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"Tip Drill" Criticism Only Emphasizes Class Divisions

By Eric Brown
Black College Wire

Eric Brown

Spelman College and several of its student organizations found a cause worthy of action: bringing awareness to the serious health issue of leukemia within the black population.

They were prepared to combat the apathy often found in black communities toward health politics by teaming with Nelly�s 4 Sho 4 Kids Foundation, an organization founded for the sole purpose of bone marrow work among minority communities.

Unfortunately, the benefit never took place. In her organization�s need to save face, Asha Jennings, president of the college's Student Government Association, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that, "We care about the cause, and we understand the need for bone marrow is so great within the minority community," but, "we can't continue to support artists and images that exploit our women and put us out there as oversexed, non-intelligent human beings."

As for our brothers and sisters who still are unable to find a donor match for bone marrow transplants, Spelman can offer no more than an apologetic �maybe next time.� The student government did offer Nelly the opportunity to apologize for his video in a public forum designed to address the use of misogynistic images of black women in his "Tip Drill" video. Couldn�t they have just asked him not to perform that song?

I cannot say why Nelly declined the opportunity to defend himself and continue with his important mission of bone marrow awareness. My guess is that he did not want to be the spokesman on the use of women�s images in hip-hop. But I can speak to whether he even needs a defense.

Both Nelly and the Spelman women were pursuing a noble cause, reason enough for solidarity among black folk. But the Spelman women acted as if their values and images of black women were superior to those of the exotic dancers in Nelly�s video.

It would have been nice to hear the definition of �tip drill� from the horse�s mouth. In an April article on africana.com, Mark Anthony Neal, associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin, offered a definition that those who opposed Nelly would probably call off the mark. He said that �tip drill� �. . . is a ghetto colloquialism for the proverbial �ugly girl with a nice body.� In the context of Nelly's video, such women are only good for one thing -- and even then, only from the back.�

Ever watch a basketball game before it starts? Nelly has. Among the many warm-up drills is the passing play called the �tip drill,� in which the ball is set up by the first player by �tipping� it against the backboard. The rest of the team is lined up to �tip� the ball. When a tip drill involves naked women, then the game changes and the ball becomes a metaphor for sex. �Ain�t no fun �less the homies have some.� That�s what the �Tip Drill� song is about: group sport sex and seduction.

Don�t take my word for it. Listen to the last verse, where the gender roles are reversed. The lady rapper belittles the guys for being �simple, weak tricks� who lose their power and composure over the mere suggestion of sex. She uses her sexuality as a power-wielder.

For many hip-hop women, booty shakin�, thong wearin� and strip teasin� are performances that show the power of their sexuality. Look at Halle Berry, Foxy Brown and Josephine Baker.

Right or wrong, these female performers have found a supply and demand relationship, where they benefit from the marketing without selling the product.

Maisha S. Akbar, a University of Texas communications doctoral candidate, calls such behavior a performance paradigm. In the case of exotic female performers, it has been empowering for many who choose it.

It is a performance paradigm that has been found to be empowering for many who choose it.

It is the responsibility of our educated women to seek understanding that will lead to the growth of all females in our community. That criticism must be done with compassion rather than condemnation.

More was lost than won by Spelman�s choice to emphasize class divisions rather than women�s unity of purpose.

Eric Brown, a senior at the University of Texas at Austin, is former political action chair of the University of Texas Black Student Alliance.

Posted Aug. 30, 2004