Album Cut: Destiny's Child - Hey Ladies | THE ‘men ain't shit’ anthem of Destiny’s Child’s ‘men ain’t shit’ anthems

July 27th, 2019 marked the 20th anniversary of Destiny's Child's second studio album The writing's on the wall. An album which surprised me, because I never expected Destiny's Child to even make it to a second album, despite how much I fucking loved "Get on the bus". I just figured they didn't make the kind of waves needed to get to a second studio album. But Columbia records saw differently, Mathew Knowles hit that hustle, and along came "Bills, bills, bills" followed by an album that shut my ass up.

Everything about The writing's on the wall was a recipe for success. Even before we truly started to see the emergence of Beyoncé, that most at this point was still calling 'Bee-yonss'. Columbia records enlisted a who's who of popular producers and songwriters in R&B to make this album a hit. We got Rodney 'Darkchild' Jerkins who by this point had SWV's Coko, Mary J. Blige and Whitney Houston to his name. We got Missy Elliott, who was not only popular off of her own solo career, but built a respected reputation for providing tgrown ass anthems for young ladies on the brink of adolescence, and she had already worked with Destiny's child on "Get on the bus". But the tent pole of the album was Kandi Burruss and She'kspere, who were running pop / R&B at the time thanks to the massive success of TLC's megahit comeback song "No scrubs". A vibe of which ran throughout every single one of their songs on The writing's on the wall - telling dudes that they're trash. Because, tea. But the pinnacle of this may have been the song "Hey ladies".

"Hey ladies" was a signature Kandi and She'kspere song. Harpsichords, bubble sound effects and sharp snare and lyrics of dead-beat, no good men and independence. As was the case with "No scrubs" and "Bill, bill, bills", "Hey ladies" had me ready to diss and throw out a man that I didn't even have.

It's a shame that "Hey ladies" wasn't made a single, but I get why it wasn't. The writing's on the wall had a solid run of singles regardless. The decision to go with "Jumpin' jumpin'" and "Say my name" made sense, as not to define the group by the Kandi and She'kspere songs; especially after "Bills, bills, bills" and "Bug-a-boo" back-to-back, and the dime a dozen ladies who were also releasing Kandi and She'kspere helmed singles by the time Farrah had to go get her luggage.

Listening to the song now, it's wild how much of the DNA of it continued to run through more of what would become Beyoncé's solo discography than Destiny's Child's. With Survivor we got less man-hating and more self-love. With Destiny fulfilled it was all about being in love. Meanwhile, each Beyoncé album featured at least one song about how she's done with her man, that her pussy is waving goodbye and that he shoulda acted better and acted faster. Then there's Lemonade, which is a whole album and feature picture about how trash her man is. There's a place for "Hey ladies" on every Beyoncé album.

(A reach, but I'mma make it). But "Hey ladies" also feels relevant in the climate of today where women are done settling for less and accepting that men can just get away with shit, because they are men. 'Why is it that man can go do what's wrong?' is a very real lyric and question which speaks to more than just an isolated situation of a relationship that's about to be over and done with. And with the horns and the defiant declaration of 'He got to go! He got to go!' it's more than just a statement. It's almost like a call to arms.

"Hey ladies" is timeless. It will remain a jam for all eternity. The beat still me angry step. Beyoncé's ad-libs and runs are still fire. And as long as men act up (which we fucking will until the sun burns out) the hook will always be of relevance.

With the horns being so prominent on the hook, I woulda really liked for Beyoncé to have included this as part of her Homecoming set.