Well put article!!!

When I first heard the song, I felt oddly offended but I couldn't put my finger on why, I knew something wasn't right, but every line didn't feel right, the whole song just didn't feel right. & I didn't know the tension between Cole and NoName. From the song I took away that patience and compassion is sometimes necessary. But once again, something about the song rubbed me the wrong way. (I'm also not a Cole fan, so I have no idea what his other songs are like, but I've always felt he was disingenuous. So I thought maybe my bias was influencing my thoughts. But ladies, never doubt your intuition)

The next morning, my male friend sparked a discussion about how I felt about the song. & I was able to start to identify the parts of the song that made me uncomfortable and I was able to at least explain why. (To my fellas, it is the most ATTRACTIVE thing when a man takes the time to ask, and actively listen to a woman's feelings esp. about subjects like this)

What people don't understand is that calling a woman a "Queen" and then following up with assumptions about her upbringing, and feeling like her intelligence is undermining you, SCREAMS lack of self-confidence. How do you expect a Queen to rule, if she doesn't exude Queen energy.

The energy in the song wasn't about the movement, it wasn't about uplifting and encouraging people to speak out and speak up. The whole song was about Cole's self-pity and telling women to speak NICELY.

Once again, don't call a woman a QUEEN and then tell her to speak NICELY. If you can't handle QUEEN energy and you can't handle the fact that a QUEEN might have to pick up a sword and "fight like a man", leave the room. An intelligent black woman will say and do whatever is necessary to protect the things that are important to her. & whether it's NoName or any other black woman, if we're out here fighting for the black man, DON'T tell us how to fight because at the end of the day we're putting our bodies on the line to protect you.