Why Bahati wearing his wife’s dress is a HUGE deal

Bahati has decided that if the internet is going to troll him, then he is going to double down and agree and amplify the trolls hate on himself. So what he has been doing of late is him attempting to own the barbs and flaws before they can be be used against him. Whether or not he is successfully implementing the strategy is a matter for time to tell.

Gospel star, Bahati

Bahati responds to Khaligraph Jones’ diss!

But he recently did something that many pundits believe is taking things just a step too far, he decided to borrow his wife’s dress and brassiere and he adorned them to troll the trolls and perhaps one-up them. The problem with this is the fact that it is bigger than him as an artist and Kenyan celebrity.

bahati
Bahati

The fact that Bahati decided to rock a dress is a HUGE issue because it is a reminder of issues that African and people of African descent have had to deal with in regards to systemic emasculation and gaining mainstream acceptance.

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The trend of black actors and entertainers wearing dresses is a thing that was made not only powerful but brought to the forefront of black collective awareness by guys like Tyler Perry with his Madea bit. But make no mistakes about it, this trend goes back to the minstrel shows.

Bahati at EMB studios
EMB Founder, Bahati

Back in 2006, the first real celebrity to question this trend was Dave Chappelle who asked why black male entertainers find themselves performing in a dress at some point in their career while he was on the Oprah Winfrey show. You name them, they have had to don a dress, from Eddie Murphy to Jammie Foxx and Eddie Murphy.

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Maybe this is down to guys hustling and doing anything for shits and giggles but this also for the conscious educated minds reminds them of the systemic emasculation of black men. And perhaps Bahati wasn’t aware of this but at the end of the day, he has stumbled into this very politically and socially charged arena.

Bahati in Nigerian traditional attire
Gospel star, Bahati

This is literally a case of Bahati doing his usual shenanigans and getting tied up in something way more serious than he had anticipated.
But for a lot of Kenyan men who saw Bahati do this, they were viscerally put off by this joke and they told the gospel star as much.

And of all the commenters on his post, these seemed to me to be the most genuine:

Verified

Umama umekuingia sasa .Happy mothersday

Verified

unakaa smart sana bro kwanza ukiongezea thong ya navy blue… na kamisi ya cream hatari????….

 

But to me, this is Bahati being Bahati. This is who he is. He is embracing himself fully. Bahati is normalizing the concept of him not wearing the pants in his relationship and household. Bahati is perfectly at one; mentally and physically when he emasculates himself and wears a dress. Why? Perhaps it is down to not having real masculine leadership that he himself could imprint on. Perhaps this is troglodyte humour but whatever the case may be, Bahati mtoto wa mama:

Or maybe, just maybe, Bahati wearing a dress is nothing sinister. After all, we have all read the allegations that this is how the Illuminati makes you one of their pawns.

 

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Ozymandias

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay