SIDNEY MADDEN, HOST:
We're headed to the courthouse for the Tory Lanez trial. I'm thinking about how Megan is feeling today, if she's going to be there and...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Megan.
MADDEN: ...What the energy...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: How you feeling, Megan?
MADDEN: ...In the courtroom is really going to be like.
RODNEY CARMICHAEL, HOST:
At the end of 2022, we headed to LA to cover one of the biggest trials of the year.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Megan, why you lying on that boy?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: Truth or lie?
MADDEN: And if you weren't sure about the state of the culture, those two weeks showed you everything you needed to know.
(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The defense says this was actually all about jealousy between Megan and Kelsey Harris.
MOHAMMED GANGAT: Not really sounding like a victim to me. She's a strong Black woman. That's the...
MADDEN: Megan wasn't the one on trial, but the coverage made it seem like she was.
(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)
JOE BUDDEN: We all know you fucked him.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #5: The inherent desire is to vilify this Black woman.
CARMICHAEL: Every conspiracy, headline, gossip blog, Instagram Live...
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #6: If I can't talk to you, shit, I could make more money talking about you.
CARMICHAEL: ...Focused on the intimate details of her life...
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "THE JOE BUDDEN PODCAST")
BUDDEN: And I don't like that girl.
CARMICHAEL: ...And her image as a woman.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #7: Very low vibrational to me. I'm going to be real. Megan is being controlled by the industry.
MADDEN: This was all taking place while cultural critics were proclaiming a renaissance for women in hip-hop. Doja, Nicki, Cardi, Latto and Megan were dominating the charts. So what's really going on?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #8: Oh, y'all really don't know what the fuck be going on behind closed doors with female rappers.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MADDEN: I'm Sidney Madden.
CARMICHAEL: I'm Rodney Carmichael. And from NPR Music, this is LOUDER THAN A RIOT.
MADDEN: But this time, rhyme and punishment is taking on a whole new meaning.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #9: Whenever we're going through something in this culture, everybody gets silent. They don't get as loud as they do for the Black man.
CARMICHAEL: Season 1 looked at the way hip-hop is marginalized in America. But Season 2, we're looking at who gets marginalized within hip-hop.
MADDEN: And how misogynoir, the sexist prejudice against Black women specifically, is embedded into the fabric of the culture we love.
CARMICHAEL: And on every episode, we'll break down one unwritten rule that's held the entire culture back.
MADDEN: Like rule No. 3 - beauty is in the eye of the male gaze.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #10: If I am 90 pounds, if I'm 155 pounds, they're going to have something to say. And you just have to be strong in your love for yourself.
CARMICHAEL: Or rule No. 5 - if you see something, say nothing.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #11: But at the source, there's all this shit going on. People are asking women out. People are giving back massages. People were buying panties as gifts. This is just the culture.
CARMICHAEL: This ain't just about women either.
MADDEN: It's about every person who has felt the wrath of misogynoir, who hasn't been believed, who's been told to change or to just shut up.
CARMICHAEL: Every person who's felt held back by rules like No. 6 - real niggas go hard, no homo.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #12: Growing up, it used to be this mystery piece that used to be in the back of magazines that said, like, there's a gay rapper out there. I became that motherfucker. I became the gay rapper.
CARMICHAEL: And we're telling the stories of game changers who refuse to play by those rules.
MADDEN: Like Trina, Saucy Santana, Baby Tate.
CARMICHAEL: Latto, ILoveMakonnen, Rico Nasty and more.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #13: Who is going to tell us we're the baddest bitch? We have to tell ourselves. And that's why you get the music that you get, this confident, cocky-ass shit that the niggas can't stand. They hate it - hate it. It's not for you, bro.
MADDEN: Listen to LOUDER THAN A RIOT Season 2 starting Thursday, March 16 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
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