Latto Makes It Clear That She’s Not Your Property On Defiant Song “Pu**y”
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Latto has dropped new music and is taking aim at society’s double standards. On her latest single, “Pu**y,” the 23-year-old vents her frustrations with misogyny, gender roles, and reproductive rights.
Sampling Betty Wright’s 1968 single “Girls Can’t Do What The Guys Do,” Latto takes on social commentary in the best way she knows how—by rapping. The Georgia native teased the single with a clip featuring imagery from women’s rights protests as her voice overlay declares a line from the song, “My ovaries ain’t for you to bully.”
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In the song’s Latto and Sara Lacombe co-directed music video, the rapper is poised in a tropical location, surrounded by cats as protests and demonstrations play on her television.
“It was really important for Latto and I to collaborate on this video, especially with women’s rights being such a hot topic at the moment,” shared Lacombe in a press statement. “This video is symbolic that we can be both hard (her lyrics) and soft (the world we placed her in) at the same time. The world is always going to tell us who to be. That’s probably never going to stop. That’s why it’s more important than ever for women to stand in their truths and know who they are.”
Not only does Latto take aim at the reversal of Roe V Wade and the current, longstanding battle for reproductive rights but also industry standards placed on female rappers, abusers, and the fetishization of the LGBTQ+ community.
“If I demand my respect, watch he paint me as crazy/ Y’all sexualize lesbians for yall entertainment/ They engaging in gossip live from they mama basement/ If you don’t get a pu**y up, then he’ll take it,” she boldly raps in the first verse.
She continues in the next verse, “Can’t do the insecure sh*t/ Better be a man if you want me to act like your bi**h/ All up in them comments talkin’ ’bout some pu**y that you never touched/ Fu*k you and your double standards, pu**y ain’t for you to judge.”
Ahead of the song’s release, Latto responded to critics who took aim at the rapper’s intentions.
Y’all complain about female rap lacking substance but then say I’m “capitalizing” when I speak on shit ????? help me understand???
— BIG LATTO ? (@Latto) July 13, 2022
“I actually am donating proceeds,” she said to one user who accused Latto of using social and political issues for profit. “Yall be the same ones saying ‘why u gotta post everything’ if I do & assume I’m not doing it if I don’t post it lol however I AM using my power (platform) to make a change regardless shut yo fake woke a** up what are YOU doing???”
“Orrrr I took my frustrations to the booth like a RAPPER & using my platform to spread awareness,” she said to another who questioned Latto’s approach to speaking on serious subjects.
With proven freestyle skills, evolving performances, and a growing catalog, Latto has come a long way from an angsty, eager teenage rapper hoping to sign with Jermaine Dupri.
She’s won the Best New Artist at the 2022 BET Awards and “Pu**y” proves why. Criticisms aside, her star power lies in her ability to top charts and create fun, twerk-inducing anthems, and braggadocious bops. Above all, Latto has a talent for channeling her life experiences into her work.
Instead of offering a notes-app soliloquy about the controversy over her former rap name, she addressed it on wax with “The Biggest.” Latto revealed she was sexually harassed by an unnamed rapper for a feature on her latest album 777. Her latest track, “P*ssy,” is a testament to the self-proclaimed Queen Of Da Souf‘s lyrical skills, and a sharp example of her distinct delivery and self-awareness.
It’s not revolutionary activism or keen political commentary, but an expressive two minutes of Latto airing out frustrations that listeners can certainly relate to.
Watch the video for “Pu**y” by Latto above and check out her album 777 below.
