Ride-or-die chick

This term is sometimes used to describe the lives and decisions of women in the hip hop community. In their interview with Tashera Simmons following the announcement that she was divorcing DMX, Essence magazine referred to her as "having a reputation for being the ultimate ride or die chick," citing Simmons' support of DMX despite his jail time, drug use, and infidelity.[8] Lil' Kim was also called a ride-or-die chick after she went to jail for perjury for lying to a jury about her manager regarding a shootout involving several rappers.[9][10]

The term does not always imply drama and danger. For example, Gabrielle Union was described as a ride-or-die chick for her public and vehement defense of her husband Dwyane Wade after his talent was criticized by basketball player/analyst Charles Barkley.[11] "Ride or die" is sometimes used a shorthand for any heterosexual commitment in the hip hop community, such as in the Philadelphia Tribune's statement that Beyonce and Jay-Z were "ride and die" after they renewed their wedding vows.[12]

The term is frequently used negatively outside of celebrity culture. Blogs targeting young Black members of the "hip hop generation" as their demographic, such as Hello Beautiful, Hall of the Black Dragon, and Urbanbellemag.com, have all published articles that advise women to be wary of attempting to be a ride-or-die chick at the expense of their own happiness and health. These articles argue women need specific boundaries in their romantic relationships and dismiss the idea of limitless loyalty as either unrealistic myth or facilitating abuse and disrespect.[13][14][15] However, this negative perspective is not universal. The website https://www.singleblackmale.org, which claims to represent the "urban male perspective", tells women specific ways they can achieve ride-or-die status that vary from "being down for the cause" to "either watch sports...or get out and leave (your man) alone."[16]

Black feminist scholar Treva Lindsey claims the ride-or-die chick is a challenge to a dominant narrative in hip hop that privileges homosocial male relationships and undermines heterosexual romantic bonds between men and women.[17] Drawing on scholars Patricia Hill Collins and bell hooks, she argues this love is not only personal, it is also an act of political rebellion because "In a culture that claims black women are unlovable and undesirable, and black men are violent and irredeemable, it is considered 'rebellious' when black men and women love each other."[18] Others have also argued that the "ride or die" narrative is a recognition of the disenfranchisement these couples face because of race and class and it is because of this systematic oppression that they feel it is them against the world.[19] In this understanding by claiming to be a ride-or-die chick, a woman is not diminishing her own self-worth or inviting mistreatment, but symbolically invoking a politically aware alliance. Her recognition that committing to this relationship will require her to "ride or die" is a statement about the difficulty her partner will likely face as a Black man living an illicit lifestyle.[20]

Another favorable understanding of the trope argues its meaning is flexible and can positively evolve. For example, one definition of this term claimed "for a 30+ year old man, who has his ish together, a down ass chick is someone who is down for you in other ways...Both versions are loyal and have your back but... the 30+ DAC is not willing (nor required) to sacrifice herself or her goals for her man. They are building together."[18]

Despite these positive readings and the fact that ride-or-die chicks are often the subject of male praise or female self-identification in hip hop, they have also been critiqued as a negative and damaging ideal imposed on Black women. Critics have argued that ride-or-die chicks are a heterosexual male fantasy that privileges male pleasure and ignores the costs women must pay to fulfill this fantasy.[17] Hip hop feminist author Gwendolyn D. Pough claims the rising number of Black women in prison, currently the fastest-growing prison population, is evidence of the high cost ride-or-die chicks must pay.[21]

The ride-or-die chick can also be understood as a hip hop reiteration of the Madonna–whore complex. In this understanding the ride-or-die chick is the Madonna and her opposite is the trick/hoe. Unlike the "Madonna", the ride-or-die chick is sexualized (casting doubt on this very comparison), but unlike the trick/ho, her sexuality is praised and valued. The ride-or-die chick is not seen as sexually deviant because her partner is the only man with access to her body. Like the Madonna–whore paradigm, in this schema women's sexuality is only for male pleasure and is limited to fulfilling one of two restrictive opposing roles.[22] Also like the Madonna–whore, in this understanding the ride-or-die chick is a sexual script although, unlike Madonna–whore it is specific to Black women.[19] In an interview, hip hop activist Toni Blackman noted that it is not the sexuality of these scripts she is troubled by, but that "woman's choices are only limited to A, B and C. When a guy gets to choose between ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP."[23] In this critique the problem with the ride-or-die chick is not its specific meaning but its place as one of several stereotypes, or scripts, that supposedly represent the entirety of Black female behavior.