Yung Miami’s ‘Spend Dat’ stirs online controversy

Miami’s favorite City Girl Yung Miami received a standing ovation at the BET Awards on Sunday as she prepared to present the BET Her Award (which went to a fellow Florida girl Doechii). For at least 20 seconds, the crowd sang lyrics to her new hit song “Spend Dat,” a song boasting about scamming and boosting culture.

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But what’s slowly being deemed the “Song of the Summer” has received a mixed reception with some criticizing Yung Miami, whose real name is Caresha Brownlee, for supporting Sean “Diddy” Combs during sex trafficking trial and claiming the song sets a poor example for Black youth who might be negatively influenced by the lyrics ( though there aren’t any recent studies that find rap lyrics negatively affect Black youth).

Others have dismissed the critiques as rooted in misogyny and respectability politics, noting criticisms of Black male artists don’t ring as loud as those for Black women and referenced the reaction “WAP” by Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B received. The song and its controversy is a Miami story — from the video set in a Miami strip club to the scamming and boosting culture.

I’m indifferent to the song, but the lack of nuance in the conversation about a song that’s in the vein of typical City Girl music has me wondering: When’s the last time someone asked Black youth how they felt about these lyrics and if they feel the words are impacting them at all? And since when do we expect a self-proclaimed City Girl from the 305 to be a role model for our Black youth – or any musical artist for that matter?

Rather than looking at the song as an indictment on where Black culture is musically, perhaps it’s worth meeting youth where they are and having that discussion with them rather than leading with projecting.

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