Hip Hops Betrayal of Black Women
Adrian Middleton
Comp I
25 Sept. 2011
Hip Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women The Hip Hop music industry is infamous for being controversial. In the article Hip Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women there’s a debate on whether the exploitation and constant verbal slander of women should be acceptable just because it sales records. It presents the question that why is it that male poverty breeds sexism? Even though women may have lived in the same environment males still see women as the enemy in their music in an effort to sell records.
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
Comp I
25 Sept. 2011
Hip Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women The Hip Hop music industry is infamous for being controversial. In the article Hip Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women there’s a debate on whether the exploitation and constant verbal slander of women should be acceptable just because it sales records. It presents the question that why is it that male poverty breeds sexism? Even though women may have lived in the same environment males still see women as the enemy in their music in an effort to sell records.
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