In an overall uncomfortable interview with Power 105.1 FM's Breakfast Club this week, rapper Rick Ross made some controversial comments about female rappers — specifically, why he doesn't work with them — and repeatedly requested that the female host in the room, Angela Yee, show him her legs.
While talking about working with other artist in the industry, Yee asked whether or not he considered working with more women.
"You know, I never did it because I always thought, like, ‘I would end up fucking a female rapper and fucking the business up,'" Ross said, prompting uproarious laughter from the men in the room.
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"I’m so focused on my business," he added. "Just gotta be honest with you. You know, she looking good. I’m spending so much money on her photo shoots. I gotta fuck a couple times."
Yee pressed him, and he brought up the fact that he watched Brianna Perry grow into a successful female rapper from a young age. Ross clarified that if he saw a promising young female rapper, that would be "special."
This doesn't excuse his earlier comments, which imply that his desire to have sex with a female rapper would end up being more important than her career. This is just another instance of people failing to view women as more than sexual objects, to take them seriously without reducing them to their body parts. In an industry that's already dominated by men, it would be comforting if successful male rappers used their status to bring in more marginalized artists rather than perpetuating the very ideology that keeps women out of the industry in the first place. But, alas, here we are.