The late 80’s saw the emergence of women adding their voices to the testosterone-flooded wave of hip hop, and they did so in ways sassy and sexual, inflammatory and intellectual, chill and ILL. From Roxanne Shante and MC Lyte to Queen Latifah and Yo-Yo, the sistas were stepping up with their uniquely empowering stories of independence and self-respect, on a mission to show that they could out-write and out-rap their macho male peers. And in some cases, it was enough to show that they could out-insult them.

With “Eat the Cat” (1993), Ju’C’s, well, juicy response to Lil’ Elt’s “Get the Gat” (see #30DaysOfBounce Day 10), Ju’C showed that there was just as much room in Bounce for women to bluntly demand sexual favors. But the blood was already in the water when in ’92 Silky Slim released her response to MC T Tucker’s “Where Dey At”, the decidedly calm cussing-out that was “Sister Sister”.

Him: Look, bitch, I done got the pussy. Now I wants my Starters back.

Her: You want your Starter? You three-minute hard, wannabe big timer. You always talkin’ about gettin’ down. You can’t even get up. Bitch, you forgot who I am? I’m the Sister, the Sister Sister, the Sister Sister…

Over an “Ain’t You Fresh Co” sample and an understated bassline reminiscent of “Get It, Girl” (the playfully randy ’91 New Orleans hit by Warren Mayes), Silky instructed the brothers of Bounce to “lick that thing like a lollypop” as she “robbed their stupid asses blind”. Borrowing from Roxanne Shante’s cool, poised flow and Salt-N-Pepa’s table-turning reclamation of female sexuality, Silky brought a matter-of-fact ‘nother-thang-coming to the Bounce Boys Club which had so loudly and proudly insisted that every “bitch stop talkin’ dat shit”. I can’t help but think of Salt-N-Pepa’s “I’ll Take Your Man” when I hear Silky close with: “I am a super duper lover and you know it’s true / And I’ll make love to you all night if you are willing to / But you know that you can’t and that’s without any doubt / Because I’m such a super lover that I’ll wear you out / ‘Cause I’m the Sistaaaa…”

But the conundrum of “Sister Sister” was also reminiscent of Roxanne Shante’s. You see, Roxanne came into the game dissing all-male outfit U.T.F.O., responding to their “Roxanne, Roxanne” with her own “Roxanne’s Revenge”. But as thorough as her flow was, some of the men in rap didn’t take Roxanne seriously, seeing her as a gimmicky foil to the men. Even as a young buck watching the rather homemade video for “Roxanne’s Revenge”, I remember seeing Marley Marl spinning behind Roxanne in every other shot and feeling like, as crucial as his co-sign was for her career, his presence looming behind her somewhat took away from her message of female empowerment. This dynamic was even more pointed in “Sister Sister”. The title itself was in response to T Tucker, who called himself “The Brother Brother”. But no less than Tucker himself appeared in Silky’s song proclaiming himself “T Tucker the REAL Brotha” as well as being the first voice you hear on the song demanding that Silky give his “Starters” back. Tucker didn’t rap in the song, so his only role was basically to co-sign. How authentic could Silky’s “Womanifesto” truly be if Mr. “Bitch Betta Have My Money” himself was on board?

Bounce’s true Womanifesto would come in 1993 by a crushing lyricist who was far less diplomatic than Silky when it came to reading these braggadocious Bounce brothers their rights.

“I came here tonight to settle score /
Females are women and girls, not bitches and hoes /
So all you niggas that’s stuntin’ off them weak-ass rhymes? /
It’s payback time!”

“Da Payback”, the debut single by Mia X, was a scathing 8-minute diatribe of all things fuckboy, some 20-plus years before “fuckboy” was even a term. If Silky Slim was like Roxanne Shante with her focused but more laidback flow, Mama Mia was more like MC Lyte; rough, rugged, and raw as any man. (Mia even subtly shouted out Lyte’s very first single early in “Da Payback” when she said “it’s something that a woman just crams to understand”.) But this was no “10% Dis”. This was more like 100% Dis. Dis-ruption of penis pride, dis-mantling of sexual dynamics, and dis-truction of misogynistic rap shit. Far too lyrical to do a traditional Bounce song, this pyro-penned “Sister Sister” produced the first anti-Bounce Bounce song, clearly responding to Tucker, Jimi, Elt, Everlasting Hitman and anyone else who ever disrespected women or boasted of their sexual prowess (which was pretty much every man who ever put out a Bounce record, many of the men who ever put out a rap record period, and a whole lotta men who ever breathed oxygen).

As a teenager, I only ever heard the radio version, which in itself was revolutionary. But the street version? Jeeee-sus.

“Met another nigga but he didn’t like rubbers /
[WHAT?!] So he couldn’t be my lover /
Practice safe sex and keep your coochie clean /
‘Cause a nigga might turn your shit purple and green /
And you niggas out here claimin’ you don’t eat /
Everybody know that that’s a L-I-E /
But since your ass do lie, I wish your nose would grow /
‘Cause it would please me much better than what you got below /
So where dey at, get the gat, and bounce baby to this /
A real woman’s shit…”

Do note that she introduced the concept of purple and green body parts a year before Magnolia “Soulja” Slim did. (See #30DaysOfBounce Day 9.) Also note her name-checking three bounce hits in that second-to-last line, all of which she also referenced with identical samples (plus her use of Ice-T’s “The Tower”, which gave the song quite a sinister energy), along with lifted cadences and straight up parodized lyrics. For instance, Hitman’s “Why your hair ain’t long? / Because the bitch put the perm in wrong!” became Mia’s “Why your dick so small? / ‘Cause your nuts look like chiny balls…BITCH!”. And Elt’s “Get the gat, fellas; get the gat, fellas / ‘Cause them booted-up brothers gettin’ jealous, fellas” became Mia’s “I didn’t get no nut, nigga / So you can’t get your fuckin’ haircut, nigga.”

But the illest part of the song comes about five-and-a-half minutes in:

“I want Anne Klein tennis, bitch; not K-Swiss /
So nigga, get on the corner and sling that shit /
And if your ass get shot, that’s what you get /
But mothafucka, I want the disability check /
Now you could say that’s cold, but that’s the way it is /
You gotta show a nigga that you all about biz /
I don’t feel sorry when it comes to ends /
I’ll leave your ass for 3 days in a shitty Depends /
Now that you’re paralyzed, do what I told you to /
And make that tongue work for you /
A-lick it, lick it, lick it, suck it, slurp it, lick it, suck it /
Lick it, suck it, a-slurp it, a-lick it good, nigga…”

Now, when I found myself thinking that was harsh, I then thought about all the things that men had said in Bounce (and beyond) about women. I thought about Tucker saying “dog-ass hoe betta have my money”. (See Day 3.) I thought about Jimi saying, “Biiiiitch, stop talkin’ that shit / And suck a nigga dick for an outfit.” (See Day 4.) I thought about Juvey claiming to have “hit it from the back for some Popeye’s” (Day 5), Elt saying “ride that dick a little stronger and ya might make the dick a little longer” (Day 10), and Hitman defying reality with claims of his penis having supernatural powers (Day 6). And I realized that this was the hate that hate made. This was the monster misogyny created. There is literally nothing that a woman can say about men that is any worse than anything that has been said about women by men, ESPECIALLY in rap lyrics. All Mia X did (to brilliant effect, at that) was turn the dynamic around and show us how extreme our lyrical disdain for women had come to be with some extreme disdain of her own. Mama Mia was far more than a Bounce artist (in fact, I’m pretty sure this was the only Bounce song she ever released), but in her genius she used the vehicle of Bounce to drive her point straight to those who needed to hear it.

High School Me couldn’t fully appreciate “Da Payback” when it came out. As a lyricist, I gave Mia X a begrudging nod for the thoroughness of her lyrical assault, but as a young man, I was coming into my own (*cough* toxic *cough*) masculinity and the men of the rap world were my heroes, so I could give only so much credence to their detractors, even a detractor who was rapping her own ever-loving ass off (and who, by the way, was right). But now, as a lifelong student of lyricism, as Spoof School’s Primary Professor of Parody, and as a 40 year old man working to cure myself of the effects of patriarchy, I can fully appreciate where Mama Mia was coming from in both style and substance. In a manner much more meaningful than an individualized “diss song” would have been (as Jay once said, “Let’s end the speculation; I’m talking to alla y’all”), Mia took up arms simultaneously against and on behalf of the very institution of rap, thus acting as both fighter and lover. If we knew better, we’d do better, so she was letting us know better, as she would continue to do throughout her career with No Limit Records and beyond.

For her part, Silky went on to sign with Big Boy Records, a label which would have a very important place in New Orleans rap. Her sole Big Boy project would include “What’s Yo’ Name?” (Somewhat of a sequel to “Sister Sister”) as well as “Keep Your Hands Down” (a domestic violence story-song every bit as powerful as Eve’s “Love Is Blind” which pre-dated Eve’s debut by about 5 years).

Life got real, so I had to slow down on my daily Bounce blogs, but it was important to me to post this tribute to the “Sister Sisters” today in particular for a few reasons. For one, a few days ago was the 30th anniversary of MC Lyte’s debut album. For two, today is the birthday of one of the most impressive and impactful writers/poets/emcees I’ve ever known: Natasha “Itsrealight” Spence (rest in peace). So I would like to close with some quotes from them as well as two other dear woman who have helped me navigate the juxtaposition of my love for hip hop and my love for women.

“Sometimes, I have to turn off parts of my brain in order to enjoy rap.” – Natasha “Theory” Thomas-Jackson

“To be a woman who loves hip hop is to be in an abusive relationship.” – Jennifer L. Williams

“Just because there’s not a whole lot of female MCs on the front lines being supported by major record labels doesn’t mean they don’t exist. It doesn’t mean they don’t have the drive and the competitive nature and the will and the way.” – MC Lyte

“Can I . . . make my . . . dreams . . . your reality?…” – Natasha “Itsrealight” Spence

I wish I could say that the fiercely feminist debuts of Silky Slim and Mia X ushered in a new day in Bounce wherein the fellas started to think twice about how they spoke to and about women in their biggadee-bounce-dat-ass anthems. But alas, for most of these orgiastic orators of ward roll calls and “shake it like a dog” marching orders, Bounce would continue to be about three things: Pussy, Money, and Weed.

Coming up: “I got some red-assed sess and some big ole buds / And I keep a little skunk stash under my rugs / Quarter bags, twenties, dimes and keys / Rollin’ like a motherfucker makin’ them G’s…”