mulligan |ˈməligən|
noun informal
1 (also mulligan stew) a stew made from odds and ends of food.
2 (in informal golf) an extra stroke allowed after a poor shot, not counted on the scorecard.

Le sigh. Oh me, oh my. It’s a miracle. Another scorched-earth policy rapper has FINALLY gotten religion after the birth of a daughter brought the fear of GAWD when they’re faced with the VERY real possibility someone gasp! my actually call their precious child, who poops gold nuggets, never cries, and wears a hovering halo, a BITCH, HOE, TRICK, or JUMP OFF. Oh, the horror. Oh, the yawning. Which I can’t stop, because it is just too typical.

These guys only consider the damage they’ve caused when it hits close to home. When it’s their children who are in danger of breathing the poison farts clouds that have been coming out of their mouths for decades. Meanwhile they’ve left a wasteland. It’s like creating a bomb that kills millions of people then denouncing violence after the fact. Gee…thanks?

I was happy to see Dr. Boyce Watkins raise a squawk about it:

You can’t spend two decades referring to other men’s daughters as b*tches and hoes, and then somehow decide that your own daughter is going to be exempt from the game. You, my brother, have given nearly every inch of your creative productivity toward murdering your daughter’s self and public image before she was even born. In other words, you brought Blue Ivy Carter into a world where most of your biggest fans will look at her and refer to her not as daddy’s little princess, but instead as a big booty b*tch. In fact, they will even get paid for it.

 

But inevitably, you get a few bleeding hearts who bemoan the rigidity and lack of forgiveness from Jay Z’s critics with the whole, Can’t people change?! argument. From MyBrownBaby:

Yes, the use of words like “bitch” by a generation of rappers has definitely contributed to a baseline disrespect that we often see these days between males and females in our community. And yes, Jay-Z, as one of the most influential rappers of all time, has played a significant role in perpetrating this disrespect among a whole generation of young black men.

But are we not going to allow the man to grow, to change his views over time? Is it not possible that when a powerful figure like Jay-Z comes forward and renounces his previously misogynistic ways, that it may have an even bigger impact than if he had never used the word at all? Because surely we don’t believe that if Jay-Z had never uttered the word in a rap song, it wouldn’t still be flowing freely through hip hop like youknowwhat through a goose. But perhaps this choice he is making now might give pause to some of his peers. Maybe some teen on the verge of rap superstardom may realize he doesn’t need to include this word in his lexicon.

Dude! Is you serious?! More than likely that “teen on the verge of rap superstardom” is going to look at all Jay Z’s money prior to the birth of Blue Snowflake and follow that template. He’ll do EXACTLY he did all right. He’ll shoot first and apologize later.

Sorry dude. Too little too late.