YG - 2004 is one of the most important songs of the year

The Compton rapper's latest single ft. Buddy & The Gang details his childhood sexual abuse and the cultural norms that leave these tragedies often overlooked

Lyricism in rap is usually attributed to vocabulary and the complexity of rhyme scenes. On his recent track 2004 YG strips back the technical frills to deliver one of the rawest rap songs in recent history. In it he recounts being groomed and sexually exploited by an older woman whilst still a minor. YG is no stranger to laying his trauma on wax with the notable Drinkin’ and Smokin’ featuring Kendrick Lamar outlining the substance dependency gang members often resort to in order to cope with PTSD from violence and grief. 2004 feels different because it goes against the grain in a racialised and patriarchal structure that celebrates the adultification and sexualisation of young Black boys. In the second verse of the song he talks about his friend’s positive reactions to him telling them he is engaging in sex acts with an adult and his own inability to recognise the inappropriateness of a 30 year old sleeping with him whilst he was 14. 

Sadly, hyper sexualisation of adolescent boys is frequently normalised. Recently, hip-hop streamer and general reprobate DJ Akademiks (real name Livingston Allen) came under fire for engaging in sexual conversations with a 15 year old streamer NourGXD live on stream. He repeatedly questioned the minor on his sexual activity and suggested sending sex workers to his address. Despite NourGXD repeatedly reminding Allen that he was 15 and should not be engaging in conversations of this nature with an adult, Allen persisted. Rapper Boogie Badazz (real name Torrence Hatch Jr) claims to have gone a step further by actually hiring sex workers to perform oral sex on his underage sons and nephews. In an Instagram live video he said “I’m training these boys right, I’m training these boys right. Ask any of my nephews, ask any of them… ask my son. Yeah, when they was 12, 13 they got head” which is the state of Louisiana where Hatch Jr resides would represent sexual assault. He added “That’s why (my kids) have iPhone 11s. They can watch as much porn as they want. It’s better than them watching cartoons with two men kissing”. In an interview with The Guardian singer Chris Brown told shared that he lost his virginity at the age of 8 to a girl who was 14 or 15 which he attributes to growing up around older male cousins and all the porn they watched. In a 2014 interview Usher recounted living with disgraced music mogul P Diddy (real name Sean Combs) and being introduced to “a totally different set of shit - sex, specifically” including walking in on orgies adding “I went there to see the lifestyle. And I saw it. But I don’t know if I could indulge and understand what I was even looking at”.

Across all races patriarchy incentivises men to be heterosexual and sexually active. This is why it may be difficult for boys who aspire to be “proper men” to see past the expected gratification of sex and understand how damaging it can be if you aren’t mentally and emotionally ready. The responsibility lies with adults who should know better to guide them. Obviously by not engaging them in the acts, but also ensuring conversations and environments are age appropriate. The actions of DJ Akademics, P Diddy and Boosie Badazz are extreme, but as men a lot of us can probably recount times in our childhoods when older men questioned us or talked about sex in ways that made us uncomfortable. There is real power in YG firmly and unequivocally labelling what happened to him as rape, because statutorily it is. Underage boys are not cognitively developed enough to consent. 

The adultification of Black children is prevalent in western media culture. This is because media reflects and informs social norms. The social category of “child” dictates that society has a duty to protect a person, which is not the case for Black people in the west. The criminalisation of Black bodies that underpins the North American (and several other) judicial systems therefore relies on the notion that there are no Black “children” only criminals in waiting. This theory is not difficult to demonstrate in a country where armed adult adult police officers routinely shoot and kill children because they felt “threatened”.

Colonialism and chattel slavery relied on the precedent that Black bodies (including reproductive organs) exist solely as instruments of work and sites for white exploitation. The remnants of these ideologies (in the context of Black bodies as sites of sexual exploration) are easy to recognise in contemporary media. When white pop stars want to evolve from their teeny persona and be seen as adults they typically collaborate with Black artists to signify their sexual maturation. When Miley Cyrus wanted to toss away Hannah Montana’s blonde Disney wig, we got the Bangerz album produced by Mike Will Made It and the slow public murder of twerking. When Justin Timberlake wanted teenage girls to take down their NSYNC posters, we got Timbaland produced hits and collabs with 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, T.I, will.i.am, and Three-6 Mafia. The next decade’s caucasian crooner named Justin went from the secondary school friendly Believe to the decidedly raunchier Journals album where features with Big Sean, Chance The Rapper, Future, Lil Wayne and R. Kelly solidified him as a musician adults could shamelessly enjoy. Former Little Mix star Jesy Nelson’s announced herself a solo artist with the heavily criticised Boyz ft. Nicki Minaj, a remix of P. Diddy’s 2001 Bad Boyz For Life.