Sunday, August 22, 2010

Ode to the Ambitious Woman

So as you may have noticed over the past year, I'm a faithful Entourage fan and this year there was a new cast member brought on to the show, pictured above Dania Ramirez. Coincidentally she happened to be #63 on AskMen.com's 2009 99 Hottest Women poll, more than a few spots behind the absolutely beautiful Emmanuel Chiriqui who cracked the top 15. Anyways, this season Dania is playing Alex, the former employee of Turtle, turned business partner and developing love interest. She initially quit her first job working for Turtle because she thought he was just trying to hook up with her, opting instead to be jobless rather than be seen as a sexual object.

...which serves as the basis for this post (yea I know pretty weak transition, yes I am guilty of just wanting to post a picture of Dania Ramirez, deal with it), an ode to the women out there who strive to be known for intelligence rather than looks...who have the ambition to be successful on their own and not rely on a man to survive. This post comes on the heels of a weekend where I was fortunate enough to meet two successful women who both have great jobs and had no problem confidently speaking with passion about their current career, as well as their desire to know and do more with their job in the future.

To me there is nothing sexier than a woman with the confidence to look you in the eye when you first meet them, then go on to tell you about their current college field of study/job and what they strive to be in the future. Don't get it twisted though, there is a difference between being an Independent Woman and an ambitious woman. They aren't always mutually exclusive characteristics, for example a woman can be independent and support herself working at a fast food restaurant (not knocking that, I know a lot of single mother's gotta do that to get by, y'all are heroes for that), but lack the ambition to go to college in order to one day gain salaried employment. On the other hand, yes, it usually takes a woman to already be innately independent in order to be ambitious because let's be honest, it's hard to be independent if you're living off a secretary's salary... kinda like J. Cole said on his latest track Blow Up:
"This for n****s not satisfied for secondary, this for my sisters who aint satisfied with secretary
Which brings me to musical basis of this post from two of my favorite new artists. I don't know about you, but I am an avid analyst of lyrics and tend to favor artists that align with my personal beliefs/values through their stories/lyrics. I know, you're going to argue that I don't know if they mean what they say on tracks, but more than ever transparency is in with Hip Hop. Luckily, we've had some breakthrough, stand up artists emerge in Hip Hop like Wale and Drake, who refuse to be anyone but themselves on tracks and put an emphasis on portraying their own reality through music, which usually let's us in on what they personally believe and value.

Like for example on Wale's new poetic track appropriately titled Ambitious Girl, which is more of a Def Poetry Jam style story paying homage to the woman who would "rather chase your dreams,
then to try to chase these men". Check the lyrics below:
"Ambitious girl, the drive-drive me crazy
I’m tryna...stay with you, lay with you
I’ll pay you tuition, pray with you if you ain't intuition
I’m tryna f*** the sh** out your aspirations
See, the last one I dated, I hated
We wake up, I go to work, she leave out
Come back with some make up, high heels, and a purse, or
Worse I ask, “Babygirl, what you aspire to be?”
She reply to me like, “why you perspiring me?” b****...
Pardon me if I’m sweating you but,
I wanna see something else in you before I invest in you
Ambitious girl, (what you sitting for)
I’d rather you tell me to hit you later,
Because you gotta finish a paper
Then to be in my face asking for a rosay cup
See these b**** can’t cut in yo business
I’m in love with your business
And your productivity is the reason I interest, ambitious girl
See, I like the person that you are,
But I’m in love with the person that you have potential to be
And all your dreams sharing with me
And your secrets baring with me
And the flaws, you aint even got to mention to me,
Ambitious girl, you just wanna win, and you’d rather chase your dreams,
Then to try to chase these men
That try to chase these skirts
that try to chase these shots with flavors that not even as sweet as her
My ambitious girl, I won't forget you,
I just reflect on how I aint met you, yet boo
You somewhere, getting your life in order
So for the time being, I hope this (overscribe) might support her
Support her, or work her, she worth it"
That's how I see it, my ambitious girl is too busy gettin' here life in order than she doesn't even know her life is on a crash course headed for mine. And when the collision is about to take place, she'll say or do something to get my attention, which at first will make me like the person she is, but admire the hell outta the person she strives to be and has the ability and potential to become. @WALE knows what's up...#SelfFulfillingProphecy + #LimitlessFaith

Wale - Ambitious Girl
| Mixtape

Even better, you know Drake, who makes it abundantly clear that he has a thing for successful, older women, was a big source of inspiration for this post. In the interview below, he and Sway talk about how older women have the experience and maturity to show you things in life that younger women, who don't usually know what they want and haven't experienced as many things, can't bring to the table. See below:
Below @DRAKKARDNOIR ends his new single Fancy by giving his own 16 bar salute to the women out there "with enough more to loan us" and the "women with diplomas", "especially the homeowners."
Better late than never,
But never late is better,
They tell me time is money, well we’ll spend it together,
I’m down for whatever,
You just lead the way,
We go to dinner you don’t even look at me to pay,
Mature women with more than me were the first to tempt me,
And Jason had this girl Tammy with a purple Bentley,
How she got it I aint never get to ask,
I just knew that she was fine like a ticket on the dash,
Yeah, but shout out to the homeowners,
The girls that got diplomas,
And enough money to loan us a little something extra,
Should we ever need it,
If it sounds like you then let me hear you repeat it
Sidebar: To me there's nothing more attractive than a woman who doesn't tote on you and when you go out with them, they don't expect you to pay. Let me be clear I'm talking dating here, different rules apply to couples, but to me, all I look for is willingness. If you're willing to offer to pay for yourself, that's all I need in order for you to gain my respect because I'm not going to let you pay either way, but to me it's an opportunity for women to make a good impression because a lot of guys value that. Maybe I've seen too many women who don't even feel obligated to talk to you when you buy them a drink, but that's just me and what I've experienced with my own two ojos.

The fact that young artists in their early 20s are openly appreciating successful women is positive for Hip Hop. They're placing ambitious women on a pedestal and whether or not that will ever have a tangible effect on women who listen remains to be seen, but regardless, I'm just proud that I can stand behind and support artists around my age who see eye to eye with me (generationally speaking) on admirable qualities like being ambitious that make woman attractive. Sure beats the hell out of Hip Hop in the 1990s where women were seen as objects...at best.

Cheers to the successful/ambitious women out there who don't need a man...but are willing to be convinced (by me) that an equally ambitious man might not be bad for them. Knowledge is sexier than whatever size breasts the good lord may have provided you, you can take that to the bank...even on Sundays. #SheBetterAtLeastHaveABootyThough
Drake feat T.I. - Fancy (prod by Swizz Beatz)
Links taken down, please go to iTunes and purchase a copy

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