UK rap lady Nadia Rose cross’d my recs on yt because apparently I like lady musicians too much, but I appreciate it. She’s very talented and cute. This video is several years old. I don’t know if she was a teenager at the time, but she’s giving teen girl squad energy in a good way.
One annoying grain in the back of the mind whenever you’re confronted with a new artist from the UK is … are they terfy? Is Terf Island. Is this style descended from the Afro-Caribbean community, who are notoriously homophobic? I remember enjoying Roots Manuva a lot until he said “away with the fairies” and I was like, oh, away with me. Sigh.
So I’m not going to look it up and find out. Meanwhile, she had to take some years off due to label bullshit, and she grew up and filled out. Lookin nice, madamoiselle, and still rocking out…
Wotta doll. So fun. It’s in the mix now.
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jesus fucking christ the blonde with the glasses in the back row looks like my mom
i suspect the most impressive and conventionally attractive ladies in the skwod video are dancers, and the rest of the crowd are her actual friends. they could be random extras, but it’s nice to think she would have the creative control to make that happen. who knows?
I looked. No evidence of TERFiness. No evidence of a stance, either.
I see female empowerment and inequality concerns, no more.
Not definitive, but if I’ve missed it, the media footprint can’t be too big.
(Had there been, I’d not have posted this. In the spirit of Henry II’s knights I write; also, a tad bored)
She’s been an outspoken supporter of Jeremy Corbyn.
Not to completely defend it as it possibly still falls foul of your comment policy on ablism/mental health, and there could have been some context which means that particular instance was homophobic, but to a Brit, the phrase “away with the fairies” in itself is an older expression more rooted in the folkloric/mythological fairies, and is used to describe someone who’s a bit of a daydreamer, somewhat in their own world. It’s something that was said about me quite a bit as a child by older relatives, and while I’d expect to hear it more from people in their 60s upwards, it’s definitely an idiom that refers more to imagination and concentration than homophobia.
oh roots was definitely homophobic, and has become overtly politically conservative in recent years. inchresting language history anyway.
I hoped you’d find it interesting. Not familiar with that artist so didn’t want to rule out that important context, but thought it might be one of those British expressions that hadn’t particularly travelled, and if you heard someone else use it, things could get lost in translation!
i will say that none of that is very believable and if you just get a sense of superiority out of getting people to host hogwash, that’s fucked up. but i don’t care enough to fact check this, so i’ll let it stand.
katybe, you’re right about the idiom.
I think you mean well, too. It should have been informative.
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Rob, one degree of separation is maybe worth something.
wait, are you thinking “a way with the fairies” or “away with the fairies”? if the former, that’s distinctly not what he said. if it’s the latter and has the meaning you’re saying, well alright then. good to see it confirmed?
lyricsgenius dotcom agrees with youse, altho it did get another lyric in the song wrong. still, that’s three votes in favor of this being a thing. that’s nice. now roots only sucks for other reasons, heh.
Nothing malicious meant – I’m an archaeologist with an interest in folklore and linguistics, and that particular phrase tripped a few of my buttons both because it was used frequently about me as a child, and because it comes up quite often in old children’s British classic books, usually about the characters I found most interesting! Sorry if it came across as me trying to defend someone who sucked for other reasons.
we’ve established that, no need to explicate. thanks!
good news on the jamaican flavor homophobia – she has a song about how fat ladies are cool, including a verse about how she will have sex with one. highly agreeable to me.