Source: Cameron Perry / KenTheMan
Scrolling through one’s for you page makes it difficult to imagine KenTheMan with writer’s block.
Her hefty assertion that she is a thick bitch with her own shit sits comfortably on top of “get ready with me” and “a day in the life” videos. But just before she was ready to tell the world that man was not hers, she was suffering through a creative backlog.
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“I was going on probably like a week, a week and a half, a writer’s block, and I was just like, damn, you know? I’m ready to get back in my bag,” she told HelloBeautiful in an interview.
She tapped into romantic feelings, personalizing her effort to “just put words together” so she could return to the practice of routinely spitting.
“I write all my stuff,” she said. “It’s all coming from my thoughts.”
Source: Cameron Perry / KenTheMan
She describes her oral sex preferences with ease, her Southern lilt offering a kick to clips of TikTokers mixing lemon drops and organizing their closets. “Every artist that comes out of here has a different little flavor to them,” she said.
Turning to her dating experiences was the perfect universal topic. “Instead of making the song about one, nigga, I made it about all of them. I just made one song full of other guys I was dating at the time, and it’s like it’s really a true story,” she continued.
The song, a spicy rebuke of toxic masculinity called Not My Nigga, was an instant hit. Its follow-up Join Em is succeeding as well.
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Each track touches on the poison in the dating pool. Deadbeat daddies, cheaters, losers, liars, they all catch heat.
She highlights the arrogance and jealousy of men who would rather try to shame women into submission behind a USB mic than find one that actually likes them. She is not here for couch-dwelling so-called alpha bros commenting on “what women are doing with they body and all that stuff.”
Source: Ambrose Williams / KenTheMan
“When I was saying like, you know, ‘I don’t care what no nigga on no podcast say,’ I was just saying I feel like lately, they been having a lot of topics just based around women, and that’s what they podcast(s) thrive on,” she continued. “It was just kind of like, shut up!”
“I feel like women talk about women. Why are men talking about women,” she added.
The contradictions of America Ferrra’s Barbie monologue come to mind as she speaks about inequalities women face.
“It’s like we can’t win either way,” declared Ken.
Female bravado from the current crop of frontrunners being dismissed as “pussy rap” feels like a slight to Ken.
“I just feel like every woman loves confidence, sexy music, and I just feel like that’s what the consumers are buying.”
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“It’s not like we’re pitching these songs and making people and force-feeding these songs to people,” said Ken. Streams respond to user interests and habits, and artists building their careers do as well. “People are like, these are the songs,” she added.
“You can have a 10-track EP, and then your hottest ones are probably going to be sex-driven and confidence-building. It’s just what it is. It’s just what’s going on,” she continued. “We only selling what’s getting sold.”
Source: Ambrose Williams / KenTheMan
Ken started selling after breaking that writer’s block in between shifts as a gig worker. She has been open about this, offering inspiration to other aspiring artists. “It was my truth. It was something that I didn’t mean to tell, but it was literally the story,” she said. “I just feel like my story is real. It gives hope. It shows people that rappers just don’t pop up, and you came from somewhere. You were doing something.”
She wants to continue to use her voice to help people see themselves and what they are capable of. “It’s just important for me to speak my truth because I feel like it’s always a listener that needs a little motivation and encouragement.”
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KenTheMan Wants Men To ‘Shut Up’ About Women’s Sexuality was originally published on hellobeautiful.com
