Candace Owens Targets Sexyy Red While Criticizing The Evolution Of Popular Music

BYGabriel Bras Nevares1013 Views
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ATLANTA, GEORGIA - DECEMBER 06: Rapper Sexyy Red attends the game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena on December 6, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
It's easy to hate on Sexyy, but it's harder to answer why folks are so quick to criticize.

Candace Owens has a lot of hot takes about the music industry, but the conservative commentator's issues do not solely rest on any one artist. She recently hopped on Nick Cannon's Counsel Culture show to talk about the "conspiracy" that labels push certain images of Black culture for maximum exploitation and to lessen their worth. Owens specifically brought up Sexyy Red as an example, comparing the differences between her and other massive Black musicians of yesteryear such as Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston. Basically, the media star thinks this is part of a plan to belittle the Black community and sell debauchery over artistry.

However, this argument is about as old as time itself, and not even Candace Owens' perceptive assessment of how the music industry informs its exports and disseminations fully explores this narrative. People like Sexyy Red find success because they find an audience, and that audience listens to her music for a whole variety of different reasons. Sadly, that hasn't made her garner any less hate online – sometimes from Owens herself – but she continues to expand her career despite this pushback.

Candace Owens Believes Sexyy Red Is Part Of A "Conspiracy"

Instead, what Candace Owens talked to Nick Cannon about is more of a question of variety and versatility in the mainstream music market. Sadly, her own argument fails to consider how Sexyy Red is part of a much larger artistic landscape that does include figures emulating the likes of Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston, and how more traditionalist critiques of artists like Sexyy fail to recognize this. It's part of the holes within conservative arguments against certain forms of artistic expression. They minimize accountability and willpower for the audience and exaggerate what listening to artists like the St. Louis femcee actually says about you.

In other lanes, Candace Owens continues to paint other superstars like Jay-Z and Beyoncé as devils within the industry, so her hot takes will probably never stop. As for Sexyy Red, we doubt that she really cares too much about these comments, as she already sidestepped far worse variations of them. But Owens does bring up some interesting points about industry standards and demographic targeting, even if her conclusion lands as a misguided presumption.

About The Author
Gabriel Bras Nevares is a staff writer for HotNewHipHop. He joined HNHH while completing his B.A. in Journalism & Mass Communication at The George Washington University in the summer of 2022. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Gabriel treasures the crossover between his native reggaetón and hip-hop news coverage, such as his review for Bad Bunny’s hometown concert in 2024. But more specifically, he digs for the deeper side of hip-hop conversations, whether that’s the “death” of the genre in 2023, the lyrical and parasocial intricacies of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle, or the many moving parts of the Young Thug and YSL RICO case. Beyond engaging and breaking news coverage, Gabriel makes the most out of his concert obsessions, reviewing and recapping festivals like Rolling Loud Miami and Camp Flog Gnaw. He’s also developed a strong editorial voice through album reviews, think-pieces, and interviews with some of the genre’s brightest upstarts and most enduring obscured gems like Homeboy Sandman, Bktherula, Bas, and Devin Malik.
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