Hearing female voices are important, and the South African femcee Miss Celaneous is here to let you know it. In her fun and edgy track #Trapem, she performs what it means to be a woman not only in hip-hop but in society at large. Constantly battling the negatives views society tends to place on women who are outspoken, Miss Celaneous turns to hip hop to challenge and outrightly disregard those criticisms. Instead, the negative energy becomes motivation to be who she wants and exercise her choices without reservation. Her lyrics and appearance in her music video for #Trapem are important ways in which she achieves this performance.
As Miss Celaneous walks throughout the city and strikes fun and flawless poses, it can be hard for the viewer to tell where she is going or what she is doing. There is no one in the video but her. However, with her hot pink hair and revealing clothing, you can tell she is not afraid to make a scene or standout. Her appearance magnifies her confidence as a rapper as it adds to her versatility and unpredictability, leaving her audience on their toes. Furthermore, her sunglasses and a few of the scenes where she is carrying a bottle of alcohol add a mysterious and complicated layer to her persona. The alcohol signals that she could be inebriated, indicating that her words are not being consciously constructed. At the same time, she upends the expectations that society puts on women to be proper. Her sunglasses to top it all off conceals her identity also denying the idea that society always has access to women’s body.
Her lyrics, similar to her appearance, are bold. From the start, she is quick to talk about what she wants, not what society deems appropriate for her. She unabashedly mentions sending nudes and receiving oral sex, letting us know that she is in control of her sexuality. These lyrics also underpin an important notion that women have agency and can be independent when it comes to sexual, educational, and financial decisions. In addition, she cleverly speaks on what it means to be judged for her boldness: “I’m poorly misunderstood/ Actually, I’m not/ They just can’t handle the truth.” With this perceptive remark, Miss Celaneous truly embodies what it means to be a part of hip hop culture by speaking to her realities as a way to force society to reckon with her power as a talented emcee.
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