Known to carry big things, if you know what I mean

I’m having a Destiny’s Child-related attack of Critical Gender Theory Syndrome.

Can someone tell me how they went from this:
Question: Tell me how you feel about this
Try to control me boy you get dismissed
Pay my own fun, oh and I pay my own bills
Always 50/50 in relationships

And this:
All the women who are independent
Throw your hands up at me
All the honeys who makin' money
Throw your hands up at me
All the mommas who profit dollas
Throw your hands up at me
All the ladies who truly feel me
Throw your hands up at me

To this:
If his status ain't hood
I ain't checkin' for him
Betta be street if he lookin' at me
I need a soldier
That ain't scared to stand up for me
Known to carry big things
If you know what I mean
If his status ain't hood
I ain't checkin' for him
Betta be street if he looking at me
I need a soldier
They ain't scared to stand up for me
Gotta know to get dough
And he betta be street

In under five years?
Is Beyonce’s dad behind this?
More importantly, can Jay-Z, with his pair-a-day S Dot habit and $6.5 million TriBeCa apartment () possibly still be thought of as “street”?
I’ve had a steep learning curve as far as expecting and/or desiring sociopolitical consciousness from commercial hip-hop goes.
On the one hand, I’m learning to appreciate the theatrical aspect of someone like Biggie’s or Jay’s gangster braggadocio, and the way their lyrical talents work to simultaneously celebrate and critique the lifestyles they describe, including its misogynistic tendencies (cf “Girls, Girls, Girls”).
On the other, I still find that I appreciate hip-hop most when its lyrical content values women and doesn’t suicidally affirm a culture of criminality.
So to see Destiny’s Child, who are obvs the Supremes of the aughties, devolve from grrl-power funk into male-dependent shrinking violets, is pretty upsetting. The whole appeal of Beyonce and her women, circa mid 2001, was that they didn’t need someone to “stand up for” them. There’s some real cognitive dissonance going on here. I’m wondering if the shift in politics from “try to control me boy you get dismissed” to a “Known to carry big things/If you know what I mean” has something to do with September 11, which happened right after “Independent Women Part 2” hit it big. From the perspective of DC (in both senses, I guess), does the war on terrorism necessitate a reevaluation of the power politics of male-female relationships? To be honest, given the feminist fierceness of their output to date, I’d have expected the chorus to be more “I am a soldier” than “I need a soldier.”

Two additional thoughts:
1.Imagine what a boon “Soldier” has been to military recruiters in the inner-city. It’s almost like Donald Rumsfeld ghostwrote the lyrics.
2.“Behind the Music: Lil’ Wayne” will assuredly feature a long segment about his crack problem. Dude has had a hard life.