From the essay "Hip-Hop's Betrayal of Black Women," activist, writer, and librarian Jennifer McLune expresses her disgust on the positions African-American women receive in both songs and music videos from the hip-hop music genre. McLune points out that hip-hop is successful due to a lot of objectifying of women. She even lays out enough examples as to how black women are degraded and explains why the music industry is in desperate need of a change. In the article "Hip-Hop's Betrayal of Black Women," Jennifer McLune explains on how the misrepresentation African-American women get from the hip-hop genre is not only harmful towards women, but also towards the black community. She does not only point out that many male rap artists sexualize
In rap music, rappers minimize women to “ass and tits” and “bitches and hos”. She goes on to say how black-on-black love is decreasing while black-on-black crimes are starting to increase. Rappers affect the meaning of true black love. The reason they call women names is because they don’t love themselves and are unable to love others. Rap also promotes drugs, murder, and gangs.
Women are not portrayed too negatively in this song,
Like in the song No Hands by artist Waka Flocka in the lyrics he says “ Drop it to the floor, he love the way that booty go and all he wants to do is sit back and watch you go while he proceeds to throw his cash.” In other words these lyrics are saying that women are nothing more than entertainment for men. Which gives the author a more purpose to be mad at the fact that the industry can degrade someone for their own success, which is true because all the songs about women have made millions off of it. McLune goes to to support her argument by acknowledging conscious artists, like when she gives credit to Tupac Shakur when he says the following quote “ we were given this world, we did not make it”. She has been providing good points and there’s a reason for her to be upset at artist for mimicking black women and she perceives to be very passionate about this topic, as if it’s entitling her.
Sexism is a prevalent issue that society struggles with due to all to of the negative stereotypes that are created. Today numerous musicians bring awareness to sexism through there songs, one being Beyonce. The popular musician Beyonce fights for women’s empowerment in her music in order to unite women and go against sexism and stereotypes in her popular songs “Flawless”, “If I were a boy”,“Lemonade”, and several more. Beyonce says, "I try to write songs and sing songs that we as women need to hear". "I know sometimes it 's hard to realize how amazing we are.
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.
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).
Most people believe that “lyrics should appeal to us, not degrade us” (Glidden3). There is controversy surrounding “some artists accused of rapping sexually inflammatory lyrics” (Encyclopedia4). The actions of a few is causing people to put a bad label on rap in a whole. This bias opinion is becoming the cause of listeners to believe that rap lyrics “are setting a bad example for kids and teens” (Glidden2). I can understand where this may lead to critics to misapply such distaste to the rap form, but “there are rap artists who don’t use offensive language or portray women in a negative light” (Glidden1).
Bitch Bad Analysis Lupe Fiasco’s “Bitch Bad” directed by Gil Green, is conceptualized around how the perception from both males and females of females is impacted by mainstream rap in the modern hip-hop world. Fiasco develops this by telling stories in different scenes of the video and explains them out in the lyrics. Lupe Fiasco took an objectified approach to several sensitive issues and tried to rectify them by illustrating the detrimental messages delivered in media as an ethical appeal to his audience. He used examples from modern hip-hop and broke down the overarching meaning in attitudes developed in result to what mainstream media depicts. Text Breakdown
¨If Hip Hop has the ability to corrupt minds, it also has the ability to uplift them.¨ Hip hop music, also called rap music, is a music genre developed in the United States by African Americans consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted. Mainstream hip hop culture is also filled with misogyny and negative images of women. These artists are unaware that sexism has been forced onto them through the brainwashing from the media, which is controlled by a patriarchal society. Conversely, feminism is the belief that both genders should have equal power.
Jane Morgan's primary claim is to see how Hip-Hop has gone from venerating ladies to totally obliterating ladies. We, as women need to uncover further and discover the family history behind their disagreeable murderous words. The men in our group should be the column we use as support in our general public. She likewise expresses that we have to make sense of what we are doing as ladies to support and outset their perspectives of black women. Morgan says that hip-hop is one of the spots black men feel that they can unreservedly communicate and their own agony and by listening precisely as opposed to judging and censuring we will have the capacity to do what we need to do as a group to help them.
Minaj was right; media, specifically music focused media, is not interested in black female musicians. Especially not black female musicians that continue to affirm their self-expression of sexuality, and feminist geared behavior. The continuing representation of cis-het, white, able-bodied musicians is what Minaj was calling award shows out on, not a specific attack on any individual. The fact that many musicians, who fall into this category (and benefit from it), took it so personally, reiterates the notion of their privilege. Black musicians are almost always expected to act in solidarity with white musicians, but with the situation flipped, white musicians would rather not admit their fault in the institutional marginalization and downfall of black
Although there are positive themes within rap music, the over-sexualized, stereotypical images strongly resonate throughout the genre. These themes, interrelated and occurring concurrently, provide a complex and often contradictory message about sexual norms and Black womanhood. Several themes were garnered from this research including: 1) early puberty increases likelihood of high risk behaviors, 2) rap music influences all levels of these youths intersecting identities, and 3) negative messages about sexuality may be internalized by the youth themselves as well as Black men and White individuals in the broader society. Utilizing rap music to help African American female youth explore their identity and counteract negative stereotypes may
Beyonce encourages women not to be brought down by what tabloids suggest about women. She wants women to not be confined to the stereotypes that society associated with
There has been a long time of Hip Hop that has been reactant, communicating disappointments in a culture around bigotry for instance, in the late 1980 's, quite a bit of what we catch wind of with respect to police ruthlessness, stop and search routines and focusing on dark skinned youth. Americans trusted that hip hop music advanced viciousness, belittled ladies and overlooked drug utilization. Albeit a few people say that the verses in some Hip-Hop music are fierce and advance the wrong esteems, Hip Hop "has decidedly influenced" the way individuals think act and dress. Although Hip Hop in America has also brought great positives to their culture and way of life Hip Hop has been key in advancing social and political mindfulness among the adolescent of today. Rap music teaches individuals from a few alternate points of view and raises numerous social issues.