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Depiction of females in rap music
Stereotypes for white women compared to black
Depiction of females in rap music
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To wreck, according to Gwendolyn Pough, is to dispel all stereotypes placed on black women. Stereotypes assigned because of intimidation, causing someone to be oppressed. Black women rappers have made a significant impact on the predominantly male Hip-Hop industries. To counter the negative representations of black women promoted by the male Hip-Hop culture, female rappers are “wrecking” the stereotypes and misconceptions. During the nineties, rapper Queen Latifah made a appearance, with lyrics that captivated political and social issues that inhibit black women’s interactions in the larger public sphere. Queen Latifah’s song “Ladies First”, which I believe elevates black women , addresses the issues of social undermining of black women
In his most recent album, Kanye West raps, “Now if I fuck this model/ And she just bleached her asshole/ And I get bleach on my T-shirt/ I 'mma feel like an asshole.” He suggests that it is the girl’s fault for getting bleach on his tee shirt, which she only did to make herself more sexually appealing. This misogyny in hip-hop culture is recognized to bring about problems. For instance, the women around these rappers believe they can only do well in life if they submit themselves to the men and allow themselves to be cared for in exchange for physical pleasure. In her essay, “From Fly-Girls to Bitches and Hoes”, Joan Morgan argues that the same rap music that dehumanizes women can be a powerful platform for gender equality if implemented correctly.
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
Queen Latifah played a big role in the hip hop industry as a female MC, and still is relevant to this day. She influenced millions of people especially in the black community for equality between women and men. She’s an American song-writer, actress, fashion producer, model, female MC, feminist, television producer, record producer, and talk show hostess. The Hip-hop culture began around the 1970’s in Bronx, New York and it was mostly amongst the Black and Latino community at that time. Hip Hop emerged out of an atmosphere of disappointment, anger, hate, discrimination, and disillusionment which; made it easy for the audience to comprehend and enjoy the music not as a song, but as a public personal message for each person to understand. Hip-hop was born in numerous places: in the neighborhoods, in the parks, playgrounds, bedrooms, bathrooms, a broken home, and even on the street corners. MC-ing and DJ-ing were at the center of this emerging culture, but hip-hop was always bigger than just the music, it was also break dancing and graffiti. The hip-hop fashion was very popular back then and some materials are coming back in today’s fashion as well: kangol hats, big bright jackets, gold jewelry chains, brand name sneakers like Adidas, established sportswear, tracksuits, large eyeglasses, big waist belts, jumpsuits, and any kind of over-sized clothing. The graffiti was a new form of expression that employed spray paint as a story on walls as the canvas. The police called that vandalism; but the people of hip hop called it art: a form of self-expression. Hip hop has been largely dominated by male artists, but there have been some notable exceptions. Queen Latifah was one of the few early female exponents of the styl...
The Black Public Relations Society hosted a general body meeting titled, “Black Women in the Media” in the Tuttleman Learning Center. The meeting was conducted by two of the black female students one of which was the president. Going into the meeting, I felt eager to get talking about the negative stereotypes on women. Now that I look back, I didn’t even think about the black women of the LGBTQIA+ community and how they are portrayed in the 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.
When looking at the landscape of Hip-Hop among African Americans, from the spawn of gangsta rap in the mid 1980s to current day, masculinity and an idea of hardness is central to their image and performance. Stereotypical to Black masculinity, the idea of a strong Black male - one who keeps it real, and is defiant to the point of violence - is prevalent in the genre. This resistant, or even compensatory masculinity, encompasses: the hyper masculinity rife in the Western world, misogyny, and homophobia, all noticeable in their lyrics, which is in part a result of their containment within the Black community. The link of masculinity and rap music was established due to this containment, early innovators remaking public spaces in their segregated neighbourhoods. A notion of authentic masculinity arose from the resistant nature of the genre, but the move to the mainstream in the 90s created a contradiction to their very image - resistance. Ultimately, this in part led to the construction of the masculinity defined earlier, one that prides itself on its authenticity. I’ll be exploring how gender is constructed and performed in Hip Hop, beginning with a historical framework, with the caveat of showing that differing masculine identities in the genre, including artists
Nationalities in society today have a stereotype that they are unfortunately characterized by. People assume that Asians are smart and good at martial arts, that the Irish swear too much and consume too much alcohol, that Americans are obese and lazy, and that African Americans are criminals into drugs and are in prison. These stereotypes make everyone of one nationality to be the same as individuals. There are, of course, people who fit the stereotype, which is how the stereotype came to be, but there is a large number of people who defy the stereotype of their race. The film industry helps to reiterate the stereotypes of certain races by matching the race of the actor with the character in the film for a certain effect. African Americans, specifically, in modern day films have been frequently seen to both
The play Blackrock, written by Nick Enright that was inspired by the murder of Leigh Leigh, which took place in Stockton in 1989. During this essay the following questions will be analysed, what stereotypes of women are depicted in the text, how do the male characters treat the female characters and how do the male characters talk about the female characters. These questions are all taken from the feminist perspective.
Not all African Americans are thugs and people that do not work. A lot of them have successful careers and have put in the time and effort to have good work ethic and be good people. African Americans have had a difficult history in the American film industry. During the early 20th century of filmmaking, blacks were stereotyped as not worthy of being in films, and they were only certain types of characters such as servants, mammies, and butlers. From several decades of filmmaking, African Americans have been sought out to be trouble makers, incapables, intellectually limited, and also lazy. Although blacks have won Academy Awards for acting, screenwriting, and music production they still find trouble in getting quality roles within the film industry. (Common Black Stereotypes)
Music is one of the greatest forms of art. It inspires many individuals and generations. As music continues to develop, so will society. As of today and what has been going on for decades is rap music and how it portrays women. Rappers often use females as a way to gain success and fame. Although rap is extremely popular and obtains a lot of attention, especially from teenagers, it is causing a lot of negative attention towards females. Younger generations are looking up to rappers and feel what they are rapping about are true. Because of this, women all over the globe are outraged at the fact that they are being portrayed in such a derogatory manner.
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.
However, the adverse impact has outweighed the positive results. For example, the stereotype belief that all black people are thieves or associated with all the social evils in the society has led to police brutality (Couillard, 2013). Police officers discriminate and falsely accuse black forks of a crime they might not have committed. It has led to African-Americans becoming bitter and resenting the police department officials. Effects of Prejudice on Me Prejudice always makes me feel aggrieved since it violates my human rights.
African Americans have been the subject of cruel, demeaning, and shameful stereotypes in the media for the longest and it is still going on today. Whether on stage, on the movie screen, or in music, or even right before your eyes on the television screen some people still can’t see the signs of African American stereotyping and it needs to be stopped.
Ben Yagoda writes in The Sound on the Page, that “each writer has a stylistic fingerprint”, which can be seen throughout most of the author’s works. Suzan Lori Parks displays a very prominent, and impactful fingerprint. Her stories are always pushing the limits of some cultural, social, or emotional boundary. She is overall a visionary, and this distinct empowering theme can be found in most works throughout her literary canon. For example, in her playwright Topdog/ Underdog, which reworks the ways of characters from her play The America Play (1993), she tells the tale of Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth in a slightly different way than our history books do. Suzan Lori Parks wrote this
The black woman, she is as diverse and as beautiful as the billions of humans she gave birth to. The first homo sapiens to appear in the fertile land of East Africa were nurtured from her bosom; the wisdom and strength that is characteristic of the black woman today is not a recent acquisition but qualities that were honed over thousand of years. Every woman on this earth has mitochondrial DNA (mitochondrial DNA is the DNA transferred from mother to child and the only genetic material that stands the test of time)from Lucy, the small black woman found in the Awash Valley in Ethiopia. Lucy is her English name but I prefer the appellation given to her by the Ethiopians, Dinkesh, which means "you are beautiful" or "you are wonderful." Her dark skin, beautiful lips and course hair is not a sign of shame or inferiority but of the dominance of her genes. The fact that any baby born by a black woman and a male of another race will more likely resemble its mother is a testament to that dominance, a testament that within the veins of a black woman lies the blue print to life. However, put aside all that I have stated and yet the black woman is still not given the respect that is due to her. A travesty has been committed that leaves the black woman dying alone and her offspring fatherless. Single black mothers are ubiquitous to every black neighborhood and casts a negative cloud on a whole people who have lost the basic atom of what makes a people a people: family.