McLune wrote about the discrimination of black women throughout hip-hop. The dominate rhetorical appeal used by McLune is pathos, which “is an emotional appeal that involves using language that will stair the feelings of the audience” (Hooper, etal 86). She complains about being a black woman and hearing the excuses for men when they talk about women in hip-hop and how it is just okay with society. McLune is also irate about the fact that Eve, who is a female rapper raps about women in a bad way and doesn’t seem to think that, that is not right. Another type of appeal McLune uses is logos “which demonstrates an effective use of reason and judicious use of evidence” (Hooper, etal 86). Back in the 60s it was wrong and considered unfair to demonize colored men, but yet the men in today’s society are disrespecting colored women. The author explains how record labels exploit this and benefit off of the disrespect artist show black women. The least used appeal by McLune is ethos “which establishes the speaker’s or writer’s credibility” (Hooper, etal 86). Hip-hop owes its success to woman hating. Few artist dare to be different and not speak badly about women and the ones that do, they don’t make it clear that they feel it’s disrespectful for rappers to demoralize women which is not good in…
In her essay “Hip-Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women” Jennifer McLunes states that “Hip-hop owes its success to the ideology of woman-hating”(222). She states that hip-hop condones an attitude of objectification, sexism, and homophobia. That rarely does an artist break the mold of rampant sexism. While she is right that some lyrics may be interpreted as chauvinistic and perhaps even sexist, this is not majority of the music. McLunes argument is not valid because hip-hop’s artists, the environment it is born from, and its culture is a celebration of materialism not misogyny.…
There is no set “rules” for Hip-Hop, each cultural background and differences can bring their own take on Hip-Hop and at the end of the day, this is the greatest strength Hip-Hop has to offer. Each person’s interpretation on Hip-Hop is what makes it art. This is showed when Schloss states that, “Hip Hops strength lies precisely in the diversity of its concept and practices” (7). Schloss believes that B-Boying has been mainly overlooked in scholarship terms is due to it being so culturally dependant. There is no set rules or theory that holds true to really understand B-Boys or B-Gils culture.…
Throughout most of the song you hear eccentric figurative language, except in the chorus (also known as hook). “It's like MK-ULTRA, controlling your brain suggestive thinking, causing your perspective to change, they want to rearrange the whole point of view of the ghetto…
Hip hop culture in general has nurtured a dualism within messages sent by lyrics. Nowhere was this duality more evident than the music of Tupac Shakur. As music reflected his reality and at times he’d reference women with derogatory terms, however he showed a level of responsibility with songs such as “Dear Mama” and “Brenda’s got a baby”. The lack of respect was noticed by many. Stress and the need to make a hit increased, he became a sex symbol along with a flock of “haters” trying to kill him. The flirtation with the materialistic trappings that the RAP game has to offer. “Forced laughter”(Shock-G), it was that Tupac was unhappy and this was speaks through his…
Although Morgan addresses the negatives to hip-hop music and rap, she also highlights what she appreciates and admires about it. The things she values in this style of music is that it offers a rare opportunity for black men to voice their despair, and she values the fact that its popularity provides a channel for a strong voice commenting on their communities. Morgan argues that listeners should hear these sexist and angry lyrics as a sign that large-scale changes that are necessary in the opportunities available to black men.…
In a generation where women have done extraordinary things such as run for Vice President, they are still seen by most men as their personal toys or objects. And to top it off, young men are starting to see women as such as well. Due to these “icons” such as DMX, Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, etc. are idolized by the youth but decide to relay the wrong message. Their constant use of bitches, sluts, ho’s, to describe women have been implanted in the youth and they believe it is okay to say. Not only have they implanted derogatory words, but have implanted negative perspective of women. More specifically, men and women alike have a misconception of “groupies”. Sharply Whiting in her book Pimps up, Ho’s Down: Hip Hop’s Hold on Young Black Woman, she addresses society’s stereotypes and misconceptions of groupies and the mindset of a lot of these women.…
If you listen to almost any rap song especially from the big time platinum selling artists, basically their lyrics are going to be about one of two things…the money they have or about bitches and hoes. Besides the fact that with today’s many technological advancements that it’s hard to be successful in the music industry with the illegal downloading, leaking etc. If you want to make a name for yourself and maintain your fan base at the end of the day you have to sell records…Especially being a new artist you’re going to be judged heavily on how well your first single goes which ultimately determines how well your album will sale but all that’s based on if people feel your music and how well your image is put out to the public. So the dilemma comes when artist are faced with the question are you going with the norm? Or are you willing to branch out and jeopardize your career? Many times you see artist that are labeled “one hit wonders” that can’t produce another hit and then the only way to redeem themselves it to feature themselves with a more well-known artist to help boost their credentials. So instead of taking that chance and being different and not playing into “the dominant chorus of misogyny” (Mclune 297) they easily revert back to the common vernacular mandates that are in every song as somewhat of a safety net in order to be considered a “down, hip and mainstream artist”. As stated in the article those who decide not to join the…
““I said ‘Bitch, why you such a stupid hoe?’ You lil’ bitch, you never could fuck with this. And every bitch that don’t like it, she can suck my dick.” These lyrics were taken from the song “Call her a bitch” by the rapper Too Short. With song lyrics like this one, it is very difficult for people both biased and unbiased to hip hop to even try to defend it. Although it is not the only music genre to have lines objectifying women, it is once again, as with other less than glorious topics, associated with the hip hop/rap genre the most. Throughout this chapter Rose makes very valid points with supported reasoning. As long as the public continues to support the objectivity of women, why would hip hop artists making good money stop?…
There are many definitions of this term called hip-hop; mainly hip-hop is not just a genre of music… or just a word. Hip-Hop is a lifestyle some people live by that is consisting of four elements-- such as break dancing, graffiti art, disc jockey, and master of comedy-- coining together to form this term called “Hip- Hop”. Hip-hop has taken America by the storm with their new fashion trends, latest music. Although it was originally created by, black people this new culture has (influence) worldwide. Throughout the years, hip-hop has negatively influenced society's perception of black culture. Hip-hop is now used to spread messages that degrade woman,…
The presence of multiple women is essential to masculinity in the military and in Hip Hop and the absence of them will raise questions about a man's sexuality. According to historian George Chauncey in the article “Manhood in America”, “Middle-class men increasingly conceived of their sexuality- their heterosexuality or exclusive desire for women are one of the hallmarks of a real man.” (100). The ability to be a claim and conquer as many women as possible is the pinnacle of being a man. To be a gay man was abnormal and unnatural. Homosexuality threatens to destroy manhood and the what it meant to be a man. In the military, it was especially damaging to be gay or suspected of being gay because up until the present it was assumed that gay men were on a mission to turn every straight “real” man gay. This assumption was, of course, false but in predominantly male fields as Hip Hop and the military, in addition to the powerful influence of group think and mob mentally straight men essentially feared for the gay men and fear easily became hated. Even men who were perceived as acting feminine were ostracized. Both Military men historically and Hip Hop men today believed that to prove their manhood and make a clear distinction between them and the “other”, the Military man and the Hip Hop was and is to flaunt sexual prowess and dominance over women. This meant frequenting brothels, whorehouses, strip club, wherever women were in abundance and were sexual objects. In Hip Hop, there has always been deeply rooted discrimination against that has not changed since the birth of Hip Hop. Hip Hop's homophobia makes being gay or being suspected of being gay is career damaging. In the event that a male artist is confirmed to a homosexual, it is career and social suicide. As a result, male rappers keep their sexuality a secret and keep a woman around to be their “beard” or female companion to keep up public…
You can try to repress it. You can try and hide from it, but it is only a matter of time until it catches up with you. You can never escape who you truly are. I am gay. I accept this now. I know there is nothing wrong with me. This is just who I am. I have told several of my friends and their reactions have been accepting as I predicted, but my parents are a different story.…
Hip-Hop lyrics describe extremely violent acts that include guns, beatings, and murder. The songs seem to be condoning this behavior and are mostly performed by African American males. By seeing a black man singing lyrics such as, “I’m just waiting for a fool/ so I can use his blood for my backyard pool” (The Terrorists f/ Point Blank, “Dead Bodies” 1991) or “Crack that jaw, what’s more bring it/ Ill rip your fuckin’ arm out the socket if you swing it” (Apache “A Fight” 1992), endorses the idea that African Americans are prone to violence and killing.…
Sex and images of hypersexualization of women are common in many popular rap songs. In “Lollipop” by Lil Wayne the lyrics are:“But man I ain’t never seen an a** like hers/That p***y in my mouth had me at a loss for words/I told her to back it up like burp burp/And make that a** jump like shczerp shczerp. (Metreolyrics). Then turn to a female rapper’s song, such as Nicki Minaj’s “Superbass” and it’s also selling sex:“And I think I like him better with the fitted cap on/He ain’t even gotta try to put the mac on/He just gotta give me that look, when he give me that look/Then the panties comin’ off, off,…
For me this is no song that made an impact on me and my gender roles. However there are songs out there that I realise what they’ve done. The “Stereotype song” is one of those videos. “I love the Middle East, but how do they handle rockin’ burkas while they’re riding camels.” While the lyrics aren’t offensive, then people start making assumptions of the people who live there. They start to think everyone there wears burkas, and that everyone rides camels. People then start rumors on just assumptions and not…