Feminist Song Case Study #2: 'Bag Lady' By Erykah Badu



Erykah Badu exudes self-assuredness and has built a career of evading the typical traps of celebrity, all while becoming a superstar. Coolly baiting our collective breath for years between new albums and consistently flipping two Soulquarian birds at the music industry, like her or love her, Badu is a force. There are several of her songs that have the markings of feminism, "Cleva" and "Tyrone," to name a few, but I'm going to go with "Bag Lady."
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"Bag Lady" asks us women to hold the mirrors to ourselves and be able to accept that we need work if we expect to catch the buses in our lives. The good parent bus, the education bus, the decent job bus, the healthy self-image bus all require self-reflection and sometimes that doesn't sound like a bra-burning, ball-busting anthem. Sometimes that sounds like your girl giving you sound advice, which is in many ways the most moving, personal act of feminism around.
Personal accountability for one's self is an important, and often under-appreciated, facet of upliftment. Because we do have to work harder for less, access is not always granted, and the situation isn't always in our favor as women. Badu's understanding is tacit as a woman and she's speaking directly to us with all that embedded in the message. She's asking us to love ourselves enough to release some of the baggage that prohibits us from facing all this at our best.

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