Hip Hop's Portrayal Of Black Women Research Paper
Jasmine Howard
23 October 2013
Hip Hop’s Portrayal of Black Women Hip hop has changed drastically over the course of years. In the earlier ages, Hip hop artists valued plenty of originality by creatively expressing themselves in a positive way to their surroundings. Now it seems as if artists are preying on women as if they’re animals by lacking its true originality and being ran over by commercialism. Hip hop represents a tree gradually losing its leaves over time. Somehow, the hip hop culture has evolved from “From the heart it’s a start, a work of art, to revolutionize, make a change nothing 's strange people we are the same (Ridenhour, Carlton)” by Public Enemy to “Spit on a bitch, punch on a bitch after I eat some steak, have …show more content…
her tug on my dick” (Odd Future) by Odd Future. These new generations of rappers aren’t setting positive messages for their listeners. Exploiting women in hip hop through music and image is wrong because it will lead to consequences like influencing young men to treat women bad, affect the self-esteem of young girls, and stereotypes of women of all kind.
In The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto, Imani Perry explains how hip hop exploits women.
“Black men rapped surrounded by dozens of black and Latina women dressed in bathing suits, or scantily clad in some other fashion. Video after video proved the same, each one more objectifying than the former. Some took place in strip clubs, some at the pool, at the beach, or hotel rooms, but the recurrent theme was dozens of half-naked women (Perry, …show more content…
135).” Hip hop has taken the wrong turn. Hip hop has come a long way and if it continues to diverge in a negative route by degrading women, it can affect young people’s actions and behavior. A young generation of boys may feel it is okay to call a woman out of her name and treat her as if she’s a toy to run around and play with. Equally, a young generation of girls may feel as if it’s okay to be treated and spoken to like an animal. Young women also may feel entitled to walk around in small tops and tight skirts which later leaders to other things like engaging in physical activities. Things like this occur at the wrong age because of someone they saw on a music video or heard in a song lyric doing the exact same thing. These values are being put into the minds of youth’s as something that is deemed acceptable by society. In the hip hop culture, women appear to be sex objects paraded around by the men of this industry. Although this is not the only genre that displays women in a negative light, it is a popular topic. If society continues to accept this cultural issue, this conceptual image people have about women will continue to live on. Women are treated like trophy pieces and arm candy. Artists like the 2 Live Crew and Nelly have paved a path for young men to believe it is acceptable to treat women in such a demeaning manner. The 2 Live Crew was a Miami based group which featured a popular artist known as Uncle Luke. The 2 Live Crew’s album As Nasty as They Wanna Be was so obscene, federalist district judge Jose Gonzalez wanted to ban it in certain Florida counties. The album cover features four women on the beach in provocative swimsuits standing over the heads of the 2 Live Crew members. Images like this soak into adolescent’s minds, especially young males. They start to believe that objectifying women is something they are supposed to do. In addition to Uncle Luke and his crew, hip hop artist Nelly has also participated in exploiting women. In his video “Tip Drill” (Haynes, Cornell), one of the most misogynistic videos of all time, he slides a credit card down the crack of a woman’s butt. That was one of the most offensive and most ignorant acts of all time. In fact, that is another prime example of women being treated as objects. Equally as bad, In Lil Wayne’s video “Every Girl” (Carter, Dwayne), there are cartoon arrows pointing at females and speech bubbles saying very offensive things like “Blackanese” and “She from the hood.” The lyrics were already unpleasant enough but the video was no better. Lyrics and images like this could make women feel as though they’re not beautiful enough and cause low self-esteem. Also, young girls would think they need to look and act how the women in the videos portray themselves. This puts stress on our children and it is probably the explanation to why the teens of today look as if they’re in their early twenty’s. It is time to change the way women are displayed before it gets too late.
Through music and image, stereotypes are created. Fairy tales are placed in the minds of men that they can find the perfect woman in a bar or a strip club. For example, stripper, Blac Chyna and rapper, Tyga are now dating and raises a child together; it all ended in a happily ever after tale but, in most cases it won’t happen. This causes young women to think it is okay to pursue a job in stripping or go to the club all the time rather than going to college to pursue in a career. Most young women will also lack independence and wait on a man to do for her instead of trying to do for her own. Even though women don’t come out and say it exactly some do marry for money. Women like Kimora Lee Simons have married for money. Kimora married to Russell Simons part owner of Def Jam Records. According to the Biography channel website “At 17, she met Russell Simmons. They married in 1998. Her fashion design career started shortly after. In 2003, she worked as executive producer of the Def Poetry Jam. In 2007, she started appearing on Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane, a reality show (“Kimora Lee Simons Biography” 1).” Everything began to take off for Kimora as soon as she met Russell. In the hip hop community, women are portrayed as irritable, money hungry, gold diggers and angry. This is exactly what Kimora displays for the world to see. This is causing young women to be negatively influenced greatly and feel that these types of actions are acceptable.
However, not all rap songs are exhibiting hatred towards women and not all hip hop artists speak about women in a negative way. Artists like J. Cole shed positive light on women. In the song “Crooked Smile” J. Cole says “I feel for you killing yourself to find a man that 'll kill for you, you wake up, put makeup on, stare in the mirror but it’s clear that you can’t face what’s wrong, no need to fix what God already put his paint brush on (Cole, Jermaine).” J. Cole is letting women of the world know that the looks you were blessed with are good enough. Everyone is perfect the way they are. In addition to J. Cole, Tupac Shakur also showed a soft spot for women of America by writing the song “Keep Ya Head Up.” In “Keep Ya Head Up,” he says “And since we all came from a woman and our game from a woman, I wonder why we take from our women, why we rape our women, do we hate our women? (Shakur, Tupac)” Tupac explains that men come from and are raised by women and wonders why men still have the audacity to disrespect them? Both artist acknowledge the struggles that women go through and expect them to embrace they’re hardships and overcome them. Hip hop has betrayed women for many years now and it’s time for a change. Hip hop’s influence and revolution of today’s young culture has dwindled compared to years ago. If the artists that continue to push out negative messages about women continue to get support, then the art of hip hop will continue to lose its true value. Hip hop has evolved from more than just music. It represents a culture of young people if the young people of this generation continue to flood their mind with these negative songs, the next generation to come will be in lots of trouble. If more people stop supporting these rappers down talking women in their songs, it may bring change. There would be no value in hip hop and rappers would have no choice but to change the way they carelessly use women in their lyrics. But the young people in this society are so comfortable with these types of songs so they see it as something acceptable and normal. Degrading women in songs has become the official norm for hip hop. These are the same songs negatively affecting the youth and young adults. This new generation of hip hop may never change and continue to lose its value along the way.
Works Cited
Banner, David, Pro.
Tip Drill. Derrty Ent, 2003. Film. 25 Oct 2013. Cole J. “Crooked Smile.” Born Sinner. Roc Nation, Columbia Records, 2013.CD.
Hicks, Christopher, dir. Every Girl. Young Money Entertainment, 2011. Film. 18 Oct 2013.
Perry, Imani. The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto. 1st ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2008. 134-135. Print.
Public Enemy. “Fear of a Black Planet.” Motown Records, 1989. CD.
Odd Future. “We Got Bitches.” The O.T.F Tape Vol. 2. Odd Future, 2012.CD.
Tupac Shakur. “Keep Ya Head Up.” Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. Interscope Records, 1993. CD.
Yin Yang Twins. “Wait (The Whisper Song).” United State of Atlanta. TVT Records, 2005. CD.
2Live Crew. As Nasty As They Wanna Be. Global Satellite, 1989. CD.
"Kimora Lee Simmons." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Nov 15 2013, 09:39
http://www.biography.com/people/kimora-lee-simmons-504534.
23 October 2013
Hip Hop’s Portrayal of Black Women Hip hop has changed drastically over the course of years. In the earlier ages, Hip hop artists valued plenty of originality by creatively expressing themselves in a positive way to their surroundings. Now it seems as if artists are preying on women as if they’re animals by lacking its true originality and being ran over by commercialism. Hip hop represents a tree gradually losing its leaves over time. Somehow, the hip hop culture has evolved from “From the heart it’s a start, a work of art, to revolutionize, make a change nothing 's strange people we are the same (Ridenhour, Carlton)” by Public Enemy to “Spit on a bitch, punch on a bitch after I eat some steak, have …show more content…
her tug on my dick” (Odd Future) by Odd Future. These new generations of rappers aren’t setting positive messages for their listeners. Exploiting women in hip hop through music and image is wrong because it will lead to consequences like influencing young men to treat women bad, affect the self-esteem of young girls, and stereotypes of women of all kind.
In The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto, Imani Perry explains how hip hop exploits women.
“Black men rapped surrounded by dozens of black and Latina women dressed in bathing suits, or scantily clad in some other fashion. Video after video proved the same, each one more objectifying than the former. Some took place in strip clubs, some at the pool, at the beach, or hotel rooms, but the recurrent theme was dozens of half-naked women (Perry, …show more content…
135).” Hip hop has taken the wrong turn. Hip hop has come a long way and if it continues to diverge in a negative route by degrading women, it can affect young people’s actions and behavior. A young generation of boys may feel it is okay to call a woman out of her name and treat her as if she’s a toy to run around and play with. Equally, a young generation of girls may feel as if it’s okay to be treated and spoken to like an animal. Young women also may feel entitled to walk around in small tops and tight skirts which later leaders to other things like engaging in physical activities. Things like this occur at the wrong age because of someone they saw on a music video or heard in a song lyric doing the exact same thing. These values are being put into the minds of youth’s as something that is deemed acceptable by society. In the hip hop culture, women appear to be sex objects paraded around by the men of this industry. Although this is not the only genre that displays women in a negative light, it is a popular topic. If society continues to accept this cultural issue, this conceptual image people have about women will continue to live on. Women are treated like trophy pieces and arm candy. Artists like the 2 Live Crew and Nelly have paved a path for young men to believe it is acceptable to treat women in such a demeaning manner. The 2 Live Crew was a Miami based group which featured a popular artist known as Uncle Luke. The 2 Live Crew’s album As Nasty as They Wanna Be was so obscene, federalist district judge Jose Gonzalez wanted to ban it in certain Florida counties. The album cover features four women on the beach in provocative swimsuits standing over the heads of the 2 Live Crew members. Images like this soak into adolescent’s minds, especially young males. They start to believe that objectifying women is something they are supposed to do. In addition to Uncle Luke and his crew, hip hop artist Nelly has also participated in exploiting women. In his video “Tip Drill” (Haynes, Cornell), one of the most misogynistic videos of all time, he slides a credit card down the crack of a woman’s butt. That was one of the most offensive and most ignorant acts of all time. In fact, that is another prime example of women being treated as objects. Equally as bad, In Lil Wayne’s video “Every Girl” (Carter, Dwayne), there are cartoon arrows pointing at females and speech bubbles saying very offensive things like “Blackanese” and “She from the hood.” The lyrics were already unpleasant enough but the video was no better. Lyrics and images like this could make women feel as though they’re not beautiful enough and cause low self-esteem. Also, young girls would think they need to look and act how the women in the videos portray themselves. This puts stress on our children and it is probably the explanation to why the teens of today look as if they’re in their early twenty’s. It is time to change the way women are displayed before it gets too late.
Through music and image, stereotypes are created. Fairy tales are placed in the minds of men that they can find the perfect woman in a bar or a strip club. For example, stripper, Blac Chyna and rapper, Tyga are now dating and raises a child together; it all ended in a happily ever after tale but, in most cases it won’t happen. This causes young women to think it is okay to pursue a job in stripping or go to the club all the time rather than going to college to pursue in a career. Most young women will also lack independence and wait on a man to do for her instead of trying to do for her own. Even though women don’t come out and say it exactly some do marry for money. Women like Kimora Lee Simons have married for money. Kimora married to Russell Simons part owner of Def Jam Records. According to the Biography channel website “At 17, she met Russell Simmons. They married in 1998. Her fashion design career started shortly after. In 2003, she worked as executive producer of the Def Poetry Jam. In 2007, she started appearing on Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane, a reality show (“Kimora Lee Simons Biography” 1).” Everything began to take off for Kimora as soon as she met Russell. In the hip hop community, women are portrayed as irritable, money hungry, gold diggers and angry. This is exactly what Kimora displays for the world to see. This is causing young women to be negatively influenced greatly and feel that these types of actions are acceptable.
However, not all rap songs are exhibiting hatred towards women and not all hip hop artists speak about women in a negative way. Artists like J. Cole shed positive light on women. In the song “Crooked Smile” J. Cole says “I feel for you killing yourself to find a man that 'll kill for you, you wake up, put makeup on, stare in the mirror but it’s clear that you can’t face what’s wrong, no need to fix what God already put his paint brush on (Cole, Jermaine).” J. Cole is letting women of the world know that the looks you were blessed with are good enough. Everyone is perfect the way they are. In addition to J. Cole, Tupac Shakur also showed a soft spot for women of America by writing the song “Keep Ya Head Up.” In “Keep Ya Head Up,” he says “And since we all came from a woman and our game from a woman, I wonder why we take from our women, why we rape our women, do we hate our women? (Shakur, Tupac)” Tupac explains that men come from and are raised by women and wonders why men still have the audacity to disrespect them? Both artist acknowledge the struggles that women go through and expect them to embrace they’re hardships and overcome them. Hip hop has betrayed women for many years now and it’s time for a change. Hip hop’s influence and revolution of today’s young culture has dwindled compared to years ago. If the artists that continue to push out negative messages about women continue to get support, then the art of hip hop will continue to lose its true value. Hip hop has evolved from more than just music. It represents a culture of young people if the young people of this generation continue to flood their mind with these negative songs, the next generation to come will be in lots of trouble. If more people stop supporting these rappers down talking women in their songs, it may bring change. There would be no value in hip hop and rappers would have no choice but to change the way they carelessly use women in their lyrics. But the young people in this society are so comfortable with these types of songs so they see it as something acceptable and normal. Degrading women in songs has become the official norm for hip hop. These are the same songs negatively affecting the youth and young adults. This new generation of hip hop may never change and continue to lose its value along the way.
Works Cited
Banner, David, Pro.
Tip Drill. Derrty Ent, 2003. Film. 25 Oct 2013. Cole J. “Crooked Smile.” Born Sinner. Roc Nation, Columbia Records, 2013.CD.
Hicks, Christopher, dir. Every Girl. Young Money Entertainment, 2011. Film. 18 Oct 2013.
Perry, Imani. The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto. 1st ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2008. 134-135. Print.
Public Enemy. “Fear of a Black Planet.” Motown Records, 1989. CD.
Odd Future. “We Got Bitches.” The O.T.F Tape Vol. 2. Odd Future, 2012.CD.
Tupac Shakur. “Keep Ya Head Up.” Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. Interscope Records, 1993. CD.
Yin Yang Twins. “Wait (The Whisper Song).” United State of Atlanta. TVT Records, 2005. CD.
2Live Crew. As Nasty As They Wanna Be. Global Satellite, 1989. CD.
"Kimora Lee Simmons." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Nov 15 2013, 09:39
http://www.biography.com/people/kimora-lee-simmons-504534.