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Black Masculinity

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Black Masculinity
As of late, Hip-hop’s focus has been moving towards portraying a particular image rather than a meaningful message as it was done in the past. Hip-hop’s progression can be put in better terms by the rapper Mos Def, in the song “Fear Not of Man” when he says, “Where is hip hop going? If you want to know where hip hop is going, ask yourself, where am I going?” (Drisana 2011). This means that the music and images being shown publicly are based on the likes of the public. Hip-hop in today’s society is a representation of the world, where everything is surrounded by violence and sex, particularly in the black community. Hip-hop goes wherever the dominant culture seems to hail. Hip-hop is merely an imitation of an imaginary life that almost all males in the black community want to have, thus making hip-hop the defining factor of black masculinity.(Drisana 2011) These representations of black men in general are only helping de-mythicized the stereotypical images of African Americans; meaning that the way that black masculinity is seen only makes African Americans represent a terrible image (Drisana 2011). Consequently, throughout the popular culture black masculinity is normally portrayed negatively and hip hop culture is responsible for portraying black men as being deviant individuals, bad father figures, negative towards women, and being overly concerned with living extravagant lifestyles. It is a common belief that hip-hop can influence many young African Americans to live a life of violence. For example, some hip-hop music includes lyrics of selling drugs and young black men. Sometimes in this genre of music, a so called iconic figure mentions selling drugs; this creates a negative idolized image for young minds, who sometimes emulate these rappers and their farfetched stories. Most rappers who mention selling drugs in their past are simply playing a role for their rap image. For example, the rapper Rick Ross was a parole officer before he became a rapper; yet he


Cited: Drisana. "Black Masculinities in Hip Hop: Mad Potential For Resistance." Web log post. College of Charleston Blogs. N.p., 24 Apr. 2011. Web. 07 Nov. 2012. <http://blogs.cofc.edu/thelilitheffect/2011/04/24/black-masculinities-in-hip-hop-mad-potential-for-resistance/>. Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats &Rhymes. Dir. Byron Hurt. Perf. Carmen Ashurst-Watson, William Jelani Cobb and Chuck Creekmur. PBS, 2006. DVD. IMDb. IMDb.com. Web. 07 Nov. 2012. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0976039/>. Kubrin, Charis E., and Ronald Weitzer. "Misogyny in Rap Music: A Content Analysis of Prevalence and Meanings." Sage Publications, 19 Feb. 2009. Web. 03 Nov. 2012. <https://webfiles.uci.edu/ckubrin/Misogyny%20in%20Rap%20Music.pdf?uniq=fn1t7r>. Liljequist, Kevin C. "Does Music and Lyrical Content Influence Human Behavior?" Does Music and Lyrical Content Influence Human Behavior? N.p., 15 Oct. 2002. Web. 03 Dec. 2012. <http://www.positivemusicassociation.com/resources/article_lijequist1.htm>. "The Issues." PBS. PBS, 20 Feb. 2007. Web. 07 Nov. 2012. <http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/hiphop/masculinity.htm>.
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