Jerilynn Webster; also known as ‘JB The First Lady’, is an Indigenous Vancouver based beat-boxer, hip-hop artist, activist, aboriginal youth educator and a single mother (News, CBC). Jerilynn is a proud Indigenous member of the Nuxalk and Cayuga (Six) Nation (Jb the First Lady) who immensely contributes to her community. She was born in Moosejaw, Saskatchewan in an impoverished ‘single-parent, Christian home” (Warner). Upon her arrival to Vancouver; at the age of 14, she was flooded by a culture-shock of experienced racism and discrimination as people negatively labelled her with elements of her race and culture (Hong). It was after this incident that she began to become aware of the profound issues living in a white-dominated city. She often attended the friendship centre where she felt at home and began her own career as an emcee, director and actor (Hong). She also began recording in a studio called KAYA (Knowledge Aboriginal Youth Association) (Hong). Seeing that her childhood memories restricted her from listening to music with the exception of Christian or ‘50s music (Warner), in her lyrics, Jerilynn delivers messages of racism, discrimination, effects of residential schooling, female empowerment, female experiences, and other politicized topics (JB The First Lady). Jerilynn states, “Using my words to go upwards/ not backwards”, she strives to empower, motivate and encourage the Native culture to fulfill their dreams and achieve the unachievable(Jb the First Lady). More importantly, Jerilynn’s motive is to “...capture the moment and the environment that we’re in, but come with a female perspective”(News, CBC). Thus, drawing on feminist and intersectional theories, this paper will highlight JB The First lady’s demonstration o... ... middle of paper ... ...ng” which all have been directed to the experiences of female perspectives. . Through hip-hop, Jerilynn approporatelydelivered messages of female experiences as she states, “...to provide safe spaced for people to express themselves...”(Warner). Drawing on feminist and intersectional theories, this paper highlighted JB The First lady’s demonstrates bodies of possibilities since she counters the negative labels of assumptions of Native women and encourages them to fight against it. Her analysed works, “Get Ready, Get Steady” and “Too late to apologize” discuss the issues in Native communities. In summary, JB the First Lady states, “ “A lot of our music talks about manifesting and encouraging people to find their own gifts and where they come from” (Hong). Thus, Jerilynn’s goal is to motivate the fallen youth of the Native community to get back up and be the change.
Jiwani and Young's argument also causes me to consider Audra Simpson's talk, "The Chief's Two Bodies," in which she discusses both how and why the eradication of Aboriginal women was necessary to the development of patriarchal colonialist society. In short, Simpson acknowledges that through the creation "status," an arbitrary blood relationship to one's Aboriginal lineage, marriage, and scrip colonialist were able to remove land "ownership" from Aboriginal women, by essentially making them invisible. In effect, Jiwani and Young reinforce and provide evidence to suggest that ideologically, the concept of Aboriginal women being invisible or contrarily "hypervisable" (899), in that they are the antithesis of the "good" Christian women (the mother, the sister, the wife, the virgin) creates a binary. These apposing ideological women cause a "moral and racialized economy of representation [that] works to privilege dominate societal norms" (Jiwani and Young, 904). What is interesting about these discursive modes is the fact that news reporting itself is a colonialist practice rooted in economic stability. These modes maintains the cycle of violence and marginalization and only counter media rooted in art, such as the "Red Dress Campaign," or the "Walking with Our Sister's Campaign" which, bring awareness to the Aboriginal perspective can act as a retaliation to standard media
In The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto, Imani Perry argues that the over-sexualized, unattainable bodies of black women in popular culture will lead to the breakdown of feminism and the positive body image of the everyday black women. As hip hop music continues to become more popular, the sexist messages presented in lyrics and music videos are becoming more common to the everyday public, including young black girls developing a self-image. Instead of these girls being exposed to healthy, positive role models who encourage individuality and that there is more to a woman than her body they are given hip hop video models whose only purpose is to look sensual on screen. The strong women that do exist in the hip hop genre are pushed to sexualize themselves or their lyrics to sell records or stay relatively unknown. Although Perry’s arguments are logical, I believe that she is creating a slippery slope of logic. A genre of music cannot destroy the self-image of black women that has existed for generations.
Nina Simone used music to challenge, provoke, incite, and inform the masses during the period that we know as the Civil Rights Era. In the songs” Four Women”, “Young Gifted and Black”, and Mississippi God Damn”, Nina Simone musically maps a personal "intersectionality" as it relates to being a black American female artist. Kimberly Crenshaw defines "intersectionality" as an inability for black women to separate race, class and gender. Nina Simone’s music directly addresses this paradigm. While she is celebrated as a prolific artist, her political and social activism is understated despite her front-line presence in the movement.
She illuminates the hidden causes of the harsh sexism in rap music lyrics and argues that one needs to look deeper to understand why the misogyny exists and how women in her culture need to respond and also start taking responsibility for its existence in order for changes to begin to take place. In the article “ From Fly -Girls to Bitches and Hos “ the dysfunction of our black men is evident, but somehow it’s seen and admired manliness and success. For example the life of Notorious BIG was one of the rap kings that live a life of jail, sex , drugs and murder that “ the seeming impenetrable wall of sexism in rap music is really the complex mask of American often wear both to hide “ . Joan Morgan was vivid as to show the pain men must be feeling so badly that they had to use disrespectful slurs and hateful comment says their music lyrics. I agree with the fact that in today’s society the "bitches and hos" have become the norm. From my perspective that many guys often believe that is how all women act and that they are all pimps and
“Reclaiming Culture and the Land: Motherhood and the Politics of Sustaining Community” is about a mother who is a Native American activist who has two children, she wants them to be raised and go to school in an Indian community. “I put my children in that school because I wanted them to be in the Indian community.” She explains that she is not sure if her children know what she is doing is common, but they know that what she is doing is right. “My children do have the sense that what I do is not necessarily common. Recently my daughter started asking me if I’m famous.” She has fought for her children to have a good life, full of community, ritual, and an understanding of who they are and where they come from.
Mcnab, Miriam. "Aboriginal Women's Issues". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Toronto: Historica Canada, 2006. Web. 8 Feb 2006
The most poignant finding is not that black and whites think differently about its meaning, but what emerged was the acknowledgement that Hip-Hop was created as a tool to voice the sentiments of the disenfranchised. This locates the birth of Hip-Hop in cradles of disenfranchisements, the hood. Hip-hop worked as a megaphone, a magnifying glass that candidly told whoever would listen about the hardships, injustice and racism faced by those living in American ghettos. It worked as a tool to tell the stories of the people living there in order to build empathetic conversatio...
Oswald, Janelle. “Is Rap Turning Girls into Ho’s?” The Black Book: A Custom Publication. 3rd ed. Ed. Sam Pierstorff. Modesto: Quercus Review Press, 2012. 171-175.
It is a day in the summer of 1974 on the block of 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, Bronx, NY. The grass is blazing, the air is fresh, and the kids are shrieking with joy. This is where it happened. DJ Kool Herc popped in his new record playing smooth rhythms of jazz and blues with the integration of Jamaican sound creating a new genre that would soon sweep the nation. He called it Hip-Hop. Some would call it “black noise”, but to urban African Americans it was music they could own; music they could learn to appreciate and adore. As they faced afflictions like racism, oppression, drugs, and much more, they used this new found hip- hop to express their thoughts and feelings. Today, we try to understand where this passion and substance in rap has escaped; if it was left to wither in the blazing grass, or blow away in the fresh air. Today, we try to understand what is hip hop, and why it’s becoming the “black noise” we once denied it to be. Ever since rap officially emerged in the 1970s, critics had a negative reaction; even when rap had meaning and substance and consisted of people telling their stories. Now that rap has become more contemptuous, critics have began to question what rap is really about. It is clear themes have changed: But at what point? And how? Furthermore, how has this impacted blacks and their image, who dominate the rap industry. Conclusively, while themes in mid 20th century rap have been known to revolve around aspects like politics and unity, currently rap has underwent a dramatic change now producing themes that promote violence, among many other things, and has ultimately painted a negative image of African Americans.
On Being Young-A Woman-and Colored an essay by Marita Bonner addresses what it means to be black women in a world of white privilege. Bonner reflects about a time when she was younger, how simple her life was, but as she grows older she is forced to work hard to live a life better than those around her. Ultimately, she is a woman living with the roles that women of all colors have been constrained to. Critics, within the last 20 years, believe that Marita Bonners’ essay primarily focuses on the double consciousness ; while others believe that she is focusing on gender , class , “economic hardships, and discrimination” . I argue that Bonner is writing her essay about the historical context of oppression forcing women into intersectional oppression by explaining the naturality of racial discrimination between black and white, how time and money equate to the American Dream, and lastly how gender discrimination silences women, specifically black women.
With this article, Lamotte details the early history of Hip Hop with a focus centered on Afrika Bambaataa, who founded the Universal Zulu Nation (UZN). The UZN was founded as an organization to promote peace and positivity through the usage of Hip Hop, which, at the time, merely consisted of block parties in The Bronx. These block parties were initially gang led, with different styles of Hip Hop existing amongst different gangs, but Bambaataa succeeded in bringing these gangs together peacefully. This formed the basis for Hip Hop as both a musical genre, as each assimilated gang combined their techniques, and a cultural movement, as Bambaataa intended Hip Hop to provide a peaceful outlet for those in underprivileged communities a chance to speak. Because of this, Lamotte argues that the Hip Hop of today is, “exported far beyond its original social context,” (692) with genres such as Gangsta Rap or Trap Rap that seem to promote endless controversy is, he argues, is not what Hip Hop is
On January 29, 2015, I attended Pamela Palmater’s book launch for her book, “Indigenous Nationhood,” which was a two-hour event that started from 6 PM to 8 PM. Palmater is a well-known lawyer, activist and academic from the Eel River Bar First Nation in northern New Brunswick. The event started with an opening performance from the Hidden River Singers. Palmater then addressed the crowd for around 30-40 minutes, in which the audience, including myself, sat in awe at the passion and intensity in her voice in empowering Indigenous people. She emphasized the importance of exercising peoples’ voices, both allies and Indigenous people, in advocating for Indigenous rights and freedom. A question and answer portion then followed and Palmater answered
Kelm, Mary, and Lorna Townsend. In the days of our grandmothers: a reader in Aboriginal women's history in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006.
The cultural theory helps expand the knowledge of “hip hop” as an idea and influence on society. Mark Anthony Neal discusses the development of the understanding of hip hop by dissecting the layers and complexities of the culture, “Hip-hop music and culture emerged as a narrative and stylistic distillation of African-American youth sensibilities in the late 1970s,” within What the Music Said (Woldu 18). Urban history is a large, yet vital characteristic throughout the study of hip hop and its progression; Russell Potter shows how critical the representation of black musical expression and the “history of vernacular speech” is for the hip hop community in his book, Spectacular Vernaculars (Woldu 19). As decades pass and the hip hop scene expands, the history of this culture becomes influenced by more historical movements and creations. However, that is not the only historical significance that runs deep within the hip hop culture. The history and influence of the black feminist movement within the hip hop scene became a demanding characteristic in the development of the hip hop culture. As the gender divide became an evident aspect through the hip hop generation, women, especially female rappers,
Women have consistently been perceived as second-class citizens. Even now, in times when a social conscience is present in most individuals, in an era where an atmosphere of gender equality 'supposedly' exists, it is blatantly apparent that the objectification and marginalization of women is still a major social issue. In reality, progression in terms of reducing female exploitation has been stagnant at best. Not only is the degradation of women a major problem that to date has not been eradicated, but it is actually being endorsed by some music celebrities. There are a growing number of people who purchase rap albums that support the fallacy that women are mere objects and should be treated as such. As the popularity of rap continues to climb at unprecedented rates, so too does its influence on the perception of women. In the vast majority of hip-hop songs, the depiction of women as sexual objects, the extreme violence directed towards them and the overall negative influence these lyrics have on the average adolescent's perception of women make rap the absolute epitome of female exploitation.