WOC Talents Cardi B, Azelia Banks, Rita Ora + Feud Over Degrading Cultural Dialogue

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Good goddess! Just three weeks ago, AOC had rapper Cardi B educating us on the Roosevelts. She named every American president backwards, or something to that effect. We extolled her intelligence, very abundant in her May 2018 GQ interview with Caity Weaver.

And now, all hell broke lose in an verbal-only brawl between Azelia Banks -- representing intelligent, cultivated women rappers like her -- and Cardi B, who reminds her of an "illiterate, untalented rat" and a "caricature of a black woman."

Banks continued in her Friday interview on the popular radio program 'The Breakfast Club' with her main argument: "Two years ago, the conversation surrounding black women’s culture was really reaching an all-time high. There was just this really, really, really intelligent conversation going on nationally and then everything just kind of changed and then it was like Cardi B.”

Cardi B had a few choice words about Banks in response, defending herself, her rapper personal and her musical style, saying:

Eye: Is Taylor Swift Expressing A Fierce Born-Again Feminism in 'Reputation'? We'll See

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Eye: Is Taylor Swift Expressing A Fierce Born-Again Feminism in 'Reputation'? We'll See

As promised, Taylor Swift dropped her 'Look What You Made Me Do' music video, with perfect timing at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards.  Then she moved it to YouTube, where it has nearly 75 million views. Billboard believes it will be No. 1 on next week's 'Hot 100'.

Swift's most ardent fans all believe that 'Reputation' is deeper than originally thought. Buzzfeed lists all the 'hidden meanings' fans are finding in the songs. We don't care about that, but #20 gets our attention.

20. But other people have a different theory -- that each song will be about a different, 'fake' Taylor' created by the media. 

Note that fans feel no complicity in creating this 'fake Taylor'. Fan complicity in creating stars that meet their own needs is never part of their adoration stories. Kim Kardashian understands this reality way better than old-school Taylor Swift. But Swift is perhaps now whip smart on the whole conversation. 

22. The scene where Taylor's standing above a tower of her past selves, all scrabbling to climb up, is full of meaning, too.

Some fans associate these scenes with Taylor Swift's proverbial climb to the top, only to take a fall. Others see it as an emergence of Swift's true self. 

23. And, finally, people have also noticed that this shot resembles a crucifixion. 

This visual brought the new Taylor Swift into strong focus for me. She is defiant, rising again as a Smart Sensuality woman in charge of her own agenda. Fans will never see this as any statement about them and not only the media, Kim and Kanye, and the adoring 'girl' who shared the stage before the entire world, as Kanye West grabbed her trophy, saying it belonged to Beyonce.

Bearing Witness