The rapper said his brand new lineup is about’breaking down the barriers’ but carrying something traditionally female and giving it a new name Is Quite silly

That is for boys.

Anyhow, as I was stating, the Georgia-born rapper — whose newest mixtape, Michigan Boy Boat, came out in April — will introduction said lineup of nail paints that this coming Friday. The group, dubbed Crete, includes a couple of distinct colors including grey, white and black, based on Teen Vogue.

So it is not nail gloss , it is nail paint — you know, just like the kind you see in the hardware shop, AKA Men’s Business headquarters. And unlike many, if not nearly all, commercially accessible nail polishes, Yachty’s nail paints arrive packed in matte black tubes which you apply using a clicker on one side and drawing your nails like you are using a mark.

“Each time that I get my nails polished — , painted,” that the 23-year-old artist told TMZin a meeting earlier this week, immediately adjusting himself later using the incorrect P-word,”I felt as though it had been such a woman thing. Like, the jar along with the [he creates a cleanup gesture]. I wished to make nail paints which sensed more manly,” adding that the brand new lineup is about”breaking down the barriers”.

That is all good and well — I am all for anyone and everybody painting their claws if they so want. Nail polish is very good! I’m at this moment sporting an abysmal lavender colour of Sinful Colors known as You Wait using a Sally Hansen primer and top coat as I type. I am deeply in the pocket of large nail polish, and I really like it!

However, I sort of can not get over how goofy it’s to choose something traditionally coded as female and attempt to butch it up using a brand new name and aesthetic. It reminds me of War Paint along with other comparable lines of makeup which are explicitly branded, packaged and promoted as being”for guys” despite being the same concealer, bronzer, eyebrow gel and base I, a gram *rl, might purchase for myself in Sephora.

Additionally, I can not help but roll my eyes in the simultaneous effort to not just repackage nail polish as manly but additionally as unisex or gender-inclusive. When Yachty encouraged the nail paint on Instagram before this month, he also noticed that his goods are for”all sexes “, as if that were something fresh about it. Haven’t folks of all sexes been in a position to cute-up their cuticles, irrespective of the way they identify?

I know that men and boys can confront violence, harassment and other impacts of wearing nail polish. There was 17-year-old boy in west Texas has been granted in-school suspension for painting his claws this past year, a clear act of discrimination which Lil Yachty condemned if a paparazzo asked him in December.

However, that type of ignorance has not ceased boys and men from wearing nail polish at the first location.

Again, I believe that is ultimately a fantastic thing. I just believe all of the profoundly gendered mental gymnastics underpinning his branding and promotion is quite silly.