Groupie (noun)
a person, especially a young woman, who regularly follows a pop music group or other celebrity in the hope of meeting or getting to know them.
In the real world, the term groupie has a more derogatory connotation. Probably because now, groupies are usually just sex objects, following these guys at their shows and after parties and sleeping with anybody in the crew. Usually, it’s not just one artist these girls are following, its whoever touches down in their city. No girl is gonna classify herself as a “groupie” but let’s take a closer look at some things.
A well-meaning group of girls love a certain Christian hip hop artist. They devise a plan to take a trip to where he is performing. They get there and take a million pictures and videos at the show. They wait after the show to meet him. They take and post a million pictures of them together. They get invited to hang out with him and his crew. This becomes a normality. Now, each show this artist has, they go eat with them, follow them to different venues, hang out with them backstage before the show and post pictures of them hanging out.
These girls can scream all day that they are “friends” of the artist or “big fans” or even “missionaries”. At the core of it all, they fit the bill of being a groupie. I remember being HEATED from receiving the question, “So which one of these guys is your husband?”, by church folk and “So which one of these guys are you sleepin with?” by everyone else. Why would they ask that? I have a purpose here too. I’m here because I want to see people impacted by this music, I want to connect with the young girls that are here, I want to----- great. You can have all the greatest intentions in the world but you are still carrying yourself like a groupie and that’s what the world sees. (These artists see it too, don’t let them lie to you lol).
Artists thrive off this attention from women. From gangsta rap to Christian rap. Imagine how it would feel to have beautiful women wearing your merch, pushing your music, following you at all your shows, posting pics and videos of you all day and always wanting to be around you. Even if they have the right heart, that type of attention feeds the inner ego that they try so hard to keep in check. I have always dreamt of having women be more than just “groupies” in the hip hop industry but to walk in their true purpose in it. Ladies, bring some substance and fire to the culture. Enough are the days of watered down femininity. Do not allow the culture to water down your power to the point where it no longer makes a lasting impact. As a woman, you are strong, talented, gifted and powerful. You can bring an element to the culture that the men cannot, and that’s the beauty of it all. When the man plays his role and you play yours, the culture thrives. When he plays his and you succumb to the role of a groupie, your power just died.
Don’t just create a sweet, cute, safe and *cough*wack*cough* version of what a man created. Allow him to thrive in the gift that God gave him and walk boldly enough to create your own vision that God gave you. We are not trying to prove that we can do whatever boys can, we are not in elementary anymore, we are proving that we have a unique purpose and place here. We are serving faithfully in the places and on the topics that are untouched. There are demographics of people who are meant JUST for us. If we stop chasing behind men, desperately trying to ride THEIR wave, we can notice the places that God wants US to go and the things he wants US to do. We have a unique purpose here that doesn’t include holding on to someone else's coattails to get there.
