“I Need Sum Money” by Summer Walker (FT. Janiyah)

Succinctly put, “I Need Sum Money” is a song based on financial exploitation of men by women. In other words, Summer Walker and her homegirl Janiyah brag about their abilities to seduce and derive valuables from guys while giving as little as possible in return.

This track has been classified as trap rap and is definitely a deviation from what fans generally expect from Summer Walker. In fact at some points, the song is so absurd that one wonders whether or not it is meant to be a parody. Yet regardless of if the artists intended for this song to be taken seriously or not, one thing that is abundantly clear from the tone in which they rap is that they had fun creating it.

As the title implies, the subject of the song is the artists’ requirements for money. And there are primarily two groups of people that they are rapping to. One is their boyfriends, who they are demanding to get them the desired amount of cash, promptly, in order to finance their high-class lifestyles. Indeed the artists claim that they never bankroll their own expenses and are fully expectant of their men to pick up the bills, as they always have done. 

The power they exert over these dudes seems to be based primarily on the guys’ weaknesses to the ladies’ appearance, which includes fake female body parts and their ability to twerk. Ultimately, while these men seem to care for them, the artists do not feel the same and in fact are only engaged in these relationships for financial benefit.

The second group they direct comments at, albeit sparsely, are other women who are hating on them since they are noticeably chillin’ via all of the resources they are able to derive from their gullible male sponsors. Ultimately, this track plays out like a traditional sexploitation rap song, only this time around being recited by females against men instead of vice versa.