In the wake of the horrid Steubenville Rape case, rapper Rick Ross is coming under fire for a lyric that describes drugging then raping a woman. From HuffPo:

Ross collaborated with Atlanta rapper Rocko for the single, titled “U.O.E.N.O.,” off Rocko’s mixtape “Gift of Gab 2.” Although the mix dropped in February, the track featuring Ross is just now gaining traction because of a lyric presumably about date rape.

 

The lyrics in question talk about drugging a woman and taking her home. “Put molly all in her champagne/ She ain’t even know it/ I took her home and I enjoyed that/ She ain’t even know it,” raps Ross.

 

Molly is the powder or crystal form of “pure” MDMA, a substance commonly found in Ecstasy, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). MDMA can be an energizer, distorter and/or enhancer. It is used to “reduce inhibitions and to promote: euphoria, feelings of closeness, empathy, and sexuality,” the DEA has said of the substance.

 

Kanye West, 2 Chainz, Childish Gambino and Danny Brown are just some of the hip-hop artists who have dropped the term “molly” in a song, CNN’s Marina Csomor noted.

But Ross’s use of molly was different.

 

“This lyric is obviously promoting rape,” says journalist and hip-hop activist Rosa Clemente in a YouTube response to the song. “Not just date rape, but rape and rape culture and violence against women. We live in a society by the time that African American women and Latina women are 18, almost half of them — 44 percent — have been sexually abused.”

In another HuffPo piece, this an editorial, Antonio Moore expounds on the Steubenville case and the power of Ross’ words:

The power of words, and the responsibility we have when using them, has been in many ways lost. Hiding behind the power of free speech, we as a society have in part lost a connection to responsibility when speaking freely. Recently two incidents, though separate ,have twined together to show the lasting effect of this changed approach. In the past few weeks our nation was rocked by the high school rape incident that occurred in Steubenville, Ohio. An incident that rightfully led to the conviction of two young men unable to grasp the consequence of their criminal actions on themselves, their community and most of all their victim. These young men, who so brazenly flaunted their heinous acts on social media, were reduced to what they actually are — children — by verdicts that labeled them permanently as rapists. This consequence will now follow them for the rest of their lives.

 

The other incident, though after the prior, is still connected by showing a greater growing social insensitivity in our societies idea on issues such as rape. The rapper Rick Ross recently penned the lyrics [listed above, ADF]…

 

Though there is no direct evidence of correlation to Steubenville, the lyric insinuates a drugging of a woman in a fashion where it can lead the listener to believe the reference is to that of date rape.

…

 

As a young professional, I am appalled by the lyric; as a former prosecutor, I saw cases where choice was taken away from women, and it is my belief incidents of this sort have no place being mentioned so brazenly in a rap song. As an African-American professional, the digression of our role models has led to a belief that you can use words without being responsible. While this is not a call to limit anyone’s creative force, at some point creativity for each community member must take a back to seat to being socially responsible. When life imitates art, and art is done without being socially responsible, it becomes dangerous.

Amen. For more on this:

Rick Ross rap on “YounEEnKnoIT” crosses the line (Reverb)

Open Letter To Rick Ross From A Music Industry Vet (All Hip Hop)