After a long hiatus from the music scene, controversial rapper Marcus Jamal Hopson, known by his stage name Hopsin, recently released a video for a new track that comes across as disturbingly offensive on so many levels.
On Thursday, the L.A.-based rapper uploaded the video for “Happy Ending”, which, alongside his single “The Purge” from last month, marks his return after the release of “Pound Syndrome” back in 2015.
In the track, Hopsin raps about a day he purportedly spent at an Asian massage parlor where he was offered sex in exchange for money.
Both the lyrics of the song and the music video feature the problematic portrayal of Asian women perpetuating the racist stereotype of being mere trophies of Asian fetishists.
The chorus goes:
“Hello how you doing I can give you good massage,
“I can be your everything, you give me fifty bucks,
“If you know say nothing, I can give you sucky-sucky,
“If you give me more money, I give you do something lucky”
“I can be your everything, you give me fifty bucks,
“If you know say nothing, I can give you sucky-sucky,
“If you give me more money, I give you do something lucky”
Portrayed as sexually passive and compliant, the Asian women in Hopsin’s video reinforce dangerous stereotypes that affect people’s perceptions of Asian American women in general.
But it gets worse.
Hopsin may have failed to see that most women who are forced to work as prostitutes in such parlors are actually victims of human trafficking.
The song, which is delivered in a comedic tone, is apparently passing off the subject as a laughing matter. Why find a modern form of slavery funny?
Even his fans were not amused:
Some of his fans who tried to defend him even used the “He was just having fun” excuse to justify the song’s racist and misogynistic content.
Known for doing weird stunts, and generating attention on social media, Hopsin could very well be attempting to generate publicity for his comeback. This poor attempt to go viral, however, may give his career its own not so “happy ending”.
Here’s Hopsin in a recent interview talking about wanting people to put “respect” on his name (14:00 mark):
