After a steady stream of single releases since 2016, it would appear that Shenseea is finally poised for her breakthrough in a similar fashion to Cardi B after years spent laying the groundwork for widespread recognition (even though many were under the impression that “Bodak Yellow” was an “overnight” success). Something that also happened to Megan Thee Stallion before “Hot Girl Summer” made her a household name in 2019. With the help of Nicki Minaj (and sure, Ty Dolla Sign), that is. For she was the one who agreed to do a feature on the track—before she knew Megan would decide to stab her in the back by going on to create an even more successful and anthemic single called, as you know, “WAP.” On a side note, Shenseea’s recent video for “Dolly” reeks of the Nicki Minaj-patented version of Barbie, previously “patented” by Lil’ Kim. But anyway, the point is, every up-and-coming rapper and/or dancehall artist needs a big-name musician to give them that final boost to the proverbial top. A place Shenseea looks very comfortable with as she towers over ice cream cones (the song, after all, is called “Lick,” hence opening the video with the notes to ice cream truck staple “Turkey in the Straw”) and dances on massively proportioned booties…namely, Megan’s.
Ice Cube might have said, “You can do it/Put your back into it,” but Shenseea is now simplifying the directive with, “Put your back in it.” The words and rhythm of which sample from the 2000 track “Work” by Masters at Work feat. Puppah Nas-T and Denise Belfon. So yes, just like “WAP,” the crux of this song is reliant on a beat and chorus culled from someone else. The visuals, to boot, look freshly sprung from the mind of Sir Mix-A-Lot’s infamous “Baby Got Back” video. Itself revived by Nicki Minaj in 2014 via “Anaconda”—what Sir Mix-A-Lot happily conceded as being the “new and improved version” of the song. “Back” is, of course, something Shenseea showcases very literally amid the backdrops that director James Larese brandishes to accent Shenseea and Megan Thee Stallion’s already prevalent assets.
As dripping red popsicles that are designed to look very labia-like hover in suspended animation behind Shenseea, standing on a Gulliver-sized Megan’s butt cheek (a proportion trend in rap videos that seems to be making a comeback post-Pamela Anderson in Lit’s “Miserable”), she declares, “Love big dick, but that not enough.” Because yes, what good is a man with a big dick if he doesn’t actually know how to wield it for optimal pleasure? I.e. putting his “back in it.” Being that so many men are content to just “flop around” without any finesse, Shenseea’s disclaimer is valid. As though to shade that very fact, amid the melting ice cream cones that Shenseea’s backup dancers preen upon in the next scene, there’s also a giant Lelo-brand vibrator (in contrast to the Vush-brand vibrator Cardi was promoting in the video for “Up”). It’s an image that reiterates: if a woman wants something done right, she has to do it herself.
The innuendos get more over the top as the video progresses, with lollipops and wrapped candies falling from the sky as a spread-eagled Shenseea reveals a vag “modestly” covered with a lolli and a conventional pair of lips where her other ones would ordinarily be. Megan Thee Stallion appears in miniature form in front of said lollipop where the giant Shenseea in front of her seems to be awaiting a disembodied tongue to descend and eat her out.
Not one to be outdone by Cardi on her own feature with another woman (Normani), Megan Thee Stallion, in her role on the song, puts the lesbianic eroticism in “Wild Side” to shame as she mounts Shenseea with sensual abandon. “If he ate it quick, then call me fast food,” Megan asserts, echoing another raunchy line from her verse in “WAP” when she says, “If he ate my ass, he’s a bottom feeder.” But before that finale to her “Lick” rap, she introduces herself in the usual manner (“Real hot girl shit”) and then announces, “I’m thick/On your face where I wanna sit/Make ya sweat/The nigga betta hope he still breathin’ after this/Get up on the dick and make a mess/Pussy in his face with my ass on his chest.” That last line, too, reminds the listener of Cardi saying, “Put this pussy right in your face.”
Megan continues, “He a seat/Barely ever heard the nigga speak/I don’t give a fuck if me and yo mama never meet/I’m rude/I don’t give a fuck about dude/You must be the shit if I really came/You bust it open/Bend it over/Put my back in it/He addicted like he got a little crack in it/Suck it like a crab leg, I’m crackin’ it/Take it out, catch yo breath, get back in it/Pink pussy, pink lips, pink tips/Slide down on a ski trip/Juicy booty, need the jumpsuit.” To summarize, Megan and Shenseea feel strongly that men are really only useful for their tongues these days (what with the pervasive availability of one of those aforementioned vibrators). In which case, why not opt for a tongue attached to any being, regardless of gender (perhaps that’s where the sapphic bent comes in)? It’s all fodder for relationship anarchy.
Apart from Sir Mix-A-Lot clearly influencing aesthetic choices, the video even concludes with a “tag” in the spirit of what was done with Colin Tilley’s “WAP” as Shenseea and Megan crawl toward the camera and the former sticks her tongue out to emphasize the title of the song. In case you didn’t get the message already with the many tongue-related visuals that preceded it. Something Lil’ Kim and Sisqo never took advantage when “How Many Licks” was released, during which a question Shenseea and Megan could both get on board with was asked: “How many licks does it take till you get to the center of the?—oh! oh!” In truth, this is probably what Shenseea ought to have sampled in lieu of Masters at Work, but the rule of sampling of late seems to favor opting for more obscure deep cuts.
