Jermaine Dupri has been all over the place with his opinions on women in rap. A few weeks ago, he told People that he thought many of today’s biggest female rappers sounded like “strippers rapping,” and he wished they demonstrated their talent more. “As far as rap goes, I’m not getting who is the best rapper,” he said. “Oh, you got a story about you dancing in the club, you got a story about you dancing in the club, you got a story about you dancing in the club.”
After facing backlash from hip-hop musicians and fans alike, Dupri backtracked on his original statements. He didn’t mean to single any specific female rappers out, and he’s starting a cypher to uplift up-and-coming female voices in hip-hop.
Now, he’s saying that he didn’t even mean “strippers rapping” as an insult. Dupri recently sat down for an interview with Atlanta Black Star, where he expanded on what he meant and suggested a whole new sub-genre of rap.
“What people don’t understand is, I actually believe that these women that do this type of music should start calling it ‘strap,'” Dupri said. “I’m telling you. Like, for real. I think just like we have trap, they should have strap. It’s the stories of their life. I feel like that.”
Dupri doesn’t think the distinction between sexually charged rap by men and sexually charged rap by women is an insult. It also sounds like he didn’t notice the innuendo in the new genre’s title. “It’s just like crunk,” Dupri explained. “When somebody said crunk nobody was like, ‘Crunk, what is that?'”
