As a millennial it is nearly impossible to turn on the TV and to see a genuinely positive couple to represent my generation. There are plenty of millennialĀ couples that are in the entertainment biz who drag one another through the social media mud for more followers and likes. We can see that everyday.
Typically we have to look to the Denzel’s &Pauletta’s, Obama’s & Michelle’s, or the Will’s & Jada’s of the industry. They’re cool of course but what about the much-needed examples of healthy black love in the hip hop community? I am beyond tired of seeing this revolving door of rapper meets booty model, booty model opens IG boutique, rapper is caught creeping via a screenshot of his DM’s, and then the booty model sells the story to a gossip site. It is old and tired. Is this really the majority of what “black love” is in the music industry?
Remy Ma & Papoose To The Rescue
Every season of Love & Hip Hop I say I will not watch the show anymore because I am over watching the very things I just described but this season is different for me. Why, you ask? It’s different because of Remy Ma & Papoose. First of all I have always been a Remy Ma fan (my bestie Alex can attest to this from our Ā freshmen year at SU as dormmates), I’veĀ known all of her lyrics, and patiently waited for her to come back to the rap game to re-establish the standard of being a true lyricist.
When I heard that Remy Ma would be on the show with her husband Papoose I became even more excited because I had followed the couple for years. I specifically became excited for young black male millennials to see how Papoose handles his role as a husband. He doesn’t cry about being pressuredĀ into marriage nor does he behave as if being a husband is the plague of his life. It is important to see people and situations from all walks of life. Their love story has not been perfect. Remy was sentenced to serve time in prison (6 years) and her husband faithfully stood by her side.
Now I am not minimizing how taxing her time away was on their relationship (they discuss the effects of her time away on the show) but it shows that they are young and very much committed to their marriage. Millennials nowadays will break up over the pettiest of situations and the thought of working through tough times is damn near unheard of. Pap basically revived my hope that there are young men of my generation who will weather the storm with their girl or wife when times get rough.
Seeing Remy and Pap showcase that a healthy marriage displaying black love is something that is attainable is huge. I say that because the way society displays marriage to my generation is that it is an old school way of life and that weĀ don’tĀ have the cojones to make it last like our grandparents did. The music industry especially encourages artists, both female and male, to not be open about their marriages or instead to highlight the bad moments just to gain more publicity. MillennialsĀ have totally bought into this “f*%$ marriage” mentality and it’s saddening. The mediaĀ also tells us as women that we can’t allow ourselves to be soft or delicate forcing us to always take the lead which results inĀ emasculatingĀ our male counterparts.
So now you have a generation of 20 & 30 somethings of men who either avoid marriage more than they do STD’s and women posting every #WCW shouting to the world about how they don’t need a man. It is refreshing to see moments where Remy softens her bossed up exterior and trusts Pap to lead their relationship/family in the right direction. It is great to watch Pap, as much of a hardcore rapper that he is, love on his wife and spoil her. I am all about the proof being in the pudding and their relationship has held up against some serious hurdles in their lives.
Millennial Resuscitation
The world and personal life experiences can make us all a little bit pessimistic but kudos to Mona Scott Young for this addition to the show. We needed to see Rem’ & Pap, I needed to see it. I will continue to tune in to the show to see my weekly dose of millennial black love.
Do you watch LHHNY? What are your thoughts about after watching Remy Ma & Papoose? Comment below.
-MonaLita
Business inquires: contact@themonalita.com