Chyna, please have mercy; how Ceechynaa redefines womanhood

feminism in the little things

From small bikinis to full-beats, she’s the embodiment of a man-eater and the feminist icon women didn’t know they needed. Ceechynaa uses her music to reimagine the role of women in society. With only three tracks in her discography and limited media coverage, Ceechynaa has become a symbol of a brand of women that breaks societal expectations. The UK drill rapper has established herself as a woman in a male-dominated industry, she’s managed to weaponize male techniques and use them as leverage to promote a greater sense of equality, one that strays from the typical idea of pacifism and focuses more on treating men as poorly as they treat women. Ceechynaa reverses typical gender roles and uses her music to uplift women by rivaling men in the most effective way: through a taste of their own medicine.

Ceechynaa targets different weak spots in each song, all of which take an unconventional approach to criticizing men. She starts her newest single “Peggy” with a direct call out to men, saying “I told you, men, I was gonna quit, and you tried to get rid of me?”, showing how the rapper’s take on UK drill hasn’t been a favorite among men but due to her indifference towards male validation, she won’t be silenced. Her aggressive tone, although a staple of the drill genre, defies the odds in itself, proving that women can be as assertive and take up as much space as men. She continues the song with the immediate statement “I’m peggin that man at the back of the bus”, putting the man in the position of vulnerability and objectification that women face in the rap genre. She goes on to say she doesn’t care for male speech, again objectifying men and portraying this hypothetical man as a vessel for her pleasure, with very little value otherwise. Throughout the song, Ceechynna reinforces her point that men are only as good as what they can do for her in the same way that many male rappers rap about women. She sings proudly about using men and their assets as well as knocking them down from their high horse and putting men at her mercy rather than vice versa. This is evident through the lyric “I’m in the back of the car with your daddy and he’s twerking a popping a Perc’”. This caught many listeners off guard on the first listen, but upon deeper analysis, this was Ceechynaa’s portrayal of the man as only existing for her enjoyment. Chyna even goes as far as belittling men and commenting on their bodies, implying that if a man’s body doesn’t meet her standards, he has no value to her.

“Peggy” was a bolder approach to Chyna’s method of redefining womanhood. In previous songs, she maintains more of a traditionally feminine persona while still reinforcing that she’s above the men she criticizes. Her second single, “Last Laugh”, contains lyrics that show how men have a plethora of things to say about her, but she considers them beneath her and would never associate with these men anyway. The lines “I never fucked with these hoodrats, every man I link has a wealthy aura. The mandem are getting scammed…Cause I only wanted your money” clarifies that Chyna classifies men by how much they can do for her. The lines in “Last Laugh” are a continuation of the themes Chyna established in her debut single “Legal Baby”. “Legal Baby” opens with Ceechynaa stating she knows nothing about love and that she’s only ever been interested in using men. She proudly repeats these statements as well as saying she doesn’t care for what men think of her, using her music as a way to unapologetically be herself. Chyna embodies a woman who cannot be silenced or shoved into society’s limitations. She will do and say as she pleases; she prioritizes her interests with little regard for approval. Women are often expected to maintain a ladylike image, keeping quiet, putting others before themselves, and adhering to the opinions of others, especially men. Men tend to be allowed to embrace the opposite and rarely ever stray from being bold and unapologetically themselves. Chyna’s claiming a place in the drill community and rapping alongside men, against men, is nothing short of iconic.

Being a woman, it’s easy for Ceechynaa and her music to be demonized. It can easily be skewed as radical feminism and portrayed as a defamation of the male race, which contradicts Chyna’s significance. Chyna’s lyricism is notable for its impact on reversing negative gender roles. This impact wouldn’t be nearly as powerful if there weren’t preexisting plagues for her to weaponize against men. Similar lyrics have been seen all across the drill genre with very little criticism or reform. In G Herbo’s song “Swervo”, he sings, “And she ain’t shit but she gon’ lick my dick because I’m rich”, reducing this hypothetical woman to what she can offer him sexually and diminishing her worth otherwise. He portrays himself as the prize with little regard for the women he deals with because these women are beneath him. Another example straight from the UK drill scheme is Tion Wayne’s song “Body” in which he writes, “Love the way you whine on it / Big thot, she wanna blow my thing”, which degrades women and depicts them as single-faceted beings with sexual worth being the only notable dimension. Men exhibit the same dominance and control over women in their songs that Chyna uses against men in hers, yet only the latter is met with criticism.

The most historic part of Ceechynaa’s reign is how she embraces this persona as femininity rather than taking it at face value and adopting masculinity. She proves her point not by being manly but by being traditionally feminine while still reversing gender roles in the way that she does, illustrating that women are multi-dimensional and one individual can encompass both possibilities. Chyna presents this through her music videos, where she wears small bikinis, wigs, and a full face of makeup. She maintains a feminine image, especially one that men would typically degrade, and uses it to demonstrate that women cannot fit into a neat box despite what society would like to believe. Love the music or hate it, Chyna is a symbol of female empowerment in an unlikely genre.