Reflection On African American Culture

The Hip Hop music industry is infamous for being controversial. In the article Hip Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women there’s a debate on whether the exploitation and constant verbal slander of women should be acceptable just because it sales records. It presents the question that why is it that male poverty breeds sexism? Even though women may have lived in the same environment males still see women as the enemy in their music in an effort to sell records.

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

In the essay, “Hip-Hop’s Betrayal Of Black Women”(221), by Jennifer McLune, she vents her feelings regarding hip-hop songs that are rhythmically diminishing the value of black women. She provides example on how the lyrics are being voiced and how hip-hop artists do not seem to care. Kevin Powell in “Notes of a Hip Hop Head” writes, “Indeed, like rock and roll, hip-hop sometimes makes you think we men don’t like women much at all, except to objectify them as trophy pieces or, as contemporary vernacular mandates, as baby mommas, chicken heads, or bitches” (221). There have been apologizes for what the rappers have said but nothing to resolve the dehumanization of black women. McLune informs the readers that hip-hop singers belittle black women and make them invisible. Jay-Z, a popular hip-hop artist is brought to center stage by McLune. The essay shows the example of a part of Jay-Z song that says, “I pimp hard on a trick, look Fuck if your leg broke bitch hop on your good foot” (222). This lyric is a perfect example of how hip-hop artist have no remorse in the words they sing. The hurt feelings and loss of self-esteem black women suffer, is of no concern to the rappers. McLune expresses that those who are underground hip-hop artist follow the footsteps on being sexist and using crude words in their lyrics just because they yearn and dream of being in the spotlight. Upcoming rappers want to be loved like Jay-Z and other famous notorious rappers.

After concluding my remaining readings of chapters 7 through 10 from Cultural Theory and Popular Culture, I found my core understanding of the overall theoretical ideas posed by author, John Storey, had become clearer in the rounding up of the semester. Within chapter 7 of the book, popular culture is discussed in relation to issues connected to feminism, gender and sexuality. According to Storey, “Popular culture has been the object a great deal of feminist analysis” (pg. 136), and, as previously discussed in chapter 5, feminist psychoanalyst, Laura Mulvey shared her theory on the ‘male gaze’, which has been acknowledged and studied by many critics and other feminists. Presented in cinema, music, magazines, and other media outlets, it has been well documented how “popular culture plays a role in patriarchal society and that theoretical analysis of this role warrants a major position in ongoing discussions” (Storey, pg. 136), and, in many cases, “the male viewer’s regard for the publicized female body is often objectified and sexualized” (Inquiry 2). With my knowledge and understanding of hip-hop, the misogyny and sexism that culture glorifies is very noticeable. Misogyny has become a sign of authenticity for many rappers who exploit and sexually objectify women in their rap lyrics and videos to assert and prove their own masculinity. Derogatory words such as ‘bitches’ and ‘hoes’ in rap have become common references for women. I was mindful of how one of my favourite songs,

The American culture is define to everyone in their own way. Everyone grows up differently in a particular community that shares the same languages, values, rules, and customs. The American Culture on that is consider to be a “melting pot”, because of all the different cultures that reside inside of it making it so diverse. Race in this country has never been a great topic throughout history. African Americans play a huge role into defining what our culture is as a whole, as well as being a part of racism for the past 250 years.

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

Africans have, since the early settlement of America, has had a great influence in the nation’s growth. These contributions to the United States from enslaved Africans have been greatly portrayed in American culture. Varying from cuisine, to song and dance are not only portrayed today but it has a deep-rooted impact throughout the United States. During the middle passage, enslaved Africans were forced to abandon their everyday lives, their families and their homes and forced to adapt to a new lifestyle they knew nothing of. However, upon arrival into the New World, due to their prior knowledge and wisdom from back home, they were able to quickly adapt and custom themselves to this new lifestyle in order to survive with the hope of potentially one day returning back to Africa. Unfortunately, African contributions to the culture of the United States has received little to no recognition and it has been taken credit for by Europeans and Whites since the early establishment of the United States.

Over the course of this semester, I was introduced to many people, ideas, writings, and discussions that sparked my interest and enlightened me on African American history. However, I feel like this was just the beginning of my journey of learning the history of my people, as there is still so much out there to be brought to the surface. Prior to taking this course, I was always ignorant on the topic of African American history and simply made the connection to slavery. Additionally, I was unaware of other black activist, movements, and struggles that I had the chance to witness for the first time in this class. I came to a realization of how deprived of this information I was, because other historic events have been deemed more important. A quote that stuck with me throughout the course that was made by Arthur Schomburg was, “... African history and negro history, are the missing pages of world history”.

1. My redefinition of Hip hop feminism differs from the “normal” definition of feminism, to me hip hop feminism is a way of living and thinking. Hip hop feminism is connected to the Liberation Movement although this movement focused on advancing women rights than civil rights I still believe it played a part with the Hip Hop feminism movement which focused on the rights for young black women in the hip hop industry. I believe this because both movements give women a new definition of what it is like to be a women and both fight for the women cause although they may not hit the exact issues they promote change. Hip hop feminism should fight for the rights of women in hip hop who don’t receive respect due to their sexuality and gender. Women’s perspective in hip hop should be changed and embraced as a powerful persona rather than sexual perspectives. In order to make my definition of hip hop feminism happen in the industry major change must be presented. First, we must create respect towards hip hop women and shut down the suppression of female power. The way in which this would happen is to stop the secularization of women in this industry and not support the hypermasculan culture hip hop is. Although I understand that not all sexualization will be abolished completely from hip hop due to it being part of the culture . However I feel if women were to maybe not givein to the

It is suggested that one of the reasons why artists use misogynistic lyrics in their music is that they have internalized the negative stereotypes about women that are prevalent in American society. African women were historically portrayed as animalistic sexual beasts and African males in a submissive role, giving in to wild instinct or bodily impulses. The internalization of such stereotypes may be a possible explanation of the hyper sexuality within certain hip hop music. Various authors have argued that misogyny is merely an outgrowth of the cultural acceptance of misogyny at large.

Introduction to African American Studies was the class that I decided to take this summer because I am genuinely interested in learning more about the cultures and lifestyles of African Americans through out history and I want to further my knowledge beyond just learning about what was taught to me in secondary school. I do not know much about African American studies as I have not taken any courses on it or relating to it in the past but I hope that I can gain a lot of information on the topic through out this intellectual experience. I also hope to gain a better understanding of the history of Africans and African Americas and be able to dive deeper into this topic instead of just hitting the surface as I feel as though my previous experiences with this topic have covered. In just this first weeks lesson I have learned about the three great principles that characterize the “Black Intellectual Tradition” and how these three principles are used and perceived.

Since, I am a United States citizen so I may have biases for both negative and positive reasons. According to Matsumoto, the problem with my choice of research for this paper is my methodological approach in cross-culture research lacks authenticity and provides only an indirect observation method. However, the information gathered for this paper is legitimate I would do better to use a mixed-methods study of both qualitative and quantitative knowledge to design an experiment that would build support around an empirical research study of indirect and direct observations (Matsumoto, 2001, p.83-92). I love my country of birth and understand its main culture, but have oftentimes felt misunderstood because my Black-American culture can conflict.

G. Ogbar, has also well informed readers about the development of hip-hop and its relationship with gender issues. Hip-hop music were always been centered on a masculine characteristic, and feminism were still a problem in the U.S.. Ogbar has used a feminist voice in this chapter to connect gender issues and the development of hip-hop. Ogbar made a good connection between feminism and hip-hop music when he stated that early African American female rappers applied the “badman” characteristic in their performance to prove they were not inferior to men. Early female rappers wrote violent and sexual lyrics and to applied the “badman” characteristic in their rap songs.

Throughout history, Hip Hop has manifest into more than a simple form of life, but as a powerful cultural movement. Hip Hop plays a major part in African American culture, dialogue, fashion, and self expression. Today, Hip Hop has a joined people of many nationalities, races, and ethnicities as a society. The Hip Hop Generation has begun to redefine African American cultural norms and practices in America by the changing of conduct, social interaction, and immoral acts. Hip Hop has had many positive and negative effects on society one of which has been well known to sending out negative messages through misogynistic lyrics and lifestyle. Yet, a debatable question is raised is Hip Hop really one to blame? To answer this question, one must first reevaluate Hip Hop beyond the misrepresented concepts that mainstream media had portrayed for over a twenty year time frame.

hegemonic masculinity plays an important role in rap music. Misogynistic rap music contains different “’controlling images’” which are aimed at women (Collins qtd. in Weitzer and Kubrin 25), and also constructs strict gender rules, in which woman are subordinated to men. Rap music points to larger gender relations by stating very broad claims and ordering men to adapt the appropriate behaviour toward women. It is important to mention that the rappers are not solely responsible for the contents of their songs.