All Eyez On Metropolitan Detention Center

 

"Wonda Why They Call U Bytch"



A classic banger with a message that's a bit hard to swallow.  Maybe for some a little more than others, but you know what they say:  something-something if the shoe fits?    👠🤷🏻‍♀💔


* Side note:  This is the track that featured Biggie's wife, Faith Evans, singing on the hook.  Even after all that drama--having her name dropped disrespectfully in "Hit 'Em Up" and getting battered by her husband in retaliation despite the fact that he frequently bragged about having multiple affairs INCLUDING with his Bad Boy/Junior M.A.F.I.A. labelmates--she wasn't even credited for her work on this song!  At least not on Spotify's version of All Eyez On Me.  This was common practice at the time: go listen to any classic Hip Hop album from the '90s featuring a female vocalist and there's a good chance she's not given credit for her work.  This is especially disappointing considering laws require artists to list the origin of every single beep, whistle or drum loop sampled from old songs, yet living female artists who were in the studio lending their vocals in real time could be left out completely. 

 Ironically, this speaks to the very phenomenon 2Pac is talking about, albeit cruedely, on this very track:  Women are far more likely to tolerate a level of disrespect that their male peers simply would not put up with, both in intimate relationships and the workplace. The result is lower pay for the same work and relationships marred by infidelity and all types of abuse & domestic inequality. 

Thankfully today we have a choice in the West about whether to stick it out or even enter marriages with men to begin with, as we're now allowed to own/lease property, have credit cards in our names, work in any field we're qualified for, use contraception to prevent unwanted pregnancy & otherwise make vital decisions about our bodies & finances that weren't even possible until 1970 or later in the U.S.  It's high time we started acting like it!  And I think that's what the songwriter was getting at here: there are no shortcuts to happiness & prosperity.  If you disrespect your body, use sex as a tool of manipulation, neglect your children & value people for their money, there's a price to be paid.  (Just as the men using her for sex likely paid with THEIR health whether they knew it yet or not).  
 
Moving on.

I'll be thinking of 2Pac & all the victims of this psychopath as the Diddy/Sean Combs arrest plays out & we learn more about the charges.  It's been a long time coming for some of us who knew all along.  Let it be a timely reminder that what's done in the dark always comes to light; that what goes around comes back around eventually--sometimes with interest.  Don't assume because you got off light in the "conscience" department you'll be as lucky when they're handing down legal, social or karmic sentences.

Enjoy the rest of your week.  🗓