I Still Care About Saweetie's Music

Welcome to Golden Dragon, a newsletter by Eric Diep about Asians in hip-hop and my takes on trending topics in AAPI pop culture. Golden Dragon is a rotation of interviews, reviews, news, critical perspectives, and random blogs about music I recommend.

In Today’s Newsletter:

• Saweetie is that bitch…so where’s the album?

• Song recommendations from the three finalists of the 2024 Gold House Music Accelerator program

Saweetie Is That Bitch…So Where’s the Album?

I learned from Saweetie’s Pretty Bitch Renaissance course that words are better defined in acronyms. The “Bitch” in Pretty Bitch Music stands for Boss, Independent, Tough, CEO, Hyphy. “P.U.S.S.Y.,” a song off The Single Life_, means Powerful, Utopia, Supreme, Sacred, and Yummy. Saweetie has deeper meanings for her commonly used words like “icy” and “pretty,” which she broke down:

Female empowerment is important to her. It defines her audience, hoping that Saweetie finally elevates to the excitement that Ice Spice, GoRilla, and others are currently having in hip-hop. Despite what Joe Budden has said about the girl rap wave fizzling out in the industry, I believe 2024 is due for another big shift for female rap after Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday 2. I’m banking on Rapsody’s Please Don’t Cry, the deluxe version of Doja Cat’s Scarlet, whatever Megan Thee Stallion and GloRilla cook up for the Hot Girl Summer tour, and Saweetie’s debut album.

What made me a Saweetie fan was how much she loved embracing being half-Asian and flexing her Filipino heritage. Saweetie, whose mother is half Filipino and half Chinese while her father is African American, has spoken in numerous interviews about her favorite Filipino foods (she loves sinigang just as much as I do) and representation of Filipinos in her music. In her Teen Vogue cover story written by Adelle Platon, she played with the idea of incorporating different genres into Pretty Bitch Music like “a rock 'n rap-sounding track called ‘Pretty Girl Mosh Pit,’ where she curses in Tagalog.”

Saweetie being half-Asian has impacted her music and the stories she tells about her life. She explained:

Saweetie does it for the Bay and all the pretty girls out there. She’s been that B.I.T.C.H. and the OG “ICY GRL,” so why aren’t her singles melting the competition?

In 2024, I thought she had a shot with “Richtivities.” Over a sample of Willie Hutch’s 1975 single “Love Me Back,” with production from J White Did It, it’s a song about being super fine and spending lavishly on private jets with endless racks. Haters have criticized the song on social media, with one user expressing in a tweet: “This song during a time where a lot of Americans can’t pay bills, buy groceries, or afford other necessities let alone luxuries is just not the vibe for me.”

Saweetie’s response is more in line with how I saw the purpose of “Richtivities.”

“When I was pursuing my career with barely any money to support myself in L.A.…I love listening to music that made me hustle harder to attain the lifestyle I always wanted. idk maybe we just built different,” she wrote.

Most people don’t know Saweetie only owned a mattress, was renting rooms on Craigslist in Los Angeles, recording raps in her car, and couldn’t even keep the clothes in the “ICY GRL” video after she shot it. She has experienced the artist's struggle before.

“Richtivities” was the evolution of Saweetie as someone who manifests what she deserves. The partnership deals with McDonald’s and Crocs, the MAC collabs, and multi-platinum singles, including new certifications for “Back to the Streets,” “ICY GRL,” “My Type,” and “Best Friend” in January. It’s all happening because of her hustle.

As a person constantly worrying about money and the student debt lingering over me, certain Saweetie songs let me escape to a place where I’m Birdman hand rubbin’ to the money. Her unwavering confidence in everything she does motivates me with tunnel vision for my dreams. One day, I want to do rich shit without stress and anxiety taking over me when I swipe my credit card.

Saweetie’s lukewarm responses to her singles shouldn’t make her change her album's name. She’s considering re-branding Pretty Bitch Music, arguing that Pretty Bitch Music and ICY GRL are more girl power movements than album titles that capture the vibes of these songs. “I just locked in with a team; he goes by the name of Jon Baptiste, who's a Cancer, so he’s a perfectionist like me, and we’re very ‘stick to the script and get things done.’” she said.

She’s had to defend herself against low album sales (Read Insanul Ahmed’s piece on his Best Rapper Alive Substack) and Shannon Sharpe’s lack of knowledge of her accomplishments by calling her “the one that used to date Quavo.” The connection to her music by rap fans is lost by negativity and constantly trying to question her career choices.

Saweetie has had to explain her album delay many times since it was formally set to drop in 2021. When she got aggregated by outlets for saying “nobody was caring about my music” in regards to her team in Allure’s March cover story by Lakin Starling, it got me frustrated that getting brand deals is overshadowing her passion for music.

To Saweetie, as a fan,

• Heat up this year by going back to stream-of-consciousness freestyles.

• Talk to the fans and get a read on what they want.

• Utilize more iconic samples from classic rap songs on your album.

• Shift the focus from being a pretty face to a pretty face who can undeniably rap.

• Get competitive again and remind them who the CEO is.

Diep Cuts 🀄

I’m making a special exception to my hip-hop and R&B beat to highlight the Gold House Music Accelerator Program. In partnership with Live Nation and Spotify, a selection committee that includes music industry veterans like Caroline Yim, Sulinna Ong, and Far East Movement picked three emerging artists for firsthand support in amplification, masterclasses, and more.

Congratulations to Towa Bird, a Filipino-British artist who makes alternative rock/pop music, alt-pop artist Emei, and Indian-American singer, songwriter, and visual artist Paravi.

Read more about the 2024 finalists here. Previous finalists were Anik Khan, Ruby Ibarra, Thuy, Alex Porat, Mad Tsai, and Rhea Raj.

Towa Bird - “Drain Me!”

Emei - “Love Me Not”

Paravi - “Broken English”

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@mateen_a

Shout out to the west side! Vietnamese rap goes crazy 🔥 #ganyachombyla #rap #rapbattles #xybca #druski #couldabeenrecords #audition #agt #... See more

Gunna Chinese type beat + Saigon rapper with shrimp skewer microphone = Vietnamese Gunna.