Offensive language ahoy

Just let me take a moment to say that I know almost nothing about Lupe Fiasco, his previous work or his personality: this song and film clip simply happened to strike a nerve for me. That said, read on!
 Maybe Nicki Minaj is creating some kind of pop-art with a cleverly hidden message that I haven't yet understood... but when a creative work makes use of sex as a Nicki Minaj film clip does (or as a Britney Spears film clip does: ye gods and little fishes!), I tend to see not the artist and the creation but a record label using soft porn to sell more music and generate more popularity. Sex is a valid subject for the creative arts to tackle: being one of the most important human experiences, but in present-day pop-culture, sex is not the subject under discussion, sex is not being celebrated or questioned or deconstructed, it is being used as a marketing strategy to sell music and music videos. And it is working.
When this kind of marketing strategy is mainstream, when these kinds of songs and music videos are on our radios, on our televisions, blasted over our shopping centres, plastered all over YouTube (where I know for a fact most children will go to listen to a song they like) - I think that we have a moral obligation to stop and ask: is this the kind of stuff we want our children to be watching and identifying with? When we see the current generation making horrible and morally revolting mistakes about its attitudes towards women and sexuality, can we ignore the culture that formed the mind of this generation?
I have read a few reviews that suggest that Lupe Fiasco is clumsy or behind the times in making this song to 'start a conversation', because that conversation has been started already and by more nuanced and knowledgeable people. I'd like to ask them: how is this conversation going, then? Are the people in this conversation making any difference to the culture? Are they having an impact? Is there something wrong with Lupe Fiasco contributing to this conversation? I say, the more exposure, the more interest this topic generates, the better. And even if you think that the message 'Bad Bitches' is off-track or badly articulated, then why don't you come out and create a thoughtful, clever response with your art? We need artists who are thinking about these issues, and we need them to be thinking publicly. One person talking is not a conversation and if the conversation is not as mainstream as the problem it seeks to discuss we should be applauding efforts to rectify that.

One problem that the social justice bloggers and feminist reviewers have pointed out is the 'chorus' I suppose, of 'Bad Bitches': the repeated line, 'bitch: bad, woman: good, lady: better', saying that Lupe Fiasco is disrespecting women who choose to identify with the 'bad bitch' label and in this manner just contributing to the problem of men disrespecting women. Well... when I first heard this song I thought that he wasn't speaking particularly to the women who identify as 'bad bitches' but to the men who use the term 'bitch'in reference to women. The objectification of women in hip hop is a serious and much documented problem - and the use of the word 'bitch', with all its negative connotations, is endemic to hip hop. If the men of the music industry make a conscious decision to stop using the term 'bitch' and all that this word implies in all contexts in which they refer to members of the opposite sex and substitute it for the more neutral word 'woman' or the respectful word 'lady', they will be taking a conscious step towards equality and respect, though all this is of course painfully obvious.

What about the women who like to be called 'bad bitches'? Well, what about them? Firstly I'd like to point out that there is a huge difference between giving oneself a title and having one imposed by others.
What do you mean when you call yourself a 'bad bitch'? Are you embracing the most common trope in hip hop culture related to this term, i.e., a woman (or even a man) whose sole purpose in this context is to sexually empower and pleasure men? I'd say not. You're probably thinking something along these lines: 'I am a bad bitch, a rebel, a sexually emancipated woman who does whatever the hell she wants with her own body because she is a free spirit.' Your definition may be reasonable and fun for you, but when we use a word so very very loaded and deeply stained with historical context and so deeply mired in the world of abuse and disrespect we need to be conscious and mindful of ourselves. The actual point of the song 'Bad Bitches' is to raise awareness of the effect of hip hop culture on the very young - and the confusion and misery that careless use of such loaded words can inflict on malleable young minds. It isn't unlike the controversy surrounding the 'n-word', with its deeply offensive history and modern usage.
So you want to 'reclaim' the word 'bitch' and use it for your own purposes, to feel empowered, as you say? I'd say (through gritted teeth) that you need to be much much more deliberate, careful and serious about this, particularly when doing so in a public arena. At this place and time in pop culture you haven't purged a taboo word of its negative connotations, you have purged a negative word of its taboo status. And if you want to playfully celebrate your sexuality, I'd say please, have a mind for what you're doing! The line between 'celebrating sexuality in music and art' and whoring said sexuality to generate money-making attention is almost nonexistent. I'm tired of the abdication of responsibility by popular artists: you are  modelling behaviour and attitudes for your very young fans and you know it. Please, use your power and influence to foster healthy attitudes towards sex, rather than creating and perpetuating an image of sex and women as a commodities.