore Auditorium. The following is an account, from our perspective, on the events that transpired.

Taylor: As a female rap fanatic, I have never been bothered by misogyny in hip hop lyrics. I am fully aware that this is an aspect of hip hop, which comes from the deep history of an oppressed culture. Artists such as Kanye West have even stated, “bitch is an endearing term in hip hop.” And let’s face it, sex sells. But what happened at a recent Fetty Wap concert stunned me, and for once I felt directly targeted by sexism in hip hop.

Annie: Two hours is about how long I would say I was standing in the middle of a crowd at the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver, Colorado, waiting to see breakout star, Fetty Wap. What I endured in those 2 hours was not something I expected before seeing this praised rapper.

Fetty had a whole crew warm up the crowd, with a DJ booth set up and a person at the mic to amp up the crowd while introducing the warm up talent. The entire time that MC was on stage I felt personally victimized. He made plenty of derogatory comments towards all the women in the audience. At one point, the MC even tried to get women to start cheering based on their body type, first asking for all the “skinny” ladies to “make some noise”, then all the “larger” ladies, and then everyone who is “in-between”. I not only had to identify my figure at an event where I had planned on simply enjoying myself, but I also had to identify and cheer against other women who were different sizes than me. This disturbed me to the point where I almost walked out of the venue before Fetty even came on stage.

Taylor: Although I did not raise my hand for any of the body types, I found myself wondering: “if I were to participate in this scrutiny, which group would I raise my hand in? To these men on stage looking down at us, what constitutes skinny, fat or in between? Maybe what I think about myself isn’t how other people think of me.” A girl trying to enjoy a concert should not be having these thoughts while waiting on the artist to perform. Girls should not be going to fun events just to feel badly about themselves.

Just as these thoughts were clouding my brain it got worse. The MC on stage cracked a smile, as he raised one hand and screamed into the mic: “now where are all my b*tches with clean p***ies?” I was astonished. The absurdity of this comment confirmed it for me: Fetty’s crew is not what I thought they would be. Here I was, so excited to see an artist that I look up to and admire, and everything that his crew stands for is not right.

Annie: The only women represented on stage were scantily clad in underwear. One was brought out solely for the purpose of grinding up on another rapper and twerking her a** towards the audience. When any woman was on stage, the men would jeer and talk about her appearance.

I felt as though I was jumping through all these psychological hoops just to see Fetty Wap. That I was expected to just deal with being objectified and stand by as other girls were objectified on stage for the entire audience unnerved me, and was not something I was expecting from an artist that I held respect for. What’s more, when Fetty Wap finally did come out on stage, he was lip synching.

Taylor: Being objectified was enough to kill the excitement, but when I saw Fetty Wap lip synching (and not doing a very good job at it), I knew that this night would not end the way I imagined it would. I anticipated a great night with great friends, a hyped and fun performance, and a contagious smile after seeing Fetty kill it on stage. However, I left the venue with a sad feeling in my stomach, and a new, very different view of the once beloved Fetty Wap.