Parody Rap “Like a Feminist" Sums up Feminism Perfectly.

ApexRedditr · 2015-06-23T13:03:54+00:00

That was really terrible.

Mitschu · 2015-06-25T01:49:08+00:00

I agree with everyone else so far.

As a very amateur parodist (the reason my ex-girlfriend left me a decade ago was because I wrote a parody of J.E.W.'s "Pain" called "She Took My Virginity" the morning after the event and dedicated it to her... apparently not a cool move), this is an issue I run into regularly, keeping meter and syllabic flow paced to the original song while adapting it into the parody.

 Like a fe-min-ist. Like a boss.

Even if you slur feminist (as they do in the song) to fem-nist, it's too long of a word to replace "boss." It breaks the pacing, which is a no-go in parodies and comes across as clumsy and awkward. (You can sometimes be forgiven for it if it happens at the end of a line and there's a brief breather window, but that's in exceptional cases only.) Listen to any Weird Al song, the only time he does that is when it is clearly intentional as a "wait, what?" moment.

I'd have gone with "Like a sis," because even though it doesn't quite properly convey "feminist", you've got the entire song to establish that meaning, and at least it fits in the space you've got, while allowing for a bit of contradiction wordplay between "sister" and "sissy."

I cannot stress the value of comedy in a parody enough, it is pretty much the only way to hook the audience and get them thinking... the song in the OP is less a parody and more a snide whine because it lacks a strong comedic base and instead goes for inside-jokes that aren't really jokes, like "pull a fire alarm."

Further, as a parody of the original "Like a Boss", which starts out serious - "talk to corporate (like a boss)" - and devolves into grotesque - "chop my balls off (like a boss)" - that could have easily been expounded upon with the "sis" wordplay, ala "march for equality (like a sis)" later going into "sob on CNN (like a sis)".

(Which would also be a good spot for the mid song break, parodying the "oh fuck me man, I can't do it, shiiit... pussy out! (like a boss)" into an Anita Sarkesian-esque short live interview that breaks the song flow and caricatures feminists, before a drawn out beat-wait leads into continuing the parody.)

In short - the song is uncomfortable to listen to because it stretches words to fit the original meter, not just in one or two places (which might be forgiven) but in the main refrain, while forgoing comedy in favor of... I'm not sure what to call it, passive aggression and cheap shots? (Not that feminism doesn't deserve those, but that it isn't... engaging to most audiences. It's too generic and flat, like that lame Lena Dunham anti-MRA skit.)

Title	Parody Rap “Like a Feminist" Sums up Feminism Perfectly.
Author	Tony_MRA
Upvotes	34
Comments	4
Date	June 23, 2015 6:53 AM UTC (11 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/3asyjx/parody_rap_like_a_feminist_sums_up_feminism/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/parody-rap-like-a-feminist-sums-up-feminism.976918 https://theredarchive.com/post/976918

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