What's a Tip Drill?

A number of months back, I was up late watching BET. As I was watching, I saw quite an alarming video by the rapper, Nelly. The video was titled “Tip Drill,” and displayed a cacophony of young black women gallivanting around in next to nothing. In fact, many of the women were partially nude (as in no bra/shirt/top). In the ensuing weeks, I heard the buzz from many of my guy friends first, then from many of my lady friends. The fellas often mentioned the video gleefully, seeming to want everyone to witness this “awesome” video. The women were taken aback and appalled; rightfully so. Many of the women expressed their disgust at Nelly and vowed that they would decline their support of his music and videos in the future. Though their outrage is certainly warranted, my opinion is that their upsettedness is long overdue and in a sense, kind of cheap.

The objectification of women is more than an age old problem. In the past, in some cultures, women were regarded as property (and still are in many areas of the world today), much like one’s vehicle. This meant that women could be traded, and only served certain purposes. Most of those purposes were for the benefit of men. Without doubt, we have significantly moved past such overt materialization of women in this country, however, with the advent of television, the trend continues in a different fashion. From magazines, to news broadcasts, to movies, to music videos, the sexualized images of women serve no good purpose to the end of gender equality. Women are portrayed in a way that suggests the only value that they have to offer society is their body. And given well-known institutional social disadvantages like lower pay than men, less upward mobility potential, and disproportionately small political representation, many women find themselves in situations where the only obvious option is to “sell” their “goods” just to survive. Some do it gladly (I’d argue because of a lack of education or the lack of another obvious way out) and others do it reluctantly. No matter the route, many women find themselves in such circumstances.

That same misogynistic society, which severely discriminates against women, once gave birth to Carnell Haynes Jr., known to most of us simply as Nelly.

In the mold of many of his rap predecessors, Nelly has found that one easy way to get your music videos run in constant rotation is to have copious amounts of sexual lyrics laced over gratuitous amounts of semi-pornographic visuals. The latest video, “Tip Drill,” has caused somewhat of a minor boycott amongst many women. The uproar caused women at a prominent Historically Black Women’s College in Atlanta, Georgia, Spelman, to cancel Nelly’s planned concert there in direct response to his video (http://www.africana.com/articles/daily/mu20040414tipdrill.asp).

Only in doing research for this particular blog did I finally come upon the meaning of the phrase “Tip Drill” (It is a phrase that refers to a girl who most men find ugly, but has a nice body). To denigrate women and then to compartmentalize them into less than a whole human being, like a rather specific body part (as “It must be yo’ ass cuz it ain’t yo’ face” implies) is completely outrageous and uncalled for and deserves reprimanding.

Though my strong black sisters at Spelman are to be commended for their efforts, I would expect more out of them than a vendetta against one artist for one video. If they have a problem with Nelly now, with the onset of his “Tip Drill” video, well here’s a list of other prominent artist that they should also be upset about: Jay-Z, P. Diddy, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Master P, Trick Daddy, Lil Jon, Ludacris, Eminem, 50 Cent, Chingy, Timbaland, Nas, OutKast, Kanye West, Slum Village, Usher, Ginuwine, R. Kelly, Tyrese, and the list goes on.

In fact, an argument could be made (though not nearly as strong) that many female artists are also guilty of further propagating stereotypes that lead to the degradation of women in society by portraying themselves as only sexual beings when it is obvious that they have other valuable talent to offer. That list might include the following: Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Janet Jackson, Christina Aguilera, Lil Kim, Foxy Brown, Trina, and all former, present, and future members of Destiny’s Child (including but not limited to Beyonce).

My point is that all Nelly is doing is pushing the envelope a little further than it was before, while committing the same trespass as even lil ‘ole Kanye West (who has his share of sexualized lyrics and images to boast). You can’t be mad at Nelly today and then go out and buy Jay-Z’s Black album tomorrow, and watch Chingy's "Right Thurr" video Thursday afternoon. If you truly want to stop the objectification of women in music videos, then you’ve got to start at the lowest level possible (to be sure, maybe the show that runs the video, BET’s oft-soft porn outlet Uncut, should be canceled). By doing this, everything that is beyond the strict standard also becomes unacceptable. For instance, if you are mad at Nelly, but not Ludacris (who happened to have the most graphic video that I’d seen, “Booty Poppin,” prior to Nelly), then Ludacris can always say “well, I’m not doing what Nelly is doing, so I’m OK.” On the flipside, if you say that Slum Village’s song “Selfish” is bad, then Nelly, Ludacris, and a whole hosts of artists would have to think twice about the conduct that is presented in their videos.

So, at the end of the day, I wish that people (namely those who are advocates for women’s rights…fellas, where you at?) will realize that Nelly is merely a branch on a tree. It is easy to cut off a tree branch, but it is quite daunting to dig up its roots.

Here are some related sights about Nelly you might want to check out:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4816719/
http://blackcollegeview.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/04/08/4075b78e3b036
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/04/24/Worldandnation/Spelman_College_swipe.shtml