Hip hop is a form of art that African Americans have been using to get away from oppressions in their lives and allowed their voices to be heard in some type of way. As soon as big corporations seen the attention hip hop brought to the scene, they wanted to capitalize on it. These corporations picked specific types of attributes that some hip hop artists had and allowed it to flourish. The attributes that these artists carried were hypermasculinity, homophobia, violence and sexism. In the book, Hip Hop Wars by Tricia Rose discusses some of these specific attributes. One of the most damaging attribute is when hip hop is used to sexualize and demean everything about being a woman. Tricia Rose writes about this issue in chapter 5 of her book …show more content…
The song is set around Chief keef being on the phone and talking to a woman, he refers to the woman on the song as a bitch, hoe, and thottie. The word thottie is derived from the word thot, which is an acronym for “that hoe over there”. The song states “You wanna Glo up, baby, Keef got you/You's a gold bottle, these hoes pink Moscato/Baby I'm the owner, you can be my castle”. This line right here compares the woman to other women by saying she is a better bottle of liquor than other women and calls her his property when he says you can be my castle. Then he goes on to say in the song “ Baby cause I like you/Only reason I text you and why I Skype you/I just wanna fuck on you, I don't wanna wife you/But you gotta brush your teeth and do what I say though/(Hello?)/Bitch can you hear me?/Keep your pussy in park, no 360... I don't wanna smell you/Cause I'ma cut/you off, quicker than I met you/I'ma swipe your name up off my schedule/And if smoke this blunt, girl, I'm gon' forget you”. The lyrics basically says the women is just there for his sexual pressure and he does not plan on making her more than that; he also tells the women that he has to be the one in control if she wants to continue this relationship; then he tells her, he will completely stop communicating/seeing her, if she does not do what he wants her to do and she can be …show more content…
First of all he calls the woman in the song, a bitch. It starts off with a skit and in this skit with the few lines it contains, the woman is completely disrespected because she does not provide the answer that was he wanted to hear. The script is “Yo let—let—let me ask you a question yo / Yo, would you kill for me? / Hmmm... yeah / What took you so long to answer motherfucker? / I don't know / The fuck wrong with you bitch?” he later on raps “And I admit, when the time is right, the wine is right / I treat you right, you talk slick, I beat you right / Just me and my bitch, me and my bitch.” Biggie says he beats his partner anytime she says something he does not like which promotes physical and emotional abuse to the people that listen to his music. People will think there is no problem with putting there hands on their partner cause Bigge does it. Biggie sends out the wrong type of message to people about how they should treat their partner in a
In the article “ From Fly to Bitches and Hoes” by Joan Morgan, she often speaks about the positive and negative ideas associated with hip-hop music. Black men display their manhood with full on violence, crime, hidden guilt, and secret escapes through drugs and alcohol. Joan Morgan’s article views the root causes of the advantage of misogyny in rap music lyrics. In the beginning of the incitement her desires shift to focus on from rap culture condemnation to a deeper analysis of the root causes. She shows the hidden causes of unpleasant sexism in rap music and argues that we need to look deeper into understanding misogyny. I agree with Joan Morgan with the stance that black men show their emotions in a different way that is seen a different perspective.
The very title of the song endorses the use of the expression “bad b*tches”. In the music industry, the used of the word “b*tch” is not uncommon. It is most commonly used by men as a means of degrading women. Female rappers, like Trina, try to change what is a degrading word and turn it into a compliment. Female rappers like herself use this “bad b*tch” persona as a defense mechanism. They call themselves these distasteful words before a man has the chance to do it. They see it as strength and rejoice in beating them to the punch. It is a dangerous game they are playing. Throughout Trina’s song “Da baddest b*tch” she referred to herself as a bad b*tch multiple times. “I'm representin' for the bitches/All eyes on your riches” Trina’s depiction of a “bad b*tch” in this song is a woman that is concerned with money and the possession of money; A woman that would do anything to make money no matter the cost. This message is a harmful one. The word “b*tch” is not empowering; it is demeaning. Women give men an excuse to refer to them as “b*tches” because women call themselves’ and other women “b*tches” and “bad b*tches”. Women need to wake up and really that they will not be respected by men or either other women with such behavior. Calling yourself a “b*tch” or “bad b*tch” is a welcome mat to disrespect. Women should resist the catchy lyrics and clever hooks of the songs both me...
The semantics of the word “hoe” lead to defenders’ thoughts that a man can be a “ho” too. Men who defend this thought might point to the fact that a ho is “…anyone who has ‘too much’ indiscriminate sex…” (Rose, 171). In this instance, they are putting less weight into the fact that these words are used to put down women. Rappers might use these terms in lyrics in order to diss another man by attacking their manliness. Defenders of hip hop like rappers say that “bitches and hoes” are a specific type of girl, and that when they use those words, they don’t mean to reference all women. However, the reality is that rappers use these words pertaining to all women. Women who listen to the music are attracted to this demeaning image, because at least it would be “about them”. So, when hip hop’s defenders’ say that “there are bitches and hoes” to further their argument for hip hop, they reassure women that a hyper-sexualized image and lifestyle is acceptable. For this reason, this argument ignores the effects of these impressions on women, and attempts to legitimize the classification of women as figures existing to be used by
Erykah Badu talks about what another woman has versus what she has and how her man still wants Erykah, in her song “Booty.” In the first verse she says, “your booty might be bigger, but I still can pull your nigga.” This brings up a good point, often in hip hop and the culture surrounding it, a girl with a big booty is more desireable. Slim figured, Erykah Badu is contradicting that by saying she can still get the other girl’s man. This song is interesting because throughout the versus Erykah is basically ridiculing the other woman and showing while she is better, showcasing the expected competition between women for a man’s attention. Than in the refrain Erykah is explaining why she does not want a man that is already involved with someone, it is likely that he would do it to her to, she is also warning the other woman and urging her
This simultaneously puts down woman through sexual objectification while he puts men on a pedestal as the gender that must be catered to. A lyric that particularly stands out is when Brown says, “Do what he wants, give what he wants, respect will come to you and then you can hold your man, you can hold your man” (Brown). This line can be interpreted as Brown saying that respect can only be earned through a woman’s ability to appease her man. Unfortunately hypermasculine themes have also made their way into hip hop music, only now they are even more explicit and this theme shows no sign of stopping anytime soon. The film Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes highlights some of the contemporary issues in hip hop music and two of those issues include the glorification of hypermasculinity and misogynistic views through hip hop lyrics, performances and videos. Author, teacher and radio host Michael Dyson says, “When you think about American society,
Despite its increasing popularity, hip-hop music often implements misogynistic ideals by portraying women as sexual objects or as helpless beings in need of savior.
“Huh, a young nigga on the warpath/ And when I’m finished, it’s gonna be a bloodbath.” Ice Cube is tired of the LAPD and wishes to have a war with them to kill all police officers, especially the ones who have killed his friends and family. “Fuck tha police! / Fuck tha police! / Fuck tha police! / Fuck tha police!” The hook in this song is where they vent out their frustration towards the LAPD. Their repetitive use of the word “fuck,” including in the title, symbolizes their hate towards the police. “They put out my picture with silence/ ‘Cause my identity by itself causes violence,” This is a very powerful line because black men in American are depicted as criminals or as a symbol of violence. “Without a gun and a badge what do you got? / A sucker in a uniform waiting to get shot” Police officers are like any other person in a neighborhood. They only feel powerful by carrying a badge and a gun as stated in the lyrics. If police officers did not have a gun, they would have been dead in the dangerous neighborhoods of Los Angeles. “Just sit your ass on the curb and shut the fuck up! /Man, fuck this shit! / A’ight, smartass, I’m taking your black ass to jail!” “This type of commentary is what police officers would tell colored
Surrounded by the trees and Ivy League . Students that's recruited highly. Thinkin' "You do you and I do me". Crib has got a big 'ol back 'ol yard. My niggas stand outside and pass cigars, filled with marijuana, laughin' hard; thankful that they friend's a platinum star. In the driveway there's no rapper cars just some shit to get from back and forth, just some shit to get from back and forth. Welcome to the Sheltuh, this is pure. We'll help you if you've felt too insecure. To be the star you always knew you were. Wait, I think police is at the door”, which leads into the chorus “Okay, the neighbors think I’m sellin’ dope.”. What these lyrics explain clearly is the racism that is still present in America today. J. Cole made his money legally just like most of the black community in America and wanted to create a safe haven for other black artist to be successful. Just because him and his friends are ethnically and culturally different than the white community in America people viewed them differently. Differently enough to call the police on them with little to no reason. He uses other examples like this later in the song to explain his differences from the mainstream white community affect his everyday life. One other example of this is some of the lyrics in his second verse. “Took a little break just
Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.” It is not a mystery that minorities were oppressed throughout the history of the United States. In 1990 70% of African Americans and Hispanics in their mid to late twenties held a high school diploma or higher compared to the 86% that their white counterparts achieved. The disparities were obvious throughout the decade. The hip-hop culture gave minorities a voice and a realm to express themselves. There were always minorities who experienced the same lives as the majority of America did, but hip hop mainly spoke to those minorities in urban neighborhoods who were entrapped by violence and negativity. Most of these minorities were young people who were reaching the peak of their adolescent years. Their attitudes could be seen in the lyrics of Notorious B.I.G. when he chants, “I don’t want to live no more. Sometimes I hear death knocking at my front door,” in the song “Everyday Struggle.” Without hip-hop music I believe there would be more minority violence because this was the only genre of music that spoke specifically to minorities, especially those in the inner cities. Hip hop was monumental because it did not apply to one group of minorities; every aspect of the minority population was represented by artists who presented different lyrical content and cultural messages. The genre also gave those who were not minorities a look into the insight of those who were being oppressed, ultimately creating some form of understanding. The majority population could never fully understand the minority population because they never would have the opportunity to experience ...
He says “What we need is awareness/ we can’t get careless.” Here Chuck D means that we have to know what is going on in this country and we cannot ignore it. He infers that we must take strides to get better with these issues. Chuck D also raps “Elvis was a hero to most/ but he never meant s**t to me/ straight up racist the sucker was/ simple and plain.” He clarified later that he meant that, although Elvis was extremely celebrated, he was known as the “King” even though there had been many black musicians who came before him and influenced him heavily. After this line Flava Flav yells “Muthaf**k him and John Wayne.” Chuck D stated that this was about an interview for Playboy that John Wayne had done saying “I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of
“I got a a$$ so big like the sun”(Look Back At It),this is one of Trina 's dirtiest lyrics. Rihanna in her song even say , “suck my cockiness, lick my persuasion”(Cockiness). Lyrics like this are common in songs by many black women in the music industry such as Lil Kim, Janet Jackson, Salt N Pepa , Ciara, and the list goes on and on. These lyrics send the message that women songs should contain vulgar language and that women should want to look like the artist that performing these lyrics. Just like The Commodores say, “ She`s a brick house. . That lady 's stacked and that 's a fact”. (Brickhouse) Generations are growing up with this perception that body parts are a commodity. Girls aren 't born hating their body , we teach it to them through the music and other forms of popular culture. Black women in the music industry are upholding the ideal body image for women more than promoting the a positive body image to those who looks up to them.
Williams writes of how the rap music of today is very negative. In the first place, he explains that most of the well-known rappers are choosing to take the worst parts of humanity and make them seem as though they are the best parts of life. Then, instead of lifting up one another and giving words of encouragement, these singers are calling themselves and others the worst words created. In reality, they encourage females to be sexually open with as many partners as possible and to allow their main man treat them however he wishes.
The article contends that hip-hop feminists seek to discover the conditions that give rise to the misogynist and violent lyrics that are prevalent in mainstream rap music. The major critiques that second generation feminists push are: over-emphasis on misogyny, narrow conception of feminist identities, and the application of outdated and ineffectual strategies (Peoples, 2007). Rappers such as MC Lyte, Queen Latifah and Rhapsody advocate for the empowerment of black women alongside resisting racism and men’s sexism. Hence, personally, I find the journal as critically underpinning in highlighting developments in feminists movements. Also, in dissecting the view of feminism in relation to the hip-hop
Cole is aware that he’s superior to the new rappers, mainly because of his genius lyrics. So, in spite of the overhype and attention new rappers are getting, J. Cole decided to address the situation by releasing his new single “everybody dies.” The first verse begins with a line hinting at the reason for the out-of-the-blue song: “Look, It’s the return of the Mr. Burn Suckers.” Contradicting his other nickname, “Mr. Nice Watch,” J. Cole goes with ‘Mr. Burn Suckers’ because he is about to burn, or diss, the sucker rappers that he feels have changed the rap game. Perhaps the most pivotal line in this song is one in which he takes shots at “mumble rappers” Lil Yachty, Lil Uzi Vert, and Kodak Black. The hateful line reads as such: “The would-you-take-a-break-please rappers/ Bunch of words ain’t sayin’ shit, I hate these rappers/ Especially the amateur eight week rappers/ Lil’ whatever- just another short bus rapper.” This line accurately depicts what the rap scene has come to in the recent years, especially when he mentions that their words ‘ain’t sayin shit.’ A common theme in the songs these rappers have produced is their low vocabulary, blended together with their incomprehensible voices. This form of music is destroying the, once praised, genre of rap. These new artists are the only reason why some rappers are considered ‘lyrical’. Since their lyrics are meaningless and, for the most part, obnoxious, the lyrical rap genre had to be created for the artists who still
“The art of rap is deceptive. It seems so straightforward and personal and real that people read it completely literally, as raw testimony or autobiography. And sometimes the words we use, nigga, bitch, motherfucker, and the violence of the images overwhelms some listeners. It's all white noise to them till they hear a bitch or a nigga and then they run off yelling "See!" and feel vindicated in their narrow conception of what the music is about.”