This week Alpha Chi Omega sorority is hosting Healthy Relationships week to celebrate relationships that are mutually beneficial to both people involved.
We have become so accustom to male dominated relationships that we often glaze over them when they appear in popular culture. Case in point, Drake‘s song Hotline Bling. This song is full of misogynistic undertone where Drake tries to assert his dominance over a former lover.
In order to help bring awareness to healthy relationships, I offer this interpretation of the misogynistic messages of Hotline Bling.
You used to call me on my
You used to, you used to
Yeah
Chorus:
You used to call me on my cell phone
Late night when you need my love
Call me on my cell phone
Late night when you need my love
And I know when that hotline bling
That can only mean one thing
I know when that hotline bling
That can only mean one thing
Ever since I left the city,
You got a reputation for yourself now
You have formed an identity separate from a man’s.
Everybody knows and I feel left out
I don’t like that.
Girl you got me down, you got me stressed out
I’m stressed because I no longer control you
‘Cause ever since I left the city,
you started wearing less and goin’ out more
you started wearing clothes and having social interactions
Glasses of champagne out on the dance floor
drinking champagne in appropriate situations.
Hangin’ with some girls I’ve never seen before
Meeting new people
Chorus:
Ever since I left the city, you, you, you
You and me we just don’t get along
I feel like it is not okay you no longer enjoy spending time with me
You make me feel like I did you wrong
I can’t imagine anyone not wanting to spend time with me
Going places where you don’t belong
Why are you traveling to other places
Ever since I left the city,
you, you got exactly what you asked for
you have received what you wanted
Running out of pages in your passport
seeing the world
Hanging with some girls I’ve never seen before
talking to and meeting other girls
Chorus:
These days, all I do is
Wonder if you bendin’ over backwards for someone else
These days I wonder if you are enjoying the company of other men even though we were never actually in a committed relationship
Wonder if you’re rollin’ up a backwoods for someone else
I wonder if you are spending time with other people and are doing things we used to do together
Doing things I taught you, gettin’ nasty for someone else
I think I am entitled to know about your personal business.
You don’t need no one else
You don’t need anyone else (but me)
You don’t need nobody else, no
You don’t need anyone else (but seriously you need me because you are a woman)
Why you never alone
How dare you engage in social behavior
Why you always touching road
Why are you traveling
Used to always stay at home, be a good girl
You were once trapped in traditional gender roles, I think I liked that better
You was in a zone, yeah
I controlled you
You should just be yourself
You should be yourself (the yourself I tell you to be)
Right now, you’re someone else
I don’t think it’s right for you to be independent
Chorus
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