People are well aware by now of what some are calling the "Weinstein effect", that refers to powerful people in Hollywood being exposed for sexual misconduct.
So far, public figures such as Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, and Ed Westwick have all been accused of some kind of sexual misconduct.
And while the #MeToo movement has been a great start to ending sexual misconduct for public figures and regular people alike, it does seem to have evaded the music industry.
That is not to say that it does not happen in the music industry. It is, in fact, the opposite.
Sexual misconduct is a subject that many rappers have faced but does not get much coverage. While on the other had a good feud between rappers will get a lot of coverage, such as Cardi B V.S Nicki Minaj or Kanye V.S Drake.
Some of you may be familiar with Dr. Luke who popular singer Ke$ha accused of raping her, amongst many other things. This civil suit is still ongoing and has not been decided yet.
Then there is the late rapper XXXtentacion whose death caused a lot of controversies. He is a good example of how people will overlook a sexual conduct charge just because they stan someone.
XXXtentacion has a history of being arrested for false imprisonment, witness tampering, and most controversial, the battery of his pregnant girlfriend back in 2016. According to the details of her testimony "XXXTentacion left he room and returned with two grilling implements- a 'barbecue pitchfork' and a 'barbecue cleaner', and he told her to pick between the two, because was going to put one of them in her vagina'.
Despite this, Capitol still signed him to a record deal worth around $6 million. Before he died he pleads guilty to the charges.
People were very upset after his death and people on Twitter were of course torn over how to feel about it.
Some argued that while it is sad that he was shot, that he was still the kind of man who was accused of battery charges against his pregnant girlfriend and that supporting him was supporting what he allegedly did.
Others, on the other hand, argued that we cannot prove if he is guilty and that his death is still a tragedy.
Another example of this is rapper 6ix9ine, who is known for popular songs such as "GUMMO". He admitted in court that he was in a video in which he fondled a 13-year-old's breasts and spanked her while his friends had intercourse with her.
Despite these allegations and him being in jail for other racketeering charges, his music is blowing up now more so than ever, since his single with Nicki Minaj just got released.
I could go on and list more people such as Kodak Black, Miguel, and R. Kelly, who also have some kind of sexual misconduct allegation against them, but the fact is that despite these men having been accused of these things, their careers are unaffected.
Why is this?
Why can public figures such as Matt Lauer be accused of things and then the public all seemingly stop supporting him and categorize him as bad, but if singers/rappers do these things, people often overlook it.
A possible reason that we may do this is that we think "so what?"
"So what if they did those things? They are still talented and I love that one song by them! Plus, every rapper talks about doing those things."
We are letting sexual misconduct slide from these people and normalizing what they are doing because we like their work.
When I first heard about all of these accusations I read into them to find out what was actually true and what was just rumors, but once I knew what was true, I was torn.
I obviously do not support what these men have done, in fact, I despise it, but does that mean I stop listening to them? Does this mean I stop giving them my support and money, despite some of them putting out songs that I love?
These are all questions I think we all need to ask our selves.
We need to be cognizant of who we are supporting and what they stand for. We need to be choosy about who we listen to and hope that others will stop just overlooking what these men have done. We need to treat them just as if they were any other public figure.
Is it really worth listening to Tunnel Vision or MAMA again? Ask yourself that.
