Lupe Fiasco Takes on Spin Magazine Over “Bitch Bad” Video Critique

Lupe Fiasco was less than pleased with a Spin post about his video for “Bitch Bad,” and took to Twitter to voice his displeasure…

Lupe Fiasco released the video for “Bitch Bad” yesterday, one of the early singles from his upcoming album, Food & Liquor 2: The Great American Rap Album, Pt. 1, due out September 25. In the song, the Chicago rapper discusses the word “bitch” and the various interpretations of the loaded word, understood particularly through the lens of those raised on hip-hop. The video, directed by Gil Green, attempts to make a parody of a stereotypical rap video, and includes the use of blackface.

When Spin writer Brandon Soderberg was critical of the new visuals in a post, Lupe caught wind and took to Twitter to attempt to defend his video and attack the publication. He began using the hashtag #BoycottSpinMagazine and later referenced Buzz Media, which now owns Spin.

Watch the video above, and below check out an except of Soderberg’s post (the full piece is here) followed a number of by Lupe’s tweets.

“The video for ‘Bitch Bad’ adds another layer of reckless social commentary when it dramatizes footage from a fictional hip-hop video behind scenes of the kids encountering offensive hip-hop. The fake rap video that plays out behind the group of young girls seems almost exclusively aimed at 50 Cent. We see a guy in a wifebeater mean mugging as a typical “video hoe” writhes on him and his car, and signs for “Sugar Water” engulf the street scene, undoubtedly a reference to 50?s involvement with Vitamin Water. Towards the end of the video, we witness the 50 stand-in and “video hoe” applying blackface, perpetuating the sounds-good-but-doesn’t-really-parse argument that male gangsta rappers and female models/video girls are the modern day equivalent of blackface performers.”