On Thursday April 11th, 2013 Reebok, footwear the apparel subsidiary of Adidas, ended their endorsement deal with Rick Ross over his rape lyrics in the song U.O.E.N.O. At one part of the song, the renowned rapper raps:
- “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.”
Ever since the song hit the airwaves, women from various women groups have been protesting outside of Reebok’s flagship store in New York. After a little over a week, Reebok decided to side with their female fans and dropped the rapper from his endorsement deal. “Molly” is a crystalized form of MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy. Rick Ross’ lyrics were not the first time a rapper had glorified the trance-like drug. However, it was the first time that the drug had insinuated date raping a woman. When media outlets caught wind of the lyrics, Rick Ross offered his apologies for the misinterpretation of the song and said he did not endorse rape. The apology was deemed as insincere seeing as women continued to protest outside Reeboks stores. On April 11th, after being dropped from his endorsement deal, Rick Ross offered an apology that finally took into consideration the potential effect his lyrics could have on normalizing rape culture.
The significant part about the fall between the rapper and Reebok is the fact that rappers cannot be stopped from saying derogatory things about women but they can be held accountable for it. Banning one Rick Ross song is not going to end rape, but it can help destroy a culture that makes “rape rap” normal. So many kids are influenced by lyrics in rap music – rape should not be one of those influences. Insinuating rape in lyrics, even if the rapper does not endorse rape in their normal lives, sends out the message that Rape is Normal, Consent is Optional.
Artists should have freedom of expression, but when you have as much influence as Rick Ross – you should he held have a higher level of responsibility. The protest outside Reebok’s stores show that as women, our voices are still powerful and will be heard! If you are interested in learning more about the effects of Molly read blogger Tony Duclottni’s encounter with the date rape drug.