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T.I.'s 'Dime Trap' Album Release Event

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Tonight’s episode of Love and Hip-Hop Atlanta might be one of the silliest ever. EVER. Colorism was the main topic of discussion, but it’s a topic that just can’t be tackled in a one-hour vapid ratchet show, and that is why it was silly. You can’t squeeze a discussion as deep as colorism, which people are still in denial about, in a short amount of time on a TV show. Hold that thought because the other annoying topic is Tokyo Vanity’’s weight.

Her ridiculous meet up with Sierra got her thinking about exploring her options with a personal trainer. She still gets defensive though, slightly less defensive, but she still pushes back when the personal trainer explains that just because she doesn’t have any issues now doesn’t mean they won’t sneak up on her by the time she’s middle age. Then they go over her awful eating habits and she seems frustrated by all the crappy things she can’t eat. This all seems forced. Tokyo Vanity will lose weight when and if she wants to.

Now let’s get back to the colorism situation. As we all know, Spice pulled this stunt where she fake lightened her skin to go along with her song “Black Hypocrisy.” Mimi and Rasheeda had a hissy fit because they couldn’t believe that Spice would want to lighten her skin. Spice got irritated with them because they’re light-skinned and didn’t seem to understand how badly dark skinned women are treated (and yes, we know that light-skinned people experience colorism too). Later on, Spice reveals her plan to Joc and he encourages her to move forward.

Then Joc links with Kirk and Scrappy for a ki ki and this turns into a terrible attempt to address colorism. Basically, Joc mentions what Spice is trying to do. Then Kirk says that as a dark-skinned man he can attest to people of lighter complexions being treated better and that colorism is very real. Then Joc asks if they would “smash” Spice. Scrappy and Kirk don’t answer the question, which could just be editing. Joc says he’d smash Spice whether she was light or dark. But like, Joc isn’t very picky so, oookay. That was not a shot at Spice because she’s gorgeous. But like, come on, we know how Joc loves the ladies—any ladies.

Then we take a quick detour into Kirk’s new fake storyline. Basically, Kirk and Rahseeda are so concerned about Jasmine not being a “proper” mother to Kannon that Kirk pays her grandmother and mother a visit. He complains to them that Kannon spends too much time with them and that Jasmine parties all the time. Jasmine’s mom and grandmother tell her that Kirk planned to visit so she joins the discussion and shuts him down. Basically, she said Kirk is fake and doing this for TV and doesn’t spend enough time around her or Kannon to know what she does. Also, she feels like Rahseeda is the one who put the bug in his ear to even do this. She is correct. This is fake but Kirk and Rasheeda claim they want Kirk to work on being around Kannon more.

Next, Mimi takes Spice on a Black History tour with the goal of showing her that “black people fought to be proud of the skin they’re in.” They end up in a Madame CJ Walker museum where they learn about Madame CJ Walker’s innovations, but they also looked at tools and products that were invented to help Black people get straighter hair. You know, to assimilate. Also, let’s not act like some of the very Black leaders who are revered in history weren’t colorist themselves. Look at the wives of a lot of the prominent figures in the Civil Rights Movement and even the Black Panther party. It ain’t no coincidence that many of them were light-skinned. *Coughs* Colorism.

But going back to the museum. Spice calls out the hypocrisy in even the tour guide trying to skate over the assimilation issue and mentions that hair texture hate is also a component of self-hate as well, which fits into her Black hypocrisy theme. Mimi and the tour guide basically keep trying to convince Spice that these people were really just trying to control how they were perceived and nothing deeper, which pisses Spice off even more, rightfully so, especially because her home country is a hotbed for skin bleaching. This session ends after Spice and Mimi get into a heated argument again. Dense Mimi just won’t let Spice live in the truth. However, in fairness, though, Mimi (and everyone else) thinks that Spice is going to bleach her skin for real, for real. So that’s part of where the concern is coming from, but it’s not helpful to try to act like Spice is being ridiculous about colorism when what she’s saying is true.

And then, the episode winds down with everyone getting the social media notifications about Spice launching her stunt. We all remember that photo that she posted on her IG that had everyone shook. Basically, Spice’s message is anti-colorism and pro-Black people loving the complexions they were born with. You gotta listen to the words in her song.

Anyway, Love and Hip-Hop Atlanta returns next week, and seemingly back to the ratchet rivers and lakes that they’re used to.

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‘LHHATLS8’ Recap: Spice Is Tired Of Her Light-Skinned Friends Acting Like Colorism Isn’t Real  was originally published on hellobeautiful.com