At some point after Jimmy from "Degrassi" became Champagne Papi, we began to equate Drake with body positivity. He raps about "eating lunch with you." He had curvy women in his video for "Hotline Bling." Plus, his maybe-kind-of-not-really-relationship with Rihanna is the stuff Disney dreams are made of.
I'm a huge Drake fangirl and it truly pains me to say this, but the 6 God isn't all that body positive. At all.
Hear that? That's the sound of my heart (and probably your heart) breaking into tiny little pieces that only some passionfruit can rejuvenate.
First of all, let's talk about the BBW thing.
Nicki Minaj's "Only" featured quite a few problematic verses from Drake, but this just might be the most questionable:
"That's right, I like my girls BBW, yeah / Type to wanna suck you dry and then eat some lunch with you."
His use of BBW is not cool.
Look, I'm all for whatever sexual activity Drake was describing and I'm also down to get a gigantic quinoa bowl after. Sure. But that's not the biggest issue here — it's of his use of BBW.
BBW, which stands for "big, beautiful, woman," is a commonly used term in porn and deeply rooted in fetishism. While some women are reclaiming the term, it's still an acronym that largely draws ire and can be offensive.
And if he's so into plus-size women... where are they?
For someone who can't seem to get enough of "thick" women (more on that later), why doesn't he actually include any plus-size women in his videos?
Drake's video for "Hotline Bling" was applauded for including curvy women, but he only used one type of curvy woman: those with an hourglass figure. Every single one of those women had a small waist, large breasts, and a big booty. That's all fine, except for the fact that only including one type of body is not inclusive or body positive at all. It's not a diverse interpretation of beauty, and it's just reinforcing the idea that being plus-size is only attractive if you have a body type like Ashley Graham.
But wait, back to "Only."
Right after the aforementioned BBW line, Drake drops another gem:
"So thick that everyone else in the room is so uncomfortable," he raps, only to point out where in the USA his dream girl's ass falls on.
He also mentions thick women again, in J.Cole's "In the Morning:"
"I love thick women cause my aunt, she rode equestrian."
This isn't doing "thick" women any favors.
"Thick" women, "curvy" women, and plus-size women are endlessly hyper-sexualized. Dress codes in schools are enforced to "protect" girls with large busts or large booties. We police curvy women's bodies, and ridicule them when they wear something "too sexy" to work.
Remember "Teacher Bae?" She was shamed and hyper-sexualized for her body, despite being fully clothed. She, like countless other curvy women, made people feel "so uncomfortable" that she was the target of sexist workplace comments. Making everyone feel "so uncomfortable" because of your curves can be grounds for firing, ridicule, abuse, or worse, Drake — it's not all about just turning you on.
You can do better, Drake.
Love you, but you gotta learn.
And you have to start with including women of all different shapes and sizes in your videos.
I volunteer as tribute.
