Black Women vs Hip-Hop
“Black Women VS Hip-Hop”
Crystal Smith once wrote that “Images of black women in hip-hop culture make it more likely for them to be viewed as targets to be defaced and abused.” This statement is confirmed true there are many African American women in the hip-hop culture that are disrespected or abused in some type of way during the making of a video or even the lyrics of a song. There are many ways African American women of the hip-hop culture are being abused and disrespected. Some video women or as others would call them “Video Vixens” start off as strippers. The artists go out to these strip clubs see the women and ask them to be in their video. The women accept any offer and will do anything the artist asks them to do just to make fast money. These women want to become famous and believe doing these disgraceful things to themselves will help them achieve this goal. The women are being disrespected by the things they are asked to do in these videos like the things they are asked to wear and the dances they are asked to do. In the article “Hip-Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women,” Jennifer McLune has strong views. She comments on how African American women are being betrayed by hip-hop, by the African American culture, and by their community. She also states how many hip-hop figures make excuses for why hip-hop continues with such a great, bold disrespect for African American women. Although hip-hop betrays African American women, in many ways there are still some African American women that go along with the male point-of-view. African American women that support this type of behavior from hip-hop are betraying their own kind and are losing this battle against hip-hop also. McLune starts the article with Kevin Powell’s statement on why hip-hop objectifies African American women. McLune writes “But just as it was unfair to demonize men of color in the 1960s solely as wild-eyed radicals when what they wanted, amidst their fury, was a little freedom and a
Crystal Smith once wrote that “Images of black women in hip-hop culture make it more likely for them to be viewed as targets to be defaced and abused.” This statement is confirmed true there are many African American women in the hip-hop culture that are disrespected or abused in some type of way during the making of a video or even the lyrics of a song. There are many ways African American women of the hip-hop culture are being abused and disrespected. Some video women or as others would call them “Video Vixens” start off as strippers. The artists go out to these strip clubs see the women and ask them to be in their video. The women accept any offer and will do anything the artist asks them to do just to make fast money. These women want to become famous and believe doing these disgraceful things to themselves will help them achieve this goal. The women are being disrespected by the things they are asked to do in these videos like the things they are asked to wear and the dances they are asked to do. In the article “Hip-Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women,” Jennifer McLune has strong views. She comments on how African American women are being betrayed by hip-hop, by the African American culture, and by their community. She also states how many hip-hop figures make excuses for why hip-hop continues with such a great, bold disrespect for African American women. Although hip-hop betrays African American women, in many ways there are still some African American women that go along with the male point-of-view. African American women that support this type of behavior from hip-hop are betraying their own kind and are losing this battle against hip-hop also. McLune starts the article with Kevin Powell’s statement on why hip-hop objectifies African American women. McLune writes “But just as it was unfair to demonize men of color in the 1960s solely as wild-eyed radicals when what they wanted, amidst their fury, was a little freedom and a
Cited: Rountree, Cathleen. “Hip-Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women.” “Perspectives on Contemporary Issues: Reading Across the Disciplines. Ed. Katherine Anne Ackley. 6th ed. Australia: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2012. 213-7. Print.