Scariest Part About Rick Ross' Rape Line: Men Really Do It

Ebony's Jamilah Lemieux says that the Miami rapper's latest troubling verse speaks to a major cultural issue.

By now you have likely heard about Rick Ross' controversial lyric on once-and future-struggling rapper Rocko's new track "U.O.E.N.O" (NSFW): "Put molly all in her champagne, she ain't even know it / I took her home and I enjoyed that, she ain't even know it." Molly, of course, being a popular street drug that shares properties with what is commonly known as Ecstasy …

What's so scary about Ross' line is that this is something that a good number of men and boys actually do. Maybe a rap lyric won't inspire an impressionable young dude to go and try to flip a couple keys, but normalizing this sort of rape? I see it. I see it and it scares me.

Because he's tied to a major label and because the rape reference was so blatant, it's likely that Ross will issue some sort of apology or come forward to say that it was just a joke — "Don't really go out and do that now, y'all!" To that, I'd say … the title of his last studio album was God Forgives, I Don't and, well, that's one thing I have in common with the  ex-cop. Not unless he commits himself to actively working to change his tune, and if that happened, he probably wouldn't be signed to anyone's major label anymore. So while this sister is praying for him and urging him to be some positive person that I've never observed him to be during his rap career, I just hope he goes away and fast.

This is not just another terrible rap lyric to be dismissed. This is an important teachable moment for young men, boys and even some full-grown adults who don't understand consent. Who don't understand that yes, even the girl who brought the molly and the Magnums to the party can be a victim if she was not able to decide when and how they were used. THIS IS RAPE CULTURE — the global reality that was dismissed as a feminist talking point by so many men on this very site just recently. 

Read Jamilah Lemieux's entire piece at Ebony.

The Root aims to foster and advance conversations about issues relevant to the black Diaspora by presenting a variety of opinions from all perspectives, whether or not those opinions are shared by our editorial staff.

Like The Root on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.