Listen to the song while reading this. You can also listen to the original "Respect Our Women" if you'd like. Read the lyrics if you want.
"Respect Our Women" has frustrated me for years, and especially so lately. I love the lyrics to the song, but the beat is (was) terrible. I wrote the song for several reasons. First, I was raised to respect women, and with my mom as a role model, that was very easy to do. The other main reason of note is this: at least 90 percent of hip-hop songs I've ever heard which mention women degrade them. That was true when I started rapping, and "the Chronic" was huge, and continued to be true through gangsta rap, and the percentage of hip-hop songs which degrade women may be even higher now than it was then. I felt like, as a hip-hop artist, I should make it cool to respect women. Unfortunately, since the beat was so bad, it often went over poorly at shows, even amongst women. I did get a hug from one fan in Athens, Ohio because of that song, but most people just tuned the song out. I was 17 when I wrote the song, and didn't really play any instruments. I just knew how to use my keyboard as a beat machine. During the summers of 1999 and 2000 I picked up the drums, bass, guitar, and producing.
Now, after developing some abilities with those instruments, I've finally made a new beat for the song. I slowed it down a bit too, since I feel like more attention should be placed on the lyrics. I'm happy with the results, and I hope you are too. I do want to mention a couple of changes. First, I wrote a new verse to amend to the end of the song to show that I still have the same goal of getting men to respect women. Secondly, there's a slight change to the lyrics in the first verse. Originally I said "there are some hoes who give blows..." and in the new version I say "there are some of those who give blows..." The reason for this has to do with the negative stigma attached to the word hoe. That particular section of the lyrics talks about the effects of physical (and implied sexual) abuse, and I didn't want listeners to think that I was judging a woman in that situation. I do my best not to judge anyone, as it's not my place.
There are some lyrics that a female friend of mine found offensive shortly after I recorded the song. They are at the end of the second verse, when I say "women can accomplish as much or more than men, if we let them." She took it as I see women as unable to accomplish anything on their own, and that whether or not they do anything is still based on whether or not we want them to. That's not at all what I mean. It refers to things such as equal pay for equal work, glass ceilings (which men in power like to use over women who are trying to get there), gender discrimination, physical abuse, and anything else that men do to keep women down. If men would stop doing things like this, women would have an easier time accomplishing goals and making a real difference in the world. Women can still do anything they want, even with these barriers, but they make things much more difficult.
Other than that, I think the lyrics are pretty straight forward, and don't really need an explanation. I hope that the major facelift I gave the song will bring it new life, and a place in your heart, whether you are female and glad to see that someone in hip-hop respects you, or if you are male and this helps you understand that women deserve respect, and that respect women is actually cool.
Back to MissionMan.net
Or read more stories