In the entertainment industry under the category of music, in the article, it is said that ‘music is a reflection of the cultural and political environment from which it is born. Rap music emerged as an aesthetic cultural expression or urban African American youth in the Bronx, New York, in the late 1970s.’ (Adams & Fuller, 2006). This essay will be discussing Adams and Fuller’s (2006) analysis of how African American women are portrayed in rap music, the social impact it has in society.
Rap music, in the African American community, has always been a way of expressing how the feel and deal with various issues surrounding their environment such as violence, thoughts and ideas involving race and most importantly rapping about misogyny. Rap music
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The connection between misogyny, racial and gender has been evident and a contribution to the misogynistic rap culture that is today. In history, men have always been seen as the ‘dominant’ out of both genders, which shapes and shifts the mindsets of many men. Naturally, through this process of thinking, men believe that they have power over women, believing that women are less superior to themselves in through various cultures and society as a whole. This ideology has managed to give men power to oppress women of colour, the poor and women as a whole for many years, which makes men believe that they have ‘the right’ to disrespect women. In the African American community, in the rap culture, misogyny has been racialized, making the ideology a black issue. This ideology has ‘had a profound effect on the inner psyche of African Americans as the ideology feeds off of not only hatred of women but also hatred towards Blackness, which serves as a two-edged sword.’ (Adams & Fuller, 2006). ‘The sexist, misogynist, patriarchal ways of thinking and behaving that are glorifies in gangsta rap are a reflection of the prevailing values in our society, values created and sustained by white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.’ (Adams & Fuller, 2006). In …show more content…
This essay has proven that African American women have a long way to go in terms of being viewed differently in
This article focuses on the color-blind ideology that allows white people to participate in and appropriate hip-hop culture. Rodriquez notes that they do so by using the guise of inclusivity of all races to justify their participation in hip hop and to adapt characteristics of the culture without respecting Black identity. He uses his own interviews of several white audience members of hip hop concerts who identified as participants of hip hop culture. Rodriquez identifies two groups resulting from social collectivity to reinforce his argument: consciously collective white groups, who actively reinforce racial segregation and passively collective white groups, who unknowingly unite and reinforce systematic racism through their adherence to color-blind ideology. The participants of his research are part of the latter, who unconsciously reinforce systematic racism through treating cultural objects, namely aspects of hip hop culture, as shareable products and experiences.
McBride begins his essay in high contrast to his intended purpose with an anecdotal discussion of his first encounters with Hip Hop music that inevitably represents black men as arrogant, aggressive, and poor. The introductory paragraph details McBride’s fear of his daughter marrying a black rapper that he describes as having “a mouthful of gold teeth, a do-rag on his head, muscles popping out of his arms, and a thug attitude” (McBride para. 1). This stereotypical description of a rapper, as well as the sense of fear McBride feels, contributes to his initial representation of black males as aggressive thugs that are unsuitable to become husbands.
In her essay “hip hop’s betrayal of black women,” Jennifer McLune implies that “(h)ip-hop owes its success to the ideology of women-hating” (193). She does not agree with Kevin Powell’s article that hip-hop does not mean to “offend” black women, but instead artists are only letting out their temper throughout their music. McLune feels infuriated that many artists in hip hop (including black men) rap about their community and downgrade their own women. In the hip-hop genre, sexism is mainly used, not only by black men but also by many other race hip-hop artists. Artists assume that women-hating in their rap songs will be accepted by women, but do not realize that it is affecting all women.
Hip Hop is seen as something inspiring, but most people see it as a way to speak out the truth about a problem. As in “Hip Hop planet” being able say the truth can sometimes worsen any situation because sometimes what we say can promote violence and whatever happens after is not in our control. The essay is about how hip hop has changed into speaking out the issues that need to be taken care of in order to maintain a proper society. McBride talked about how rappers use violent lyrics to degrade women and gays and because of this it shows how the music has evolved into something entirely different that no one would have ever expected to have changed. In James McBride's essay “Hip Hop Planet,” he argues that hip hop has a negative influence on American Culture despite people thinking of it as inspirational and how people live through different experiences in life despite of your race.
The block parties, graffiti art, rapping, disc jockeying and diverse forms of dancing built Hip Hop by the black youth. They expressed their feelings, thoughts, but most importantly the problems they had to face, which were related to their race, gender and social positions. The rights that were given to black people during and after the Civil Rights Movement left the following generations at a lack of how to continue the fight for black rights. Hip Hop gave them this platform and with the usage of black nationalism, Hip Hop can explore the challenges that confront American-Americans in the post-Civil Rights Movement era. In the 1990’s Hip Hop lived its prime, sub genres started to appear and famous groups, MCs led the whole community, providing a voice to a group of people trying to deliver their message.
Along with the creation of music videos, hip-hop’s popularity has soared and changed in many ways. Men and women are depicted in distinct and vivid ways in the media – particularly music videos – that may subconsciously affect our views of the norms of today’s society. That is, catchy songs and glamorous music videos that society thinks are harmless entertainment actually shape our worldview and can cause people to accept false impressions of women (Shrum & Lee, 2012). For example, as Sarnavka (2003) posits, women are victims of violence in society, as well as victims of violence in media (as cited in Bretthauer, Zimmerman, and Banning, 2007).
In her essay "Hip-Hop's Betrayal of Black Women," Jennifer McLune expresses her stance on the positions some African American women receive from both the songs and music videos pertaining the hip-hop music genre. According to McLune, hip-hop would not be as successful as it is today if it were not for the objectification of African American women. Although this may be true to some extent, McLune seems to not realize that African American women are not the only ones being degraded in the contents of hip-hop, but instead women in general. The author also seems to assume that all African American male rap artists objectify women, when the reality is, many other music artists of different subgenres have been found guilty of committing the same
It 's being portrayed that being a man equals violence, poorness, being from the hood, can not be a sucker or you 're going to be tested, have your game face all the time, showing no emotion, and when they pick up a microphone they are a totally different person than who they really are. It was once said, ¨We teach boys to be afraid of fear, of weakness, of vulnerability. We teach them to mask their true selves, because they have to be a hard man. ¨Men want to have so much power, but they don 't have any power at all. The hip hop artist just has physical power over their body and how they display themselves, so they dress certain ways to get respect to feel powerful which also is hypermasculinity.
Additionally, the artists used in their performances are educated and well-informed on what they do. The use of vulgar and inappropriate English often characterizes the environment that most Black minorities have in the United States (Wingood et al., 2003). Copying the style of dressing and the use of poor language structure is likely to result in low grades for teenagers. Parents are required to educate their children despite their interest in rap music. Children should also be educated on the negative perception that materialistic possessions are not a form of winning sexual advantages in the society.
Hip-hop culture has been the topic of various academic, social, and political discourses. Rap music, in particular, has made its way to mainstream media which is evident in the numerous films and movies that centers on what was once a part of an underground culture. Scholars explain that the popularity of hip-hop in both music and films are partly due to its potential to disseminate information, address an issue, and promote social change. Tinson and McBride (2013), for example, note that hip-hop is a “…form of critical education at the intersection of, and inseparable from political engagement” (1). Scholars further note that hip-hop’s current state “…requires frequent accounting of its engagement with the social, political, and cultural climate
“Beyond Beats and Rhymes” Summary This movie was a broad discussion about hip-hop music (or more specifically gangster rap) and what kind of social issues the music not only showcases but seems to promote. The producer of this film, Byron Hunt, interviewed people involved in all aspects of the hip-hop industry, including famous rappers, to try to get to the bottom of this. Some of the most prominent issues discussed in the film were the over-sexualization of women, gun violence, and anti- homophobic attitudes. Hunt would ask those involved in the industry about why they think these themes are so prevalent.
Because the lyrics of many rap songs tell stories of an artist’s personal experience of their everyday lives growing up, urban youth can relate and connect to the lyrics because they see and experience very similar things. Listening to the artist’s lyrics about their own experiences can teach the listeners to not make stupid mistakes and if they continue to follow the right paths, they can achieve more and be successful like the rappers. Hip-Hop literacies can be applied in and outside of the classroom. Students can identify themselves through Hip-Hop culture. In the article, “You Don’t Have to Claim Her”, the author and English teacher Lauren Leigh Kelly, explains that women of all ages can use Hip-Hop to identify themselves despite the genre
Contrary to Pences article, author Jeffrey Hicks opposes a brand new idea, on how hip hop destroys the black youth. As reported by Hicks “Beyond the music, hip-hop culture encompasses street codes of behavior and an overall defiance of social convention. It is this defiance of mainstream life that is at the root of much of the underachievement now plaguing black youth. Hip-hop orthodoxy infers that young blacks who emulate mainstream attitudes are exhibiting weakness”. Sure hip hop encompasses street codes and also street values, that 's just the way it is.
The Hip hop industry consists of mostly African American musicians. Since blacks are often alienated in society, their music seems to be too. People often give rappers negative labels such as “gangster” or “thug”, which are discriminatory words that people have often used to describe African Americans in the media. There is an everlasting double standard in music. as people bash rap music for being sexist and violent, other genres of music such as country or alternative have the same themes, but they’re vulgar lyrics go
The issue is especially present in male rappers. The lyrics in these songs contain messages about mistreating women, causing violence, and have an unnecessary amount of profane language. Rap music greatly affects society's values, arguably in a very poor manner. A very present issues in rap lyrics is how the rappers talk about women. These can range anywhere from talking about rape to simply saying they want to have intercourse