Speak Easy

I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T: What It Really Means

Posted 05/15/2008 at 9:39 AM  |  Comment?

Yeah, I know. Webbie's latest hit has been out for a good minute, but I've had very strong feelings for this song ever since it hit airwaves, and I haven't really had a chance to expound on it in blog form until now.

Talking to a lady friend of mine about what this song really is - besides a bona fide club banger that makes women say "YEAAHHH!" when it comes on - I found myself championing the merits of the song. It's a celebration, without the word bitch. Three rappers giving props to the kind of woman who has two jobs, her own house, and (halleluiah!), doesn't smell like onion rings over the kind of beat usually associated with strip club anthems. It's as though the spirit of India.Aire made its way into Webbie, but not Mouse, the song's producer. But my lady friend wasn't buying it, and it made me wonder, am I the only one listening?

If Webbie, Lil' Boosie, and Lil' Phat were an R&B group, and put their lyrics over a background of lush guitars and water-drip sound effects, I'm pretty sure they'd be featured in Essence. If Common were to write a record like this, and put John Legend on the hook, independent women everywhere would make it a ring tone.

At a time when a white man has the ability to blame the misogyny in hip hop for using the term "nappy headed hos", "Independent" shows hip hop also appreciate it's women, no matter what kind of shape their hair is in. It's a powerful, albeit atypical, response to those who want to prey on hip hop's substance or lack thereof. Webbie and his boys are saying (actually, they're yelling) that brother's actually do appreciate a woman's worth. So why hasn't Alicia Keys or one of her other strong black sisters of soul gotten in on the remix?

Perhaps it's because "Indepedent" is a song about women that's not for women - at least not in the traditional sense. For women, "Independent" is a test to see how comfortable a woman truly is with herself. It's a taunt that says, "Yeah, you're feeling what I'm saying, but are you comfortable enough in your own skin to dance your ass off to this record?" It's, dare I say, the best women's anthem to come out since "Independent Women Pt. 1" came out.

What I want to know is what do women really think of Webbie's record? Is it as empowering and positive as I think it is, or am I just being delusional? As far as I'm concerned, "Independent" should be every woman's ring tone. But who knows? Some have called me a misogynist.

Listen to "Independent" by Webbie feat. Lil' Phat and Lil' Boosie