‘Bleach blonde bad-built butch body’ is the phrase of the year so far, and now we have songs
Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
“Bleach blonde bad-built butch body,” aka the 6Bs, has become the phrase of the year. Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett’s alliterative retort to Marjorie Taylor Greene’s silly ad hominem jab — “I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading” — has become all the rage. Crockett’s comeback was epic and the DJs of the world have sampled it and mixed it with the “Not Like Us” beat or a hot house beat or turned it into an old-school soul song.
Congresswoman Crockett is celebrating all of this by collecting songs on her Twitter. (I will never call it X, but that’s another story.) This is a seminal moment for the culture in Congress. It reminds us that Crockett is sharp with the tongue, funny and still one of us. It’s always fun to see someone make Marjorie Taylor Greene look stupid.
Black social media exploded in laughter after Congresswoman Crockett’s phrase hit the internet because it’s funny, it’s a devastating read, it’s a beautiful clapback to a horrible person, and it’s an example of Black linguistic firepower. Crockett read her in a way that used language inventively — a six-word alliterative phrase is linguistic gymnastics, but that’s what Black people do. We love a good read so much. We love to see someone tell someone about themselves in an audacious way that puts them to shame. Throwing shade is a beautiful part of Black culture — it’s a way of defending ourselves and showing our wit.
Some people said “Crockett was acting ghetto,” which is entirely unfair and missing the point. Why is throwing shade ghetto? Why is getting angry at someone who has attacked you ghetto? Why is standing up for yourself ghetto? As if middle-class people don’t do these things? The classism is real.
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On CNN, Crockett called out the inherent racism in Greene’s attack, saying that pointing out her lashes was a dog whistle saying she’s ghetto. “It is buying into a racist trope.” She also told CNN she has no regrets.
Crockett was responding to an attack by Greene, and sometimes you gotta let someone know “Don’t come for me if I don’t send for you.” Crockett is not required to go high every time someone goes low. To try to dismiss her actions as ghetto is surely racist even if it’s from a Black person. Internalized racism is real.
I can’t even hear those silly critiques that want a Black person to turn the other cheek like Gandhi in the face of obnoxiousness. Nah. Sometimes you gotta remind people who they’re talking to. And the way the culture is memorializing Crockett’s 6Bs in song is an amazing way to celebrate this moment. Putting her phrase on top of “Not Like Us” is perfect because that was a battle-winning song, and her 6Bs made a verbal battle-winning phrase. She’s like the Kendrick Lamar of Congress, the verbal battle champion. I would call Marjorie Taylor Greene the Drake of Congress because she lost but that would be an insult to Drake. As much as I love to dunk on Drake, even I wouldn’t go that far. Drake’s a very popular and very mid rapper, but he’s not MTG.
Touré is a host and Creative Director at theGrio. He is the host of Masters of the Game on theGrioTV. He is also the host and creator of the docuseries podcast “Being Black: The ’80s” and the animated show “Star Stories with Toure” which you can find at TheGrio.com/starstories. He is also the host of the podcast “Toure Show” and the podcast docuseries “Who Was Prince?” He is the author of eight books including the Prince biography Nothing Compares 2 U and the ebook The Ivy League Counterfeiter.
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