Baomei Lin
ENGL 1123 P18
16 February 2012
Rhetorical Analysis of “Hip Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women” In “Hip Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women”, McLune addresses the influence of hip hop’s choice of words towards African American women and females. McLune’s article is written in response to Powell’s opinions in “Notes of a Hip Hop Head”, along with various other hip hop artists, that black females are the leading cause of poverty and racism why black men undertake racism and poverty, as if women do not face these struggles from day to day. McLune disagrees with this remark and states that this is just one of many excuses that men use. McLune addresses an audience that is well educated along with informed with the different sexism opinions towards women in our society, though many men feel that some of their statements or opinions are not affecting women. Therefore, McLune’s article deserves to be recognized in PopMatters. With all the arguments and comebacks she had, “Hip Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women” should be considered for the top prizes for persuasive essays due to the problems that our African American society faces on a daily basis.
The energy of McLune’s argument is its energetic appeal to African American women along with different races. Her argument implied that men want women to give in to them and accept the fact that they are being degraded, simply so that men can boost their confidence and masculinity: “It’s obvious that if these are the winning terms for our creativity, black women are ultimately the losers. And that’s exactly how these self-proclaimed players, thugs, and hip-hop intellectuals want us—on our backs and pledging allegiance to the hip hop nation.” (Analytical Writing: A Guide to College Composition 300) McLune also covers the fact that even the hip hop artist “who have an underground and conscious force in hip hop— like Common, The Roots, Talib Kweli and others— remain inconsistent, apologetic, and even eager