Is There A Purpose To Changing The Gender of Lyrics?
Hip hop is a male dominated world, we know that. The lyrics of this music are often written by straight men and therefore catered towards their straight male fans. It makes sense that Hip Hop fans are so often straight men, because this genre is so heavily dominated by artists they can relate to.
When women pushed their way into the hip hop frame and began writing, recording, and producing raps about men, in a sexualized way, some male fans didn’t know how to react. MC Lyte was one of those women who came along, changed the game, and made men feel uncomfortable in their own comfort zone.
In an interview with Hip Hop DX, writer Paul Arnold is more than a little bit excited to meet with MC Lyte. He admits that he knew all the words to one of her biggest hits, Cha Cha Cha. He also admits changing the gender of the lyrics from feminine to masculine.
HipHopDX: One of the first Rap songs I knew the words to as a kid was “Cha Cha Cha.” I had to substitute “male” for “female” and “him” for “her,” and I never really felt comfortable as a dude saying “the voice gets wetter” — [Laughs]
MC Lyte: Ah, yeah, yeah. [Laughs]
MC Lyte appears to be understanding of the situation, possibly even agreeing. It is curious whether she felt the need to change the lyrics to songs like, the L. L. Cool J favorite I’m That Type Of Guy. Did that become I’m That Type Of Girl when MC Lyte was listening to the radio?
Arnold isn’t aware of what he just said. Underneath his words is the idea that if he referred to himself as a women he would be insulting himself. If a fan really appreciates the art there would be no need to change it, rather to respect the artists perspective. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that many men felt this way in the late 80s, or even still today. I personally have never felt the need to change the gender of the pronouns in a song sung by a male.
Paul then goes onto comment on her fan’s:
DX: But other than that, that was my shit back in the day. Do you still get grown men coming up to you giddy to talk about “Cha Cha Cha,” “Stop, Look, Listen,” “Paper Thin”?
MC Lyte: All the time. And actually, younger men as well because they were the younger siblings of the generation that was directly affected. Yeah, that’s a beautiful thing.
To Paul, grown men getting giddy over MC Lyte is a little humorous, because of the reversal of the typical gender roles in the situation. To MC Lyte having her fans appreciate her work, and express their appreciation is a wonderful thing. Women of hip hop have are put in a tough spot. Should they correct their fans and hope they don’t take it the wrong way? Or do they brush off the questionable comments or questions to avoid the awkward conversations?
We’ve seen artists call out interviewers, especially with the question “would you ask a man this question?” Should MC Lyte have said “would you think it was odd if those same men were going up to members of N.W.A or Public Enemy and saying the same thing” or was her response pushing him slightly while still keeping the conversation open? It’s not fair to place that much responsibility on the shoulders of the women of hip hop.
In more recent times male artists have covered songs by women and not changed the lyrics. The incredible lyricists, Childish Gambino, covered Tamia’s ‘So Into You’ Where she says “Lets stay together you and me boy” a few times throughout the song. Childish Gambino doesn’t change it to girl, despite being a heterosexual male.
Ed Sheeran is not as far from Hip Hop as his image makes him seem. His cover of Nina Simone’s ‘Be My Husband’ is beyond beautiful and he has no problem singing from the perspective of a women asking a man to be her husband and she’ll be his wife.
Does this show change? Absolutely. The MC Lyte interview was from 2012, the Ed Sheeran video from 2014 (although I saw him in 2012 and he played this song) and the Childish video from 2016. There is a lack of male rappers preforming covers in general (besides this incredible piece of ASAP rocky attempting to sing Pumped Up Kicks) which is an interesting fact on its own.
Men shouldn’t feel the need to change the gender of the lyrics if a women is the artist, but some do. It is the larger issue that men are unconsciously taught to be afraid of appearing less masculine even in the presence of no one but themselves. Hip Hop doesn’t help since it is so male dominated, by fans and the artists. Let us hope that men can sing along to any female singer they want, belt out those tunes, and not change the lyrics. Appreciate the song, respect the artist.
