1. Straight Outta Compton was produced by the N.W.A. The N.W.A. consist of seven members. Although, in the song you only hear from Ice Cube, Eazy - E, and MC Ren. Throughout the song we hear from those members rap about their rough experiences in Compton. However, since theirs three different people in the song, you witness three different interpretations of their experiences within the same city. Through the summarization of cyphers, Ice Cube’s rap is mainly about how in Compton he’s well-informed and if you want to call him out the police will have to save you because, he will fight you. Next, underneath MC Ren’s cyphers, it is mostly about how he is not scared to fight, better yet, the more he fights the more his reputation grows. He also …show more content…
raps some derogatory words about women. Lastly, Eazy – E’s cyphers are mainly centered around how he is dangerous and even when the police lock him up he gets out on bail. He also lets us know he isn’t scared of the police, that he is ruthless. Some people would argue that the song is a representation of violence. However, they must not understand the cyphers that occur within the song. You must be able to comprehend the cyphers to truly understand the song’s central idea. Therefore, the central idea of the song, Straight Outta Compton is if you live in the gangster life of Compton you immediately identify with it being a rough area to live and breath in. You must be tough and rough to survive it. Meaning, if your “Straight Outta Compton,” your aware of what real violence is and how to survive it. 2.
Within the song Straight Outta Compton I would argue that it has some lyrics regarding gender. In the song women are referenced to in a derogatory way. MC Ren refers to women by using the words” pussy”, “bitch”, “slut”, and “dirty-ass hoe.” This derogatory way to reference a woman is very disrespectful. However, it appears that MC Ren is not the one to blame. Too Short is the one to blame because he made men know that the correct way to pronounce “woman” or “girl” was “bitch.” Although, if you cypher what MC Ren is saying about the women it is a different story. Mc Ren wouldn’t disrespect women only “bitches.” Through cyphering you would be able to understand that N.W.A was in no way calling the women “bitches,” but the conceited women who couldn’t understand the cyphers were the “bitches” in their songs. Meaning, they wouldn’t expect for black women to understand their cyphers at all or anyone else besides the black males. Another example within the song would be when Eazy – E is saying how he does not care if a “bitch” gets shot because he is no “sucker”. You may find it somewhat disturbing that if a woman was shot that Eazy – E doesn’t care. Although, you must remember that in Compton shots were fired all the time, it was a rough city. Secondly, he doesn’t care because the woman that is shot is not a woman in his eyes by reading into his cyphering.3 Nevertheless, the women were simply women, but those self-absorbed women were the “bitches” in
reference. 3. The song Straight Outta Compton unquestionably contains some misogynist lyrics towards women. If the group believed a woman was self-centered or slept around then she was a “bitch”.3 However, the men can sleep around and have a big ego, and everything is fine. At the end of the song Eazy – E raps, “This is an autobiography of the E, and if you ever fuck with me, you'll get taken by a stupid dope brother who will smother word to the motherfucker, Straight Outta Compton,” even without cyphering what he means you can tell that he is conceited. I would argue that he is conceited because through cyphering Eazy -E is saying, if you mess with him he will have someone take your life. A man saying if you mess with him and the result is death is quite harsh. Yet, if a woman said the same thing Eazy – E did, there would just be laughter. The idea of this is sexist meaning, I would have to argue that this is misogynistic due to the idea that the group is being hypocritical. Men believe that women are “bitches” due to Too Short manipulating their idea of a woman being a “bitch”. However, now we see how men are becoming hypocritical within the Straight Outta Compton song. Men can be egoistic, due to the general norms that have been taught to us. Although, if a woman is seen to be egoistic she is not seen as an equal to a man but quiet the opposite, a “bitch” which results in to sexist ideas.
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.
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...
I say this because it better informed me on issues that I have known were present in the hip hop/rap culture. One of the main points in the film was the manhood in hip-hop culture. Before I dig into this topic one thing to understand is that hip-hop was created in the slums of New York. People grew up in very tough times; poverty was the norm, violence was high, and drugs influenced people’s lives. As you watch the film you can clearly see that all of the artists portray a tough “don’t mess with me” image. When asked why Hip-Hop promotes these images artists responded almost unanimously. They said that when you grow up in tough conditions you can’t be a punk. People see anything that’s not toughness weak. Anybody who isn’t perceived as tough is looked at like a bitch. Another big topic in the film was the way hip-hop victimizes women, and African American women in particular. The culture of Hip-Hop reduces women to sex objects. They’re half naked or more in the music videos and dancing explicitly. An issue in the film was when popular rapper Nelly swiped his credit card down a woman’s butt cheeks in a music video. This lead Nelly to cancel a bone marrow donation event at Spellman College after students said they were going to protest. Another issue in the film was homophobia. When a rapper named of Busta Rhymes was asked about homophobia he didn’t even respond to the question he completely walked off set. That
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
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
“The widespread perception of Black women is based on mainstream misogyny” and because it is main, a social norm, and a way for young Black people to be unified “[Black females] accept stereotypical views and unconscious behaviors that devalue women and esteem men”(Henry, West, & Jackson 245). As long as hip hop continues to thrive on misogyny and people continue to ignore that it is an issue Black females will continue to reap the internal and sometimes physical
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
bell hooks shows us that black male sexism is real and it is in America’s music. She is correct, but it is not just against the white people of America. Snoop Dogg’s album is degrading toward the girl whose butt’s out of the doghouse, but it
Rap is about giving voice to a black community otherwise underrepresented, if not silent, in the mass media. It has always been and remains … directly connected to the streets from which it came. (144)
Those in the mainstream have long considered rap music controversial. However its controversy escalated to a whole new level when the world was introduced to “Gangsta Rap,” where violent acts and suggestions are graphically portrayed (yale). The notorious rap group responsible for the introduction of gangsta rap was NWA (bomp). Gangsta rap has been criticized and debated over for its graphic sexual content, and violent imagery (yale). The lyrics in many songs contain violent and explicit lyrics that usually talk about killing someone along with sounds of gunshots in the background. Gangsta rap also talks about drug use and portrays negative attitudes toward women, especially black women. The artists refer to women as, “bitches,” “whores” and sex dispensing “hoes.” On the contrary there is a nice sideffect to controversy; you can use it
The oppressive picture displaying the sexual objectification of women that most hip-hop artists paint while rapping can only be described as appalling. Many artists imply that a woman?s sole purpose is to gratify a man?s every sexual desire. For instance, ?Nelly?s ?Tip Drill? goes as far to portray scantily clad women as sexual appliances? (Weisstuch). Though Nelly is relatively mild when contrasted to other hip-hop artists, his actualization of women cannot be ignored. By calling women ?sexual appliances,? Nelly essentially promotes the idea that it is customary to view all women solely as sexual objects. Moreover, the generic ?sex appe...
Rap started in the mid-1970s in the South Bronx area of New York City. The birth of rap is, in many ways, like the birth of rock and roll. Both originated in the African American community and both were first recorded by small, independent record labels and marketed towards, mostly to a black audience. And in both cases, the new style soon attracted white musicians that began performing it. For rock and roll it was a white American from Mississippi, Elvis Presley. For rap it was a young white group from New York, the Beastie Boys. Their release “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)” (1986) was one of the first two rap records to reach the Billboard top-ten. Another early rap song to reach the top ten, “Walk This Way” (1986), was a collaboration of Run-DMC and Aerosmith. Soon after 1986, the use of samples was influenced in the music of both black and white performers, changing past thoughts of what make up a “valid” song.
Misogyny and degradation of women is present in almost every genre of music, yet the one genre that completely revolves around demeaning women is rap. Over the years rap and rap music videos have continually become more sexual and degrading towards women. Rap has been criticized numerous times for this reason, and that is because rap is one of the most popular genres of music for the younger generations. It is more than a genre of music, it is a complete industry filled with clothing and other merchandise. The reason this constant demeaning of women exists is because rap as a genre that rewards the objectification of women. The excuses used to justify the misogyny in rap are incomplete and lack accurate support. The most effective way for this continuous cycle ends, is if the fight and protest comes from the women themselves. Men are the problem in the objectification of women but in order for it to stop, women need to step up and take control of the situation.
The film highlights how the rappers— specifically Eazy-E, Ice Cube, and Dr. Dre—were driven to create music fueled by their frustrations with law enforcement and devastating events such as the Rodney King beating and the L.A. riots. For black Americans, Hip hop has historically represented a reflection of their lives in mainstream art, especially during the ’80s and ’90s. In an article posted by The Atlantic, Akil Houston, a hip-hop scholar and assistant professor at Ohio University conveys that, “Rap was the black community’s CNN” (Green). In Straight Outta Compton, Ice Cube (played by Ice Cube’s son, O’Shea Jackson Jr.) exclaims that, “Our art is a reflection of our reality,” reminding viewers that N.W.A. became famous for speaking truthfully about the experiences of being young, black, and terrorized by the