Summary Of Is Black Music Really Dead

As I strolled down Poinciana Drive on a Tuesday morning, I was suddenly bombarded by the loud speaker knocking music coming out of the back of a dark blue Nissan Maxima. The elderly lady walking ahead of me immediately spun around stunned by the profanity filled lyrics now floating through the air by the rap artist Lil’ Wayne in his hit single “Alphabet Bitches” , “These are my bitches, my alpha bitches, these are my bitches my alphabet bitches, say what, I get bitches, say who, I get bitches”. It was not until then that I realized that this is the type of music that my generation is so accustomed to listening to. In The College of The Bahamas professor Ian Strachan’s article “Is Black Music Really Dead?” he attempts to understand the transition
that black music has taken on, and the negative effects that its lyrics are placing forth in the lives and minds of our generation. As a result, these misogynistic tendencies that are commonly emphasis through rap music have thereby led to the materialisation, objectification and degradation of women across the world. Thus, this has resulted in the changing of the male outlook toward life, destroyed the morality of females, and redefined society’s views of divine femininity.
To begin with, rap culture has corrupted most young male’s outlook toward all aspects of life.
However, out of all it has tremendously change the male’s point of view towards females. Therefore, influential rap music of today’s society paints the picture that women are to be treated like mere items. They have positioned females to be on the same level as their money, cars, and clothes in their fantasy music videos. So what do you think will happen when the young adolescents view this corrupt fantasy? In Ian Strachan’s article he quoted a well-known rapper and actor by the name of Ludacris, well known song “area code” in which he states that “I gat hoes… in diff’rent area codes.” His outlook in the video is portraying that it’s stylish to have numerous women in different countries, thus inciting to the young male audience to do the same thing as well. The offensive lyrics used in rap lyrics thereby help to degrade women’s worthiness and self-character. As a result, men view women as inferior beings, thus leading to women being portrayed in a detrimental
way.
Evidently, the sexually explicit and derogatory lyrics presented by hip-hop and rap music have led to the destruction of the morality of many females. For instance, when female rapper Nicki Minaj released her new song called “Anaconda”, it was accompanied by an image of herself in only a pink bra, some Jordan tennis shoes and a G-string revealing her infamous backside. She was allowed to do this because society has accepted the shameless hyper-sexual portrayal of poorly dressed females that are presented by the music industry’s objectification of women. Hence, scantily dressing is now considered to be the norm when it comes to what is “sexy”. Some young women are misguided into believing that the only way to be seen as attractive or desirable is to showcase their “ass-ets” publicly. In Strachan’s article he identifies a vast number of artists who mislead young women through their portrayal of “video vixens.” As a result, this can lead to self-objectification, as some women begin to see themselves as objects for others’ viewing, thereby leading to their moral breakdown. Thus, self-objectification can contribute to body dissatisfaction, low self-esteem and standards for example, these young girls begin to self-monitor themselves to the extent where they are constantly comparing themselves to the “baddest” women presented through popular song lyrics. Some young women then feel as though they have failed to meet society’s standard of beauty, as a result through their desire to fit the image that is portrayed of what a women is supposed to be they lose their morality.
Furthermore, black music along with its misogynistic tendencies has redefined society’s view of divine femininity.
It has contaminated the sole essence of what we really perceive a woman as. We no longer appreciate, respect and understand that feminine holds the mystery of creation, failing to connect with the power and wisdom that a woman carries within her nature, through her body’s ability to carry the greatest mystery, which is the potential to give birth, thereby brining light into this world. In Strachan’s article he states “How did we get here? How did we go from Stevie Wonder’s 1969 masterpiece, “My Cherie, Amour” to phrases like “bitch, hoe, trick, freak, skeezer and chickenhead”. When did our views of God’s gift to mankind fall ashore? Women were once considered, to be precious gifts upholding high morals, values and standard. Her principals were ones of nurture, love, understanding, compassion, insight, intuition, creativity, forgiveness, healing and wisdom. However, in today’s society women are no longer being portrayed as these precious gems, instead they are being compared and viewed as replaceable objects and things that lack value. Without femininity nothing new can come into existence, thus we will remain caught in the materialistic image of life that is constantly polluting the minds of our
generations.
In conclusion, our culture today has been invaded by the vast negative impacts of misogyny in black music. Thus, this genre of music has established a new attitude and way of thinking through its evolution and progression which have as a result been adopted amongst younger generations. Moreover, this trend has contributed in changing the male outlook toward life, destroying the morality of females, and redefining society’s views of divine femininity. Thereby, distorting and corrupting the mind-set of our generations through delivering messages of materialisation, self-objectification, and violence all impacting the way in which we threat and value our female counterparts. Consequently, we are now left to clean up the remains of this plague brought on by rappers around the world. Therefore, we are now left with the struggle of combating this trend and return our music to a tone of love, respect and unity.