Houston born and raised rapper Monaleo released her third project, a mixtape called ‘Who Did The Body?’. The project explored themes of grief, family and love. The question “who did the body” is a common black American phrase. The phrase stems from wanting to know which funeral home prepared the body for burial. The mixtape opens with a young girl saying “she looks like she’s sleeping”. A man responded “I wonder who did the body?”. The mixtape uses imagery of the black southern gothic aesthetic. This connects her to her southern roots and represents her culture. A culture that has been made taboo due to Christian nationalism and colonialism. She embraces hoodoo, which is a spiritual tradition developed amongst enslaved Africans in North America, making this something to be proud of instead of ashamed.
I have been a fan of Monaleo since ‘Beating Down Your Block’, finding the video on YouTube before it hit a million views. I fell in love with her direct tone and aggressive lyricism. To me she demonstrated everything I had been feeling as a young woman, anger at the world and the men around me. Her last project ‘Throwing Bows’ is full of this anger and confidence. However, ‘Who Did The Body?’ is about what makes her body and the body of many black American women. It’s the pain, it’s the excitement and, at times, our family strain. In all of this she is taking pride in her emotions and she is vulnerable within this project. Asking the big questions about life, the ones we’re often afraid to ask like , “what is going to happen when I die?” (life after death).
The black southern gothic aesthetic within Hip hop culture is inspired by the southern gothic literature tradition to explore themes of historical injustice, poverty and the supernatural. This aesthetic has been used a lot previously with artists like Gangsta Boo, Project Pat, Three 6 Mafia. Monaleo follows this same southern tradition using this aesthetic to explore darker themes within her art. She takes inspiration from her predecessors. On songs like ‘Spare Change’, she explores the theme of poverty and addiction. “Don't you know bums have a name?” she shouts on the chorus, humanising those who are often othered in society due to systemic oppression.
By embracing this darkness black women in the south have been able to pace through trials and heal their communities. Black women birthed America, their labour, love, food and pain has grown the land Americans breathe on today. In this project Monaleo acknowledges this history. Through the black gothic they are able to gain liberation. Angela Davis writes, “The slave woman was the first full time worker for her owner and only incidentally, a wife, mother and homemaker”. This is the history that Monaleo is acknowledging. When she is using Southern Gothic aesthetics she is representing her heritage as a Soulaan woman.
The mixtape opens with ‘Life After Death’, a song about how she should be commemorated after she passes. In this song, she is dark and haunting but acknowledging the overarching theme of this project, how life and death in the Black American community are constantly linked. It's something that oftentimes we shy away from but something necessary to acknowledge. “Life after death /is it lit or not?” A question that we all want to know the answer for. In the lines “Why you curled up in that bed?/ Bitch, get up and get out”, she discusses how her friends and loved ones should not sit and be sad but continue to live with her memory. She’s aggressive, but this is honest.
The churchy ‘Bigger Than Big’ first debuted on Kai Cenat’s streamathon full of positive affirmations. “I’m bigger than Ben” references the ‘Big Ben’ in London. We then lead into the controversial, not by intention, ‘Sexy Soulaan’. What's interesting about this song is what came about after it. The song is about pan africanism, empowering black people across the diaspora. Within the music video Monaleo is accompanied by multiple flags such as the Nigerian flag, Black American heritage flag and the Jamaican flag. The intention was to empower each of us through highlighting our similarities and differences. She references key Black American things like not putting your purse on the floor. “Being in the house lighting incense”, this insinuates spiritual protection. Songs like ‘We On Dat’, a southern Hip Hop record that discusses the ways she is ‘on dat’, and how she is too protected spiritually. The music video also has southern gothic references. There are women dressed in white, who are witches and use hoodoo magic to protect themselves and the people around them. Monaleo within this project is finding ways to weave in her heritage, showcasing how life, to her, extends beyond the physical realm.
We then move into ‘Putting Ya Dine’, which acts as a celebration to this future. This is also a part of her body. This club banger is about confidence and security within yourself. In a project that is so dark thematically it's nice to see how despite the pain, there is still hope to be excited about life and still party. ‘Freak Show’ again reiterates this. She is discussing her sexuality which adds onto all the things that make her one body. The sultry chorus states “there's something magic bout me and you'll find out in time”. It's sexy, and displays her growing womanhood and the growth she is having in herself.
The mixtape dwells deeper into its overarching theme of death where she begins to openly grieve her friends; the people she has lost. ‘Open The Gates’, is a jumpy song that is both humorous and sad. It showcases the anger, discontent and humour you can find in grief. She repeats “pen the gates, I really miss my b*tches”. It makes light of the fact that they're away but you can still feel that sadness. On ‘Dignified’ she discusses losing a friend to drunk driving. It's gothic and baptist. She hopes to “die dignified”, suggesting dying with respect. In this instance, she is hoping her death isn’t caused by doing something unforgivable like drunk driving.
There is a moment of reflection she has on this project. ‘Diary of an OG’, is a song that describes her experience being an oldest girl and the tough circumstances she has been put in. How she walks with being a nurturer and protector of herself and family. This pressure is something many girls have to live with. She is being honest. The chorus repeats “I’ll always be the oldest girl /surrounded still a lonely girl”. This position is not easy to be in, something that is constant and very demanding. The song makes me tear up out of empathy.
What makes our bodies is a mixture of pain and happiness but that is who we are as people. This project is sonically and thematically different. Where in the past she embraced her anger and aggression. This one is about growth, acknowledging where this pain stems from and moving forward with it. This project is not only about death alone, but how we become ourselves. What losses and wins leave us dignified as people. Monaleo is asking these questions to her community in an effort to heal from those uncertainties.
