DJ Khaled may rule over the pop charts, but the self-proclaimed king does not include going down on his wife as one of his royal requirements. After Nicki Minaj called him out last August on her jugular-slashing “Barbie Dreams,” an old Breakfast Club interview resurfaced, which documented that Khaled only praises his residing queen Nicole Tuck in dinner compliments and clothes. The strange clip is the embodiment of a sexual double standard. “I don’t do that, I don’t do that,” he emphatically repeated. When asked if his wife would refuse performing oral sex, he responded that that’s not okay. “It’s different rules for men. We the king.” All of this, of course, implies that female pleasure is less important than the pleasure of men. If Khaled really thought of Tuck as his queen, though, he would kneel at her altar. Nicki’s pointed call-out track was just one of the few from last year that relit the fire for a historically neglected discussion.

Although expression of sexual achievement has always been a distinctive quality in music—whether a symbol of authority or demonstrative bravado—DJ Khaled wasn’t the only one with antiquated ideals on the charts in 2018. Take, for instance, Cardi B’s “Bartier Cardi,” where she proclaims her power and affluence. “I don’t eat pussy, I’m fastin’,” 21 Savage asserts at the beginning of his verse, only to conclude with the image of himself getting road head: “I’m in a Bentley Truck / She keep on suckin’ like it’s tinted.” The female perspective here is only acknowledged in order to be dismissed and then overshadowed by the male counterpart. C’mon, dude.

Musicians are advocating for consensual, mutual pleasure in a society where women are constantly reduced to grabbable genitalia.

It seems as though Khaled and 21 are both enforcers of the oral sex gap, which, yes, is a thing according to a three-year-old study that showed women were twice as likely to give oral without receiving it. It’s pretty unbelievable to think that the way we respect men’s bodies is so much different compared to how men respect women’s (...oh wait). It’s been a long-awaited revolution—one in which musicians are advocating for consensual, mutual pleasure in a society where women are constantly reduced to grabbable genitalia. Many songs have recently illustrated women asserting their agency, educating and persuading the ignorant masses.

From Ariana Grande admiring the way her lover “licks the bowl” on “Sweetener” to Janelle Monáe’s triumphant manifesto about the vagina on “PYNK,” the lady garden was a prominent muse in 2018. Both songs are about more than oral pleasure: they demonstrate appreciation for the female experience, indicating oral satisfaction as a step toward greater happiness. More and more, women are vocalizing their needs for equal intimacy in rap and pop music. I hope 2018’s abundant acknowledgment of this topic evolves into a new norm, and that others will follow suit with the likes of Queen Key, who has already planned for Valentine’s Day 2019 with her forthcoming Eat My Pussy Again.

Here are a few songs by women communicating their needs, educating the dummies, and celebrating their own sexual authority. Let us, together, learn from these ladies on how to eat that peach, dive for that pearl, hell, even do a little bit of lip synching.

Nicki Minaj —“Good Form”

When it comes to Nicki, we all know she only wants the finest. Her recent album Queen pays further testimony to her high standards, whether that means owning the best Benz truck or having the best man satisfying her needs. Always adamant about sexual requirements, she’s not going to settle for someone who doesn’t please her: “I tell him eat the cookie ’cause it’s good for him / And when he eat the cookie he got good form.” A bouncy and cardio-friendly beat incites Nicki as she makes her man work for it, simultaneously advocating for a nutritional pussy diet. It’s gratifying for both parties.

Rico Nasty — “Ice Cream”

On her studio album Nasty, Rico Nasty proclaims herself an ice cream truck, letting us know that all the boys want a taste of her “strawberry yum-yum”—but really she means her vagina! Woohoo! The track opens with a pixelated video-game jingle acting as the mating call, letting the guys know her truck is open for business. Rico is talking herself up in addition to getting that orgasm: “Put it in his face, now he got a candy crush / I call that a sugar rush,” she chimes in to announce her sweet climax.

City Girls — “Sweet Tooth”

Aside from ice cream, there are so many yummy things to lick: lollipops, popsicles, Nutella, clitorises. The Miami duo City Girls use the sexual trope to the fullest: Although they’re talking about treats, JT and Yung Miami are not sugar-coating their sexual intentions. “Pick me up while you eat it, that’s a face lift,” JT raps. “This pussy ain’t free, you gotta pay for this!” Yung Miami asserts. “Gotta take a bitch out on a date for this / Gotta cop me a Benz and a rang for this.” (Eating her out isn’t the only thing you have to do to treat her right.) City Girls are in command of their pleasure the entire time. For them, good head is a prerequisite: “If your head game fire, I might keep you.”

Tove Lo feat. Charli XCX, ALMA, Icona Pop, and Elliphant — “Bitches”

To amplify the wonderful, blunt verses where Tove Lo sings about her vagina (“Let me be your guide when you eat my pussy out”), the Swedish pop singer took “Bitches,” a track from her 2017 album Blue Lips, and enlisted a roster of badass women for a new remix. Charli XCX, ALMA, Icona Pop, and Elliphant accompany Tove Lo in addition to a humorous instructional video that takes the Pussy Guide occupation to the next level. The team teaches a man how to go down on his girlfriend, examining his tongue, showing him how to flip that cherry, and advocating respect. “I call it respect when you givin’ what you get,” Icona Pop sing. It’s an invigorating anthem for neglected clits all over.

Junglepussy — “I Just Want It”

Kinda like how Lil’ Kim proclaimed “I don’t want dick tonight / Eat my pussy right” in 1996, Junglepussy conscientiously speaks about cunnilingus: “I just want the head.” There is a misguided expectation that sexual pleasure is only provided by penetration, but Junglepussy is not playing games—she’s in it for the head and that’s it. Meaning, that dick is getting nowhere: “Wanna fuck me so bad but you never gonna.”

CupcakKe — “Blackjack”

As we’ve seen throughout her excellent catalogue, the sex-positive CupcakKe has a talent for articulating all the wonders of intercourse. What’s better than breakfast in bed after you got head? Not many things, according to the Chicago rapper: “French kiss a pussy one time then in the morning go and make me french toast,”she sings promptly before counting down, while her partner goes down, as she’s handcuffed to the bed. CupcakKe opts for oral sex with creativity.

Queen Key feat. Tink — “Spenda Nite”

All the women on this list advocate for better representation of female satisfaction, but only one of them has an entire album, titled Eat My Pussy, dedicated to this notion—and that is twenty-two-year-old rapper Queen Key. She proudly broke up with a dude for giving bad head, and then she wrote a song about it. On “Spenda Nite,” Queen Key and Tink both let men go down on them—but when it’s not up to par, they tell them to get lost. “Niggas wanna spenda night / I don’t like how he eat pussy cuz the nigga bite / What the fuck is you a shark bitch,” criticizes Key.

King Princess — “Holy”

Mikaela Straus, a.k.a. King Princess, proclaims that she has many duties to attend to on the track “Holy” from her Make My Bed EP. However, these responsibilities won’t keep her away from a grand love affair: “’Cause you’re so beautiful / I’d rather drink you up,” she sings tenderly. KP establishes herself as a superior, commanding a lover on her knees only to rule her body like sacred ground. “I rule with the velvet tongue,” she sings (a nod to a specific oral sex position). While much of this list comes from the heteronormative perspective, Straus, who identifies as lesbian, is adding a crucial queer point of view to the pop canon.

Bbymutha — “Heaven’s Little Bastard”

When Brittnee Moore isn’t being a rockstar mom, she’s using her music as Bbymutha to dismantle patriarchal prejudice and the malarky of institutional religion. On “Heaven’s Little Bastard,” Moore takes the mantra “only God can judge me” to another level. No amount of written scripture can dictate her value; at church you can find her appealing to her pastor in intimate ways, or giving head in the pews. “‘He don’t give head,’ that’s what shawty say / Face red, I was on my period, he ate today,” she raps without relenting for a single breath during the first verse. Here Bbymutha tackles the taboo subject of period oral sex! An inspiration to ovulating ladies worldwide.

Little Mix — “Motivate”

The British pop group Little Mix just released their fifth album, LM5, and they were not slight with the feminist undertones. “Motivate” is a bouncy piano-driven track advertising the beauty of staying energized in the bedroom. From the start, the quartet are in control of what is happening with their lovers: “He give it to me any way that I want it, babe / Any way that I want it.” And yes, that does include cunnilingus. “He never let me down when he go lower,” sings Leigh-Anne Pinnock with a confident, Rihanna-like swagger. Despite the antiquated idea that good sex will lead to intimate attachments for women (“He got me singing ooh la, la, la, la, la, la, ayy / I’m catching feelings ooh la, la, la, la, la, la, ayy”), Little Mix have succeeded in supplying a sex-positive anthem.

Iggy Azalea feat. Wiz Khalifa — “OMG”

“OMG,” a track from Iggy Azalea’s recent Survive the Summer EP, features an awkward Wiz Khalifa rapping about her popping a wheelie on his dick, and is not the most original song about getting head—but, alas, it takes a spot on this list. “He said it tastes so good, I should just serve it on a plate,” she raps apathetically.

Bella Thorne — “BITCH I’M BELLA THORNE”

Yes, Bella Thorne has a music career, which she showcased in many, many strange ways last year. On her Britney Spears–assertive track “BITCH I’M BELLA THORNE,” she gloats about her youth, the fact that she doesn’t have a license but has a Porsche, and her godly body, all in a strange drugged-out slur. However, above all, Thorne appreciates the pussy, so much so that she is a self-certified scuba diver. And what does she do when a guy presents her with a ring? “I say, ‘Get down on your knees, and eat the whole damn thing!’” she mockingly advises. One of the strangest songs to come out of 2018, it nonetheless celebrates proper oral stimulation. FL

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