It's Hard Out Here With Lily Allen

If you’re like most Americans, the question “Where has Lily Allen been for the last four years?” will either be met with a momentary blank stare or a twinkly eye before recalling the snarky, outspoken British pop singer’s mid-'00s output. Allen stormed the British charts on the back of her buzzing, acclaimed 2006 album, "Alright, Still," followed a few years later with "It's Not Me, It's You," but soon thereafter put the pop life on hold to become a mother.

But why read about it when Allen herself explains it on her new single, “Hard Out Here” (above), which can be seen as a delayed reply to the  Three 6 Mafia’s Oscar winning jam “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp.” Instead of listing the travails of a male hustler, though, Allen waxes on the many problems that a self-described bitch must deal with.

Criticism of Allen's video followed almost immediately after its release on Tuesday (November 12, 2013), with several bloggers and numerous tweeters calling out Hard Out Here's "denigration of black female bodies".

"[This video] has nothing to do with race, at all," Allen responded yesterday in a post titled Privilege, Superiority and Misconceptions. MORE HERE, HERE & HERE

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