Strip Clubs to Award Shows

It’s by no means new, nor is it exclusive. But there has been a trend of strippers becoming artists, and quite good ones for that matter.

It’s almost like a “right of passage” in this day and age. You shake some ass for some time, then take a leap of faith into the music industry. I mean, strippers and music kind of go hand in hand. They can’t work without it, right?

There have been a handful of success stories of ex-strippers taking said “leap of faith” and being rewarded substantially.

Three names come to mind when I think about this: Summer Walker, Cardi B and Eve (Ruff Ryders Eve). What’s even more surprising than the apparent link between stripping and music. Is that fact that the women mentioned make really good music. Which lead me to believe that, stripping was never their first choice of career. Which is naive of me, I’m aware. Sometimes, life doesn’t allow you to do what you want to do and forces you to do what you have to do to survive.

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  Eve

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  Cardi B

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  Summer Walker

I happened to come across Summer Walkers featuring on Trey Songz’ new joint “Back Home” and Khalid’s drop of “Eleven“. It just set off a chain of thoughts that landed me at “Damn, Summer Walker use to be a stripper una?” Then I remembered Cardi B, and so on. It’s weird, I knew about these women being ex-strippers. But I guess I didn’t really process the information. I was too focused on the music being created.

Not to say that I’m looking down on stripping or strippers. That’s not the case.

Cardi B left the pole, landed an extended cameo on Love & Hip-Hop and then gave the world “Bodak Yellow”. We all know who Eve is what she is capable of musically. But Summer Walker’s case is a special one, to me anyway. The Atlanta born singer started off as a stripper, but once she got into music. It was clear that she had a knack for it. Songs like “Girls Need Love” had many ears prick up to attention, I mean, mine definitely did.

But it wasn’t until last year, when she dropped her album: ”Over It”. That I realised that this women has a real talent.

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  Cover Art

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  Tracklist

Over It Album

Hands up if you liked that album… *raises both hands*.

Stuff like this has me thinking of all the people in the world that aren’t doing what they want to do because life has them in a position that doesn’t enable them to do so. It’s disheartening if you ask me, I always say that I’ll never do anything I don’t want to do. But if life hands me a bad hand, what else am I supposed to do in that situation. Other than do what needs to be done to survive.

Furthermore, again, with it being somewhat of a right of passage. That doesn’t necessary mean that the outcome is always success on the level that Eve and Co. have experienced. They are cases where the leap of faith, was attempted but things just didn’t work out the way it was envisioned.

Names such as: Blac Chyna, Amber Rose and Azealia Banks come to mind.

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  Azealia Banks

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  Amber Rose

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  Blac Chyna

Now, only one of these women have a career in music, but what do they all have in common?

They always seem to be in the media. And its always for some crazy and/or hilarious shit. Azealia has beef with someone every other week. Blac Chyna was charging for a FaceTime call and a follow back the other day. Not to forget her successful infiltration of the Kardashian family. Something that resulted in a spin off show of her own. And Amber Rose… is Amber Rose, she got a tattoo on her forehead.

Maybe when life after stripping doesn’t pan out how you thought, you do things to attract attention and in turn generate engagement. Because we all know, in the digital age we live in. Engagement can be monetised.

Am I throwing shade?

That’s not my intention, I’m just speaking on what I see and trying to come to a conclusion to the possible reason behind certain actions.

But in conclusion… (I went off on a tangent there) back to the subject of strippers and artists. The link is clearly there and it certainly won’t be last time that someone like Summer Walker makes the transition, and does so with style.

Anyway, that’s all I wanted to say on the matter.

Some other celebrities that have been strippers before:

• Channing Tatum
• Lady Gaga
• Chris Pratt
• Brad Pitt
• Constance Wu (understandably)
• Catherine Zeta-Jones

-Dez