Preview

The Hip Hop Wars: Hip Hop Demeans Women Essay Example

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1195 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Hip Hop Wars: Hip Hop Demeans Women Essay Example
THE HIP HOP WARS: Hip Hop Demeans Women ““I said ‘Bitch, why you such a stupid hoe?’ You lil’ bitch, you never could fuck with this. And every bitch that don’t like it, she can suck my dick.” These lyrics were taken from the song “Call her a bitch” by the rapper Too Short. With song lyrics like this one, it is very difficult for people both biased and unbiased to hip hop to even try to defend it. Although it is not the only music genre to have lines objectifying women, it is once again, as with other less than glorious topics, associated with the hip hop/rap genre the most. Throughout this chapter Rose makes very valid points with supported reasoning. As long as the public continues to support the objectivity of women, why would hip hop artists making good money stop? Rose begins her argument by talking about two groups of people, those who use it to further advance the argument of black people and their deviance and those who worry about the influences of hip hop (Rose 114-115). The problem is that much of society believes that hip hop is only about the negative things, specifically for this essay, demeaning women. The “putting-down” of black women has been stemmed back far in history. “This strategy was designed to counter the mainstream idea throughout all of the slavery era and well into the twentieth century that black women were sexually excessive and deviant as a class of women” (Rose 115). Black women were perceived to be more sexual and mysterious in a way in comparison to white women, and so that is exactly how white males treated and used them. If patterns of this behavior and attitude toward black women have been rooted for so long, how are women ever going to receive the respect they deserve? Rebecca Hagelin, a vice-president of The Heritage Foundation says the following quote, “Why do we as a nation produce and embrace a pop culture that glorifies rap and hip hop music that teaches men to prey upon women and engage in senseless violence and that

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Set in the “Booga Basement,” Praz, Wyclef Jean, and Lauryn Hill took the 1990s by storm. The group was composed of three multitalented MCs. One in particular, Lauryn Hill, found major success as an actress in the film Sister Act II and solo prestige in her critically acclaimed “Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” album. I have spent the majority of my life listening to hip-hop, so it was hard to narrow down to this song. Nonetheless, “Vocab” provides an interesting look at hip-hop. This is 1994 and hip-hop is beginning to take a prominent role in the mainstream media. When we think about gender equality in hip-hop, it is fair to say that Lauryn Hill more than holds her own. In this essay, I hope to further develop the importance of this group dynamic to hip-hop at the time and breakdown some unique hip-hop elements in the song itself.…

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The problem with gender is it prescribes how we should be rather than recognizing how we are”, which was once said by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.In other words this quote is saying that the world promotes people to cover up their true selves to be the “right” figure for the certain gender .In the documentary Hip Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes by Byron Hurt it speaks out about how in music videos male have the more dominant power and girls are just seen as props or sex objects,and females are called out of the names because they don’t dress like a lady.In the book We should all be feminists by Adichie she explains how she is a women who just wants the same respect and power as men instead of feeling inferior.Mainstream hip hop culture contradicts…

    • 389 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Morgan fears that black men and women are in a perpetual state of anger, willing to sacrifice themselves and each other in their despair and feeling fatalistically sure that they will hardly live into responsible adulthood. She is aware that one sign that rap music is not a productive solution— in addition to the misogyny it promotes — is that women participate in the sexism of rap videos and seem all too willing to sacrifice self-esteem to be a part of the rap culture. Thus Morgan’s call to address the problems rap music identifies is really a call for two things: an outlet for black men’s frustration that enables their voices to be heard without requiring black women to be demeaned in the process, and a change in the opportunities available to black men. She also fears the violence in the music and points at this as evidence of despair.…

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The reason that Morgan argues for Black women to support hip-hop is that Morgan sees hip-hop as "instrumental in exposing black men's pain, [and] it brings the healing sistas need right to the surface" (2000: 77). Hip-hop exposes the sexist beliefs that some Black men have about Black women, and it exposes the fact that there are Black women that enforce those sexist beliefs that Black men have. Morgan argues that Black male rappers are not at fault when they are angry at Black women who are interested in them only for their money. Black men do not create these images of Black women from thin air, but from their lived experiences. As a Black feminist, Morgan is arguing that we must listen to Black men's expression of their experiences because they are valid experiences and Black men are experts on their experiences.…

    • 1706 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pimps Up Ho

    • 1876 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In a generation where women have done extraordinary things such as run for Vice President, they are still seen by most men as their personal toys or objects. And to top it off, young men are starting to see women as such as well. Due to these “icons” such as DMX, Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, etc. are idolized by the youth but decide to relay the wrong message. Their constant use of bitches, sluts, ho’s, to describe women have been implanted in the youth and they believe it is okay to say. Not only have they implanted derogatory words, but have implanted negative perspective of women. More specifically, men and women alike have a misconception of “groupies”. Sharply Whiting in her book Pimps up, Ho’s Down: Hip Hop’s Hold on Young Black Woman, she addresses society’s stereotypes and misconceptions of groupies and the mindset of a lot of these women.…

    • 1876 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This article, written by Shanara R. Reid, discusses the over-sexualization of women in rap/hip hop songs and music videos, and the possible social causes of this. It has become apparent nowadays that women are heavily degraded in all kinds of media in order to appeal to the male viewing audience. Scantily clad women partaking in provocative dance routines and actions has become a norm of music videos. Machismo ideals that stress the extreme superiority of men over women and encourage the representation of women almost as an item prevail among lyrics. African-American women are especially susceptible to this kind of treatment, and many, including the author of this journal article, believe that more should be done by these women to protect the good name of their own class of people.…

    • 629 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hip Hop Summary

    • 1145 Words
    • 5 Pages

    This environment of drugs and gangs is a vicious cycle that has been implemented in there brains; since as far as they can remember. The music industry is there only way out because some never graduate high school or even go to college. And have no means of one day obtaining fame any other way. The truth is most of rappers & video vixens in this day in age are highly intelligent. Mclune states " But female hip-hop artist remain marginalized within the industry and culture except when they are trotted out to defend hip-hop against feminist criticism. But the truth is, all kinds of patriarchal institutions, organizations, and movements have women in their ranks in search of power and meaning. The token presence of individual women changes nothing if women as a group are still scapegoated and degraded" (215). Because of people like Mclune artist and women aren't respected for there artist views and expressions. And I feel it is sad that the general population put them down and challenges their intellectual capacities. If most rappers are ignorant as they say then why isn't everyone rich or famous?. We can even go into the people producing this hip-hop music its extremely hard to make music that appeals to everyone. All the obstacles that these men and women go through to make it in the industry while getting put down all the time should be respected. I feel that people truly don't understand them and always judge without knowing where they came from and what they been…

    • 1145 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The moral focus on music should be about respect. Even tough some individuals doesn't have a problem with not respecting themselves by exploiting their personal lives but, exploiting the individuals that lives in the similar situations is completely wrong. This writer had experienced many biases and ideas from white people that were totally wrong. They believed since the writer is black, he has experiences violence which is depicted in highly publicizes hip hop music. People from other culture listen to hip hop music and has formulated thoughts from the language and actions of the music. At times, many individuals who are black understands that people from other cultures believes that they all from broken homes and know somebody that sells narcotics. Now the black culture is misrepresented and has trouble erasing that…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Black Behavior

    • 450 Words
    • 2 Pages

    By Tricia Rose Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America (Music Culture) Description: From its beginnings in hip hop culture, the dense rhythms and aggressive lyrics of rap music have made it a provocative fixture on the American cultural landscape. In Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America, Tricia Rose, described by the New York Times as a "hip hop theorist," takes a comprehensive look at the lyrics, music, cultures, themes, and styles of this highly rhythmic, rhymed storytelling and grapples with the most salient issues and debates that surround it. Assistant Professor of Africana Studies and History at New York University, Tricia Rose sorts through rap's multiple voices by exploring its underlying urban cultural politics, particularly the influential New York City rap scene, and discusses rap as a unique musical form in which traditional African-based oral traditions fuse with cutting-edge music technologies. Next she takes up rap's racial politics, its sharp criticisms of the police and the government, and the responses of those institutions. Finally, she explores the complex sexual politics of rap, including questions of misogyny, sexual domination, and female rappers' critiques of men. But these debates do not overshadow rappers' own words and thoughts. Rose also closely examines the lyrics and videos for songs by artists such as Public Enemy, KRS-One, Salt N' Pepa, MC Lyte, and L. L. Cool J. and draws on candid interviews with Queen Latifah, music producer Eric "Vietnam" Sadler, dancer Crazy Legs, and others to paint the full range of rap's political and aesthetic spectrum. In the end, Rose observes, rap music remains a vibrant force with its own aesthetic, "a noisy and powerful element of contemporary American popular culture which continues to draw a great deal of attention to itself."…

    • 450 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    hooks says, “gangsta rap does not appear in a cultural vacuum, but, rather, is expressive of the cultural crossing, mixings, and engagement of black youth culture with the values, attitudes, and concerns of the white majority” (hooks 1). One of her subclaims is that black women are being exploited. Another subclaim discusses how some of the lyrics in gangsta rap were only created to attract audiences and to create controversy. Another subclaim talks about how society only cares about sexism when white youth use black popular culture to disrupt the values of the white elite. Because this piece was written in 1994, hooks analyzes gangsta rap, a popular music genre in the 90s, and provides examples of movies and songs that were relevant at the time as evidence to support her argument. The target audience consists of black feminists in 1994 and consumers and critics of gangsta rap who have been influenced by the media to believe that black males are solely to blame for encouraging male violence against women in gangsta rap. Her purpose is to urge her audience to challenge this media influence and to look at popular culture as a whole. hooks ultimately wants society to continue critiquing gangsta rap, however, there must be an addition of a critique of the supremacist white capitalist…

    • 1680 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women In Hip Hop Culture

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Hip Hop has gotten too hard core, it’s only about misogynist and materialism. Back in the day rappers had more to talk about than guns, money, jewels, cars and women. In today’s Hip Hop, it glorifies the ghetto, gangs, guns, money and jewelry which reinforces the tradition of the black stereotypes. Gangster rap is described as the angriest type of rap music where it glamorizes sex and violence. N.W.A was one of the most controversial rap groups in the world of hip hop who are known as the creators of “gansta rap”. The group was an influential force in the Hip-Hop culture because of their harsh music which questioned the government and the police. In all Hip-Hop music video you will always see a female flaunting her assets. These women are often called…

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Women's Image in Hip Hop

    • 3372 Words
    • 14 Pages

    Women, namely African American, have played a crucial role in Hip Hop culture: from the beginning with Cindy Campbell the sister of Kool Herc — who demonstrated her entrepreneurship of promoting his block parties; the idea of entrepreneurship is still deeply seeded in Hip Hop today—to Debra Lee, the president and CEO of BET. However, accounts of hip hop often downplay, or completely leave out, the contributions of women to hip hop as artist, entrepreneurs, producers, writers, etc. Women have influenced hip hop as much, if not more, than men; that is to say that all men can from one woman. In that case, why is it that currently in hip hop culture African American women’s image has been reduced to nothing more than the objects of their male counterparts?…

    • 3372 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hip Hop and Black Women

    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Today's society is heavily impacted by the music world. Music has a way with influencing its listeners, and many may argue that for some music types, this is a bad thing, especially for black women. Even with many new genres arising from the contemporary music scene , hip-hop has maintained it's leading popularity. In Jennifer McLune's “Hip-Hop's Betrayal of Black Women”, Hip-Hop is portrayed as a negative contender in the advocacy of female activism. Through the argument in this article, it can be understood that hip-Hop music more often that not, degrades women and what it means to be female.…

    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Alisa Valdes Rodriguez, a writer for the Los Angeles Times, appeals to her reader’s emotions in a manipulative way, resulting in a convincing argument about holding the music industry responsible for violence against women. She wrote an article titled “Is Music Issuing a Call to Violence?”. According to Ms. Rodriguez, misogynistic music in pop culture is considered one of the major culprits in glorifying abuse and violence towards women. She highlights examples such as the sexual assaults that happened in Central Park and her own personal experience when a young man acted aggressive towards her on the subway reciting rap lyrics. Racial stereotypes are brought up to explain why sexism is being shrugged off and not take seriously with her saying “I also honestly believe lots of people in the U.S. still believe black and brown men are somehow innately more barbaric than other men, and so excuse these lyrics as artistic expression of creatures from another universe”. She cites other examples and details as well which leads to her to put the blame on the music industry.…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Patricia Hill Collins asserts that the constant bombardment of these images through media have rendered Black women defenseless, as they are forced to internalize such pervasive images. Hill Collins discusses the constant spreading of these images through rap music and states, “Popular culture has become increasingly important in promoting these images, especially with new global technologies [...] images of Black women sexually available hoochies persist in Black music videos” (Collins 85). Not only does the endless assault come from White families, African American rappers do it also. Through this, one can recognize the very conflicting life of an African American, as they too perpetuate these images— ultimately making it harder for these Black women to escape them. The Black women must then find a place of solace where they can constantly negate these images and create their own sense of culture and…

    • 625 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays