Hip-Hop Culture, Questions And Answers

If you listen to almost any rap song especially from the big time platinum selling artists, basically their lyrics are going to be about one of two things…the money they have or about bitches and hoes. Besides

The misogynistic treatment of women in commercialized rap has become a widespread phenomenon which as a result has become commonly accepted by majority of the individuals in society. Rappers, in general, nowadays use women in their videos in a way which is both derogatory and exploiting. Black men in today’s society, especially in the entertainment industry, do not see women as their equals; rather they objectify them as being nothing more than sex objects. People in the Hip Hop industry do not believe that sexism and misogyny is as big of a deal as racism, thus they push this issue to the side by simply ignoring it and learning to accept it. This misogynistic portrayal of women is ruining the image if Hip Hop as both an industry and a form of expressive art. However, instead of taking action against this atrocity, many women simply believe that the images of women and their portrayal in rap videos does not represent nor refer to them as an individual and the type of woman they truly are. By being silent these women are allowing themselves to be victimized by the men of not only the Hip Hop industry but also general society. By not having a say in this matter of the false classification and portrayal of women, they are voluntarily allowing men to do whatever they please to do so, in any given time and with any approach they feel is necessary. They do not

McLune also believes,“many hip-hop rappers are sexist and materialistic singers”(222), and not many rappers sing about equality and respect between the sexes. Even female rapper’s follow in the male rappers footsteps of disrespecting black women. Female rappers follow this path to keep from being “targeted, slandered, and ignored”(223). Female rappers who take a stance against the norm risk being called “bitch, a ho-or worse, a dyke.” McLune states that she wants the sexism to stop and until it does hip-hop will fail. According to McLune, Kevin Powell excuses sexism because of poverty. Experience has shown us that any man, rich or poor, can be sexist regarding women. By allowing the behavior to continue black women will always be the victim.

In Joan Morgan’s article “Fly-Girls, Bitches and Hoes: Notes of a Hip Hop Feminist”, she shows the way rap music has changed through it popularity. The widespread appreciation of rap had negative impacts upon the black community. Morgan talks about this through her Feminist point of view. She focuses the topic on what rap music says about the African American culture in Hip Hop. Rap music and Hip Hop were invented through the pain of African Americans. Hip Hop and the Rap industry use sexism and machoism to express the long years of oppressive pain they went through by the hands of the white people. Especially for the black brothers who continue that oppression by using provocative words that degrade the black sisters. Morgan states that blame isn’t only on the brothers

Hyper masculinity is embellished with importance on physical strength. Hurt’s documentary interviews Conrad Tillard, a black reverend, who touches base on the issues of hyper masculinity. “Playing a role since we are 7 years old. We are tested when someone calls us a sissy or a sucka and we start playing that role… fathers punch their child in the chest and say nigga you gots to be ready for this “ Hip hop shows how “important” it is as a man to show physical strength. This is shown in videos where artists such as, 50 Cent or LL CoolJ, have their shirts off on magazine covers and show off their buff bodies as a sign of strength. Showing black men shirtless greased up. Cultures in prison where men are “tatted up,” with no belts, pants sagging. It is sexualized but shows a masculine and “thug” side. To accentuate the strong body, hip hoppers use extreme gestures and body language that are synonymous to those made when fighting. All these acts are made to assert manliness, and

Masculinity in the Hip-Hop culture has been redefined repetitively as the genre grows in popularity. Created in the late 70’s, Hip-Hop was started as an outlet for residents of urban communities to express them and have fun through the music. As Hip-Hop grew into the 80’s and 90’ the genre also evolved as the artist began to voice what was going on in their day to day lives and in their communities; Hip -hop became a form of storytelling. Being that a lot of Hip-Hop artist had street, and gang related backgrounds, their music would reflect their past lives that were violent and controversial. Despite their brave and unapologetic storytelling, the era of ‘gangster rap’ set the standard of what it meant to be masculine in the

In the early 70's, a Jamaican, DJ known as Kool Herc attempted to combine his Jamaican style of disk jockey, that involved reciting improvised rhymes over the dub versions of his reggae records (Davey 1). He also invented turntables, which kept the music going, with the occasional voice on the top of records, which started the roots of rap music. Over time, the culture broke into mainstream, spread around the world, and young people who did not have much to do, created not only multi-million industry, but have also created a way we can speak to each other all around the world. Hip hop is linked to other music such as rap which is embraced by urban black population. It is raw self-expression, sometimes features expletive lyrics, and violence. “Hip hop artists spoke to despair and pain of urban youth and the poor who were often without a voice. The rappers themselves were, the product of that reality, and it was conveyed through their lyrics” (Muhammad 1).

For many years, the youth have been known for singing along to their favorite song and taking that song as whole and using it as their motto for life. It may seem that sometimes these kids do not know what is being said in the music but this shows that they do know what the lyrics are saying. According to Franklin B. Krohn and Frances L. Suazo in their article “Contemporary Urban Music: Controversial Messages in Hip-Hop and Rap Lyrics,” many teenagers and minority groups view rappers as their spokesmen because of their ability to speak in street language and bluntly express their frustration (Krohn, 1995). Unfortunately, hip hop lyrics usually tend to talk about drugs, sex and violence leading kids to think that everything they hear is okay and that is how they have to live their life. Yet, there are artists out there who take their lyricist skills to give positive lyrics and messages in their music, but these songs are not often played in the mainstream.

Misogyny is a tried and true American tradition from which hip hop derives its understanding of how men and women should behave. Critics argue that hip hop’s misogyny and promotion of traditional gender roles reflect mainstream American values. Feminists suggest that misogyny in hip hop culture is not a “black male thing”, but has its roots in a larger pattern of hostility toward women in American culture.

The article “ Hip-Hop Demeans women” written by Tricia Rose, talks about hip hop on sexism and women. She argues the changes of women’s position in the Hip Hop music which reflect it to the American black people’s culture. Rose breaks the total article into three sections, R.E.S.[.E.C.T-But Not the Kind Aretha Franklin Had in Mind, Explicit Isn’t Always Exploitative, “Free the Girl”:Hip Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women.

In the world of Hip-hop, artists have the ability to shape the image and status of women in our society. Over time, these music videos have misrepresented women and portray them as sex symbols or material objects. In these music videos, women wear provocative clothing to pacify the desires of males further

Hip-Hop is an extensive and a broad conglomerate of various artistic forms that ultimately originated in the South Bronx and then quickly spread throughout the rest of New York City among African-Americans and other African-American youth mainly from the Caribbean and from Jamaica during the 1970’s. Over the course of decades and recent years, controversy surrounding Hip-Hop and rap music has been the vanguard of the media. From the over hype of the East and West Coast rivalry to the deaths of Tupac, Biggie, and even Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin, it seems that political and broadcasting groups have been injudicious to place essentially the blame on rap and Hip-Hop music for a superficial trend in youth violence.

I will be using Bell Hook’s book Feminism is for Everybody which is about the movement to end sexism to help understand why men feel the need to degraded women in their music. Hook’s talks about patriarchal power which is general structure in which men have power over women (male domination). “Males as a group have and do benefit the most from patriarchy, from the assumption that they are superior to females and should rule over us. But those benefits have come with a price. In return for all the goodies men receive from patriarchy, they are required to dominate women, to exploit and oppress us, using violence if they must to keep patriarchy intact.”(Hooks xi). Males today are still part of this patriarchal culture, Many rap and hip hop songs are about men using women and having control over them.

Misogyny and degradation of women is present in almost every genre of music, yet the one genre that completely revolves around demeaning women is rap. Over the years rap and rap music videos have continually become more sexual and degrading towards women. Rap has been criticized numerous times for this reason, and that is because rap is one of the most popular genres of music for the younger generations. It is more than a genre of music, it is a complete industry filled with clothing and other merchandise. The reason this constant demeaning of women exists is because rap as a genre that rewards the objectification of women. The excuses used to justify the misogyny in rap are incomplete and lack accurate support. The most effective way

The 1980’s consisted of several historical events and societal changes that have been relived though the lyrics of many young hip-hop artists. Of the numerous genres of songs, hip-hop has been labeled as of the most relatable genres. During this 1980’s, many of the songs that were written by male hip-hop artist tend to focus on the relationship aspect of male and female interactions. This finding is similar to what was stated in Frith’s article (1986) that most successful pop songs were about being “happy in love” and “frustrated in love” as well as having a sex interest (p. 78). Instead of using derogatory terms to describe women, men felt the need to use more delicate and gentle terms. Through their music, artists portrayed women as individuals who provide love, support, happiness and fulfillment to a man’s life. Furthermore, male artists portrayed themselves as men who weren’t afraid to express their emotions, admit their dependency on women, and their willingness to do what it takes to keep a woman. There were no signs of hypermasculinity or dominance in the first few songs