Lil Wayne has emerged as an interesting figure for feminist critique. As a rapper, Wayne peppers his lyrics with “pussy” and “no homo.” As a public figure, he has reluctantly helped to raise awareness about sexual assault against males and growing up with an absent father. And Wayne’s lyrics, as misogynist as they are, are also playful enough to usher in a few rare feminist hints. Let’s play the Weezy lyrics game: feminist or misogynist?

First up: “A Milli,” a track off Tha Carter III:

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Listening to Hot 99.5 yesterday, I was interested to hear the radio station bleep out the latest trend in hip-hop homophobia: “no homo.” “No homo,” for the uninitiated, is a little piece of wordplay which works to neutralize any potentially “gay” interpretations of a rapper’s lyrics. For a full review of the term, check out Bryan Safi’s informative piece, above.

Recently, Hot 99.5 washed the term out of Kanye West’s contribution to Jay-Z’s “Run This Town.” In the track, Kanye employs the phrase in order to insist that he does not regularly engage in gay orgies. “It’s crazy how you can go from being Joe Blow,” Kanye says. “To everybody on your dick—no homo.”

Generally, radio censorship only inspires listeners to imagine the offensive term in their head. In the case of “no homo,” however, bleeping may also serve a valuable and unintentionally hilarious function!

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