Misogyny in rap music
‘It’s Hard out Here for a Pimp’’ music film
This song film serves as a general representation of the rap music that is highly misogynistic which shown clearly depicting women as objects to be exploited but not as human beings who have rights to guard. This film has a derogatory shaming and naming of women which is mainly depicted through scenes of sexual exploitation. These are themes that represent what the consumer industry watch, and they are amongst the things that shapes how women are viewed and the attitudes that such consumers have towards them ( Weitzer , Kubrin, 3). Of more concern is how the film and the lyrics portray African American women as pimps and gangsters without attaching any value in them. The music seems to pick the worst aspect of some lives and then rewards them. The performance by the Three 6 Mafia group is quite startling since it features men who are dressed like pimps and the women are in streetwalkers’ rabbit far and hot pants.
The song film is a good example of gender stereotypes that can be found in popular rap music where women are shown to be inferior to men, or they are marginalized and trivialized. It tries tend to be in agreement with a general trend in the rap music where there is more complexity, diversity and messages that are dramatically mixed to show female’s individual persona and the role of women in the society. Despite this the film fails to represent the women as intelligent, independent, enterprising or equal to men. It tends to praise the acts of a man who exploit women so as to earn a living. A possible reason why this rap music portray women this way may be the social influences like the relationship between genders, the music industry and the conditions in the local neighbourhood. Such influence may be fuelled by the attitudes or practices that emphasis the domination of men over the women. The fact that this song won at Oscar’s award makes one wonder what the world has come to.
The US Magazine: Queen Latifah: I battled Misogyny in rap by uplifting women.
The article provide information on how a once popular female rapper took a stand in order to counter misogyny in rap through her own music. She explain how she felt that women were letting men mistreat them due to lack of high self-esteem to fight for themselves. The article alludes to the rapper’s decision to uplift women by endeavouring to come up with records that have positive thoughts. The rapper a third album that contained the song U.N.I.TY which became like an anthem to be used against disrespecting women, call out of subjects like harassment in the street, violence and the use of slurs in rap music against women. The articles also provides the experience of the rapper encountering disparity in various things which added up to misogyny. It also indicates how as a woman the rapper she could not stand to see herself being disrespected and thus had to garner self-protection.
The article indicates that the Queen Latifah hopes that the other artists will follow her steps. She had a problem seeing the differences in the way women and men were treated but she was not the kind of a person who was going to take anything while lying down. She encourages the upcoming singers to come up with records about the things that they feel
Argumentative essay on Misogyny in rap music
Misogyny is simply hatred of women. Hip-hop music has a very deeply rooted ideology of misogyny woven within the whole genre. Though it was not as extreme before, rappers are making it worse by promoting such a view on women, audiences also follow giving most audiences are young and these arousing images are indeed very provocative to them. It’s perfectly fine to praise the beauty of a kind, but objectifying it is reverse in morality and deforming its’ true beauty.
Firstly, there is a portrayal of the woman as a sexual object which is a demeaning representation (Adams 938-957). In many of the videos in hip-hop music, ladies are exemplified as the chief objects that are used to add interest to the song. Talk of the innuendo implied in those sexy ladies that are often key in the videos; dancing and moving around in a manner to excite the baser passions. The fact that many ladies gladly hail hip-hop as epic has added fury to the fire of the derogation of the female gender as merely an object of sexual excitement and satisfaction. Most women also accept this point of view because they believe it’s only for entertainment purposes, and most of the times the content in these lyrics and music videos are undeniably very extreme compare to real life.
In the 1990’s, the controversial 'gangsta rap' was the consequence of a long history of gang wars and drug abuse in the Los Angeles area. Furthermore, the origin of black culture in America is negative since African Americans had been properties and were not regarded as equals by their masters. After emancipation from slavery, such an ideology of women as the man's property has been propagated in the black culture ("Misogyny In Hip-Hop Music Culture”). An African American men would have a much different approach to women compare to other races, such as ‘holla’ at a physically attractive woman to consequently try to “hook-up” with her, therefore to achieve sexual intercourse, without much context about commitment or respect for her.
Secondly, there is an apparent exaltation of sexual abuse through rape. Many a hip-hop artist would blatantly create lyrics which have vulgar language propagating the notion that women can be raped without any criminal implications. Action Bronson, a rapper has been questioned about the lyrics used in a song that was released in 2011. In the song entitled 'Consensual Rape', there is a verse which cites providing MDMA, which is a drug used for inducing ecstasy, to a girl after which he has aggressive intercourse with her (Haslam 1-17). The petition is also against a music video in 2011 that callously depicts Bronson doing away with a woman’s corpse nonchalantly. It is interesting to note how within many songs by artists such as Lil Wayne who are revered by many, there are scenes of rough sex. Depicting rough sex to most rappers in the hip-hop industry main purpose would be to prove their manliness or simply passion for the woman they made love with.
Thirdly, there is a promotion of male hegemony since men consider the domination and exploitation of women and other men to be not only expected, but also necessary. The man is exalted as a master while the woman is the slave. The lyrics themselves as used depict inferiority. Words such as 'bitches' have been generally accepted by the youth to represent women. The man is deemed to have authority to trample upon the woman for personal satisfaction and for pleasure. Since in the black community, until nowadays male is still the main gender that is financially active, most women remained dependent. Including factors such as poor living conditions and financial position, women are willing to let themselves down against these richer men, to hopefully find a caring husband or simply just to get paid, for example many rich players including rappers nowadays look for attractive women on Instagram, then demand those women to spend time with them for also a very attractive price, which in many cases, the women would accept and are willing to provide more ‘services’ than just simply spending their time there.
Furthermore, it is certainly unacceptable for feminists and all women to be relegated to levels of almost complete insignificance in the serious matters of life. The fact that most hip hop artists are males has also served to support the ideology of male supremacy. Though there are a few female artists, they also follow the same formula of hip hop music which constitutes disrespectful language and lewd gestures to plunge the viewer into a session of sexual arousal. Rihanna who is a very notable female artist in the rap industry, recently uploaded a music video for her song called ‘Bitch Better Have My Money’, which in the storyline included scenes of her kidnapping and killing an accountant’s wife simply because she was angry with him. Therefore it’s like an ongoing trend, and in order to success, there is no other way but to follow.
Fourthly, there is a psychological effect on society. Listeners to hip hop music have been brain washed and accustomed to listening to such and the ideologies have been incorporated into the subconscious imperceptibly. Moreover, the results are manifest in the moral status of the youth in the twenty first century; rude, vulgar and sexist. Young adults found within ages 16 and 30 who take a lot of interest in hip hop may become desensitized to the degrading lyrics, accepting relationship violence and sexual aggression. We can see the younger generations becoming more and more uncommitted to each other, giving birth to the new ‘hook-up’ generation, where opposing sex only seek each other for sexual intercourse, along with being more and more blatant about such subjects. For example, take us back a few decades and sex before marriage was a dreadful sin, but now sex is view more as a fun activity for couples and even non-couples. Casualness can be seen from actions such as demanding sex through text messages or to a complete stranger at a bar.
Works cited
Anna, Chan. Queen Latifah: I Battled Misogyny in Rap by "Uplifting Women" 2015.1.Retrieved from: http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/queen-latifah-i-battled-misogyny-in-rap-by-uplifting-women-2015309
Ronald Weitzer , Charis Kubrin .Men and Masculinities. Misogyny in Rap Music: A Content Analysis of Prevalence and Meanings. 2009. 1-3. Retrieved from: https://webfiles.uci.edu/ckubrin/Misogyny%20in%20Rap%20Music.pdf?uniq=fn1t7r
Adams, T. M. "The Words Have Changed But The Ideology Remains The Same: Misogynistic Lyrics In Rap Music". Journal of Black Studies 36.6 (2006): 938-957. Web.
Haslam, Nick. "Concept Creep: Psychology's Expanding Concepts Of Harm And Pathology". Psychological Inquiry 27.1 (2016): 1-17. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.
"Misogyny In Hip-Hop Music Culture". CASULIN. N.p., 2014. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.
