Detroit’s Aint Afraid shares empowering messages through infectious, dauntless hip hop
Straingth and WiZdumb wrote their recent take-charge anthem with their mother, Stacey Holton, and collaborated with producer Jezreel Santos. The Local Spins Artist Spotlight on an emerging hip-hop duo.
Aint Afraid: ‘We want women to continue being bosses for themselves.’ (Courtesy Photo/Quiana Brundidge)
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part of a series partnering with Ypsilanti’s Grove Studios to spotlight artists from the east side of Michigan — an endeavor aimed at bridging the gap between east and west. Today, writer Lori Stratton profiles southeastern Michigan’s Aint Afraid. Scroll down for the music video for the duo’s latest single.
Aint Afraid wants to eliminate old-fashioned expectations placed on women.
The Detroit hip-hop, twin-sister duo of Straingth and WiZdumb boldly empowers women to abandon submissive notions for assertive mindsets on their latest infectious single, “Easier Said.”
“‘Easier Said’ highlights the superficial pressures placed on women and young girls to strive to be desirable to other people, with an emphasis on male attention and approval, while these same pressures aren’t expected for men and boys,” said Sakinah Rahman, aka Straingth.
“We also touch on how women are expected to be impressionable to men who aren’t even impressive themselves. ‘Easier Said’ was created to say, ‘Yeah, whatever.’ We want women to continue being bosses for themselves.”
Aint Afraid’s Straingth and WiZdumb assert that “Easier Said” boss mentality as contemplative synth, booming percussion and soulful bass roll into a tenacious beat and instill newfound confidence.
They sing, “You more hard-headed than my doll/But big-headed like my ball/I can never really figure you out/One moment you the man, in another you pout/My homies all ready to go/You and your boys all movin’ slow/We bout to hit rush hour/And all my girls can think is/Hmph, I ain’t sign up for this.”
