The limbo between music, misogyny and morality

With the news that rapper Octavian subjected his ex-girlfriend to physical abuse, the question of the intersection between music and morality has been foregrounded in my mind.

Freedom of expression is a much-protected policy when it comes to art. With that important right comes the unfortunate infiltration of noxious notions, chauvinist lyrics, and lewd music videos.

I’ve struggled since I was about 16 with the dilemma of making ethical listening choices. Do I listen to songs that appeal to my preferred style or seek out creators with more ethical integrity?

I am ashamed to admit this is a task I have somewhat failed at. However, saying goodbye to Octavian was an easy decision for me.

Taking to Instagram and Twitter to expose the domestic abuse she had suffered at the hands of Octavian, Hana (@emobaby4real) shared footage of her screaming ‘Please don’t’ and ‘stop’, amid evident commotion. She uploaded a video of Octavian Oliver Godji, the music artist, vociferating: ‘yeah I beat the shit out of you because you’re a f*cking c*nt. Get out my house’.

Pictured with bruises stamped all over her body, the evidence seems irrefutable.

Hana wrote on her Instagram story: ‘The first instance of physical abuse came shortly after I fell pregnant with his child. After pressuring me to get an abortion he attacked me for the first time, kicked me in the stomach, burst my lip, attacked me with a hammer, and threatened to kill me. I was shortly later asked to sign an NDA in an attempt to “gag” me for 20k, which I didn’t sign’.

Octavian appeared to deny the accusations: ‘all this just cause I broke up with a girl. Evidence that the girl is obsessed and will never let me alone or let me win coming soon. […] People are bare thinking I’m an abuser but go and watch that video again, go and see if there’s any real physical abuse in the video. I’ve been going out with this girl for three years, then she posts one video showing nothing and everyone thinks I’m an abuser because of her statement’.

‘Liars can’t lie forever’, he concluded.

Oh, the irony.

She stated in a caption ‘I’m still being called a liar with video evidence. Please think of the thousands of women who don’t even have any evidence and […] will never get justice’.

To anyone who listens to Octavian, these allegations may not come as a surprise. With his Spotify image a picture of him covered in blood and with lyrics expressing a hunger to kill and maim, the clues begin to add up.

Take a look at these lyrics, which he admitted were about Hana in an interview:

‘Been thinkin’ ‘bout killing you, baby
(You fuckin’ bitch)
Grab the gun on my right, push them good thoughts to the sideway
Get out of my head, get the fuck out of my head

[…]

Bitch, you can’t talk to me, I ain’t got the time
Too busy cutting lines, I’ll kill you if you’re in my sight, yeah
Give me some molly, or I’ll start a riot’

In an age of growing awareness for what should and shouldn’t be put out into the world, the music industry is slipping under the radar. And yet it’s a platform like any other.

Whether it’s the incessant references to women as bitches or hoes, proud recollections of all the ways to ‘fuck’ a girl, arrogance about the right to a side-chick as well as a main-chick or demands that the many women they sleep with must have only slept with a one or two other men themselves, lyrics are a troubling cesspit of misogynist opportunities.

These lyrics don’t just reflect real world views about women, they also augment them. When this music is pumped out on the radio and recommended in Spotify playlists , we must ask whether infidelity, misogyny, rape and objectification are being given a hall pass. Your answer may initially be ‘no’, but all it takes is being a fly on the wall in a room full of university boys talking about their conquests to reconsider.

These refrains do not exist in a vacuum of art, they are repeated in the lyrics of lad culture and the tuneful whistles out of car windows at passing women.

So, when the hugely controversial song, WAP, was released by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, one must question why women singing such explicit lyrics is taboo. Regardless of whether women talking about being ‘certified freaks’ is advisable, it is something men have done unquestioned for some time.

This celebration of sexism in mainstream music creates a perplexing predicament for music teachers. In his article called ‘When Sexism Makes for a Catchy Song’, Hussain writes ‘My songwriting students pen misogynistic lyrics. But the music industry tells them that’s okay’.

He writes: ‘Last year, a TA in the lyric-writing class I teach, at the University of British Columbia, came to me with a problem. She was marking assignments for which our students had been asked to compose a song in a genre of their choosing, and she thought that one of the submissions, from a budding rapper, was misogynistic. I listened to the demo, which contained numerous references to women as “bitches” and “hoes” and described them performing sexual acts. I decided to set up a meeting with the student.

‘During our one-on-one, I remember the student arguing that his lyrics weren’t any different from those written by artists he was currently listening to, artists who had male and female listeners. He began listing off names, including a nineteen-year-old artist named YBN Nahmir from Birmingham, Alabama. In one of YBN Nahmir’s songs, “Bounce Out with That,” the rapper sings: “Fuck a bitch and then I put it in a bitch throat / Never give a bitch yo’ phone, that’s a no-no.” YBN Nahmir has no shortage of similar lyrics and no shortage of fans, either — nearly four million monthly listeners on Spotify and hundreds of millions of views on YouTube. “Bounce Out with That” even had a number-one spot on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.

‘The student was correct: his work was in line with the artists he was listening to, artists who had successful careers.’

Do professionals not have an obligation to make work that not only sounds good but does good too?

The question is where do we draw the line when we decide what we are comfortable listening to? When does this start off a dangerous path of canceling artists and censoring art? When does someone’s private life decide whether their music is inadmissible? Can we still enjoy troubling music with discerning ears?

These are all difficult questions to answer. However, we must not stop trying to answer them. Music is not just white noise, it is indoctrination pumped in your ears. You’re plugged in with your headphones to someone else’s world view, absorbing and downloading these injections of information. And that information is far from passive — it is advocating a very specific view of women.

For me, the decision to stop listening to Octavian was an easy one. I liked one or two of his songs, but the joy of them died when I saw those pictures. But do I now begin a purge of my playlists for other songs that hint at similar menace towards women? Can you separate art from the artist? When Tekashi 6IX9INE’s misogynist lyrics are being used in court to shed light on his domestic abuse, the signs point to no.

The warning signs are there. Let’s listen. Not to the music, the beat or the flow, but to the lyrics. They tell us all we need to know.

Once we’ve assessed the information they readily give, then we can decide if we want to continue listening.

If you or someone you know is affected by domestic violence — seek help. Don’t be afraid to call the police or a helpline.

VictimSupport.org: 0808 168 9111

Freephone National Domestic Abuse Helpline: 0808 2000 247