Hip Hop and Feminism

Queen Latifah - “Ladies First”

Wed, 04 May 2011 18:00:06 -0500

Queen Latifah - “Ladies First”

"Hip-hop feminism was born out of a need to understand the many cultural, social and political..."

Wed, 04 May 2011 15:38:00 -0500

“

Hip-hop feminism was born out of a need to understand the many cultural, social and political conditions that afflicted women of what Baraki Kitwana called the hip-hop generation, comprised of people born between 1965 and 1985. Black feminism, a wave of thought and activism largely influenced by the civil rights and black power movements, was not equipped to consider the issues of women belonging to the hip-hop generation.

For some, the term “hip-hop feminism” offers up quite the enigma. Critics position misogyny as hip-hop’s cardinal sin, which raises the obvious question: How do women actively participate in a culture that seems to hate them so vehemently? For self-described hip-hop feminists, attempting to answer that question is not their only task, since understanding what hip-hop feminism is and isn’t goes far beyond responding to women-bashing sentiment.

”

Say “women in hip-hop” and the conversation is quickly reduced...

Wed, 04 May 2011 10:57:00 -0500

Say “women in hip-hop” and the conversation is quickly reduced to what is widely known as the genre’s “woman problem.” In the edited collection, Home Girls Make Some Noise: Hip Hop Feminism Anthology, co-editor and filmmaker Rachel Raimist writes, “Many of hip-hop’s ‘women problems” come in the monolithic and repetitious representation of hip-hop as simply a sexist male rapper surrounded by an entourage of nameless and faceless gyrating bodies in video after video.”

Issues of representations, as expressed by Raimist are at the heart of Say My Name (Women Make Movies) , the Nirit Peled documentary about women and hip-hop.

The film’s opening montage features a cascade of women’s voices, highlighting the lack of available space—sonic and otherwise—allotted to women within the genre. The lives, desires, and struggles of women are literally obliterated in the resulting cacophony as the montage serves as a metaphor for hip-hop’s relationship with women. Raimist cautions that “We must resist and counter the limited views of women in hip-hop… there are many agents of hip-hop and it is the sum of all of our parts to make this a living, breathing, and active culture.”

This limited view of women in hip-hop dates back to the culture’s origins in the Bronx, more than 35 years ago. While much of the culture’s early mythology was driven by larger than life male figures like Kool Herc (Clive Campbell), Afrika Baambaataa and Grandmaster Flash, there were always women involved, even if, for some, only at the level of mimicking performances with hair brushes in front of the mirror as female rap veteran Monie Love recalls in the film.

By the early 1980s, there were several visible women rappers including the group Sequence, Sha-Rock (a founding member of the Funky Four Plus One) and Sparky D, though these women were largely on the periphery of mainstream perceptions of rap music and largely treated as little more than novelties within the industry. Accordingly it was a novelty track—a “diss” song—by 14-year-old Lolita Shante Gooden that proved the first significant breakthrough for female rappers. “Roxanne’s Revenge,” by Roxanne Shante (Gooden), was a response to UTFO’s popular “Roxanne, Roxanne” and instigated a string of response records.

In the film, Roxanne Shante recalls popular DJ and producer Marley Marl reaching out to her to record the track and having to tell him that she had to do it quickly, so that she could get back to her laundry chores.

It’s a humorous moment in the film, but one that gets at the heart of many of the struggles that women rappers face, trying to balance the demands of the industry and the domestic expectations that society places on them. Roxanne Shante, for example, was a teen-age mother at the height of her popularity in the late 1980s. In this regard, hip-hop is reflection the challenges that many women face in the workforce. The sad irony is that these tensions are ripe for exploration as lyrical content, though few, if any, mainstream female rappers have been able to mine this subject matter with any success.

There was a relative critical mass of female rappers in the late 1980s including MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Salt-N-Pepa, and Monie Love. When Queen Latifah and Monie Love collaborated on the popular “Ladies First” and joined forces as the Native Tongues with The Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, and A Tribe Called Quest on “Buddy” expectations were high for female rappers.

Unfortunately when hip-hop became the business of “big business” in the early 1990s, the range of images and voices within hip-hop became limited. For female rappers (as well as male rappers) that meant much less focus on their technical skill and more of a focus on the “package.” In this environment, it became a struggle to maintain commercial viability for many female rappers. As MC Lyte notes in Say My Name, “female MCs’s names have always been larger than their record sales.”

In the film, Rah Digga laments that “everybody in the world that I meet, calls me their favorite female MC, but I haven’t been able to drop an album since 2000.” Indeed, at the beginning of the 21st century the so-called video-vixens far outnumbered female rappers in mainstream hip-hop culture. When commentators and activists began to police hip-hop culture on the basis of its sexism and misogyny, women rappers were ironically left out of the fray, excepting the vitriol directed at Lil Kim.

Say My Name offers one of the few opportunities for female rappers to weigh in on this particular aspect of the culture. Erykah Badu, for example complains in the film, “I really get tired of people shaking their ass on camera.” Remy Ma takes a contrarian view: “I’d rather see a girl at the end of a video shoot at the trailer [waiting for] her check, than to see her butt-ass naked in strip club counting singles.” The debate aside, one of the strengths of Say My Name is that it does not foreclose views that cut against the film’s more progressive aims.

Of the more compelling stories throughout Say My Name are those of Detroit based rapper Miz Korona and one-time MTV sensation Mystic. Miz Korona recounts being beat down by a male member of her hip-hop crew as she began to generate more attention among local industry types. She was 15 at the time. In the case of Mystic, she recalls using rap to record a track about raped in high school. It was only after recording the track that Mystic finally discussed the attack with her mother—years after the fact.

According to Mystic, she had a responsibility to tell that story in an effort to show many of hip-hop’s female fans that they have the strength to persevere. As Jean Grae suggest during Say My Name’s closing montage, “The most beautiful music comes from pain and struggles.” Too bad mainstream commercial culture has chosen to ignore much of this music for so long.

Mark Anthony Neal is a Professor of Black Popular Culture in the Department of African & African-American Studies at Duke University. An author of several books including the recent New Black Man, Neal is a regular contributor to The Root.com and SeeingBlack.com.

B-Girl Be

Wed, 04 May 2011 10:55:46 -0500

B-Girl Be:

No longer just a sideshow and so much more than a freak show, women in hip-hop are THE soothsayers, the vandals, the beat contortionists, the ringleaders and the masters of ceremonies…. at B-Girl Be, we are the main event!

Hip Hop Is A Man's Game...

Wed, 04 May 2011 10:52:49 -0500

Hip Hop Is A Man's Game...:

… but does it have to be? A self-described ”hip-hop head” takes an in-depth look at masculinity and manhood in rap and hip-hop, where creative genius collides with misogyny, violence and homophobia, exposing the complex intersections of culture and commerce.

Women In Hiphop

Wed, 04 May 2011 10:39:00 -0500

Women In Hiphop:

The Hip-hop Archive is celebrating Women’s History Month by showcasing the updated Women In Hip-hop Collection. This collection of books, films, and magazines is available at the Hip-hop Archive.

Photo

Wed, 04 May 2011 06:15:00 -0500

L’Oreal Feria denied whitening Beyonce’s face in...

Wed, 04 May 2011 06:15:00 -0500

L’Oreal Feria denied whitening Beyonce’s face in this ad, which I think works against hip hop feminism. Knowles has enormous influence in the hip hop world and is looked up to by many customers and fans as one of the most successful women in hip hop and R&B music. This ad is a good visual example of how advertising (particularly for beauty products) often favors whiteness, and when they do use women of color in their ads, they still must look “white enough” to market the product. Beyonce is already light skinned, but apparently that wasn’t enough for L’Oreal, who not only whitewashed her face but denied doing so. This message primarily affects L’Oreal’s darker skinned customers as well as young hip hop and Beyonce fans. Industry preference for lighter skinned women is one of many body issues the hip hop generation faces, and there is barely any conversation or public acknowledgement about using women of color to market a white ideal of beauty. It sounds like an oxymoron to suggest companies use more “natural air-brushing,” but what is the point of using someone as a model if you use air-brushing to completely change the way they look instead of accentuating features they already have? And for the record, I doubt someone as rich as Beyonce has ever used a box hair dye in her life. L’Oreal should probably rethink their product representatives.

Photo

Wed, 04 May 2011 06:14:00 -0500

“Escuchame senorita, if you don’t respect...

Wed, 04 May 2011 06:11:18 -0500

“Escuchame senorita, if you don’t respect yourself
Don’t expect respect from anyone else
Don’t expect un hombre to support you with wealth
Go to college and be successful, do it for delft
Nunca vas a ser shit without knowledge your self
Mamis with cultural ineptitude are bad for your health
That’s the type of mujer that I put back on the shelf
And go back to the pack crowd to look for somebody else”

“Why is a woman’s sexuality Always under so much...

Wed, 04 May 2011 05:28:51 -0500

“Why is a woman’s sexuality
Always under so much scrutiny
Why can’t she do exactly as she pleases
Without being called a million things

If I wanna wear lingerie outside of my clothes
If I wanna be erotic in my own videos
If I wanna be provocative, well, that ain’t a sin
Maybe you’re not comfortable in your own skin”

“Keep your fancy drinks and your expensive minksI...

Wed, 04 May 2011 05:28:43 -0500

“Keep your fancy drinks and your expensive minks
I don’t need that to have a good time
Keep your expensive car and your caviar
All I need is my guitar
Keep your Kristal and your pistol
I’d rather have a pretty piece of crystal
Don’t need your silicone I prefer my own
What God gave me is just fine

I’m not the average girl from your video
and I ain’t built like a supermodel
But, I learned to love myself unconditionally
Because I am a queen
I’m not the average girl from your video
My worth is not determined by the price of my clothes
No matter what I’m wearing I will always be india arie”

sex positive feminism!

Wed, 04 May 2011 05:28:00 -0500

sex positive feminism!:

“Intersectionality suggests — and seeks to examine how — various socially and culturally constructed categories such as gender, race, class, disability, and other axes of identity interact on multiple and often simultaneous levels, contributing to systematic social inequality.”

I saw an important intersectional connection between hip hop feminism and sex positive feminism. These ideologies have been created and introduced recently, so I actually couldn’t find a widely accepted definition of hip hop feminism to compare to sex positive feminism. I think the definition is being constructed right now, but a few similarities stuck out to me. Women in hip hop (artists, dancers, producers) form their representations of women in media based on what they think is socially desirable and marketable. How do men want women to act? How they should behave in different company? How, when, and especially where they are allowed to express their sexuality? Sex positivity challenges social norms about performing gender and conforming to stereotypical roles.

In particular, I am thinking of how sex work and hip hop are connected. There is considerable lyrical discourse pertaining to relationships among different kinds of sex workers, such as the stripper, the prostitute, the slut, the pimp, the video vixen, and also the police who are there to stop sex work. Are the only spaces we have for these characters in music videos, where we see a one-dimensional portrayal of the sex worker experience? When looking at hip hop feminism, it is becoming increasingly important to learn about sex positive feminism. The songs that challenge a patriarchal system (see our post on Christina Aguilera’s ‘Still Dirrty’) are marginalized, never hit singles on the radio but tucked into a CD where you must seek the information to find it. Other accounts of sex work in hip hop are usually not delivered by females, and not very informative about the actual experience. Sex positivity also informs issues such as sexual orientation, pornography, and gender identity which have not yet been seen in commercialized hip hop. I think by continuing to incorporate sex positivity into our analysis of female hip hop music, we might start to see those characters develop a little bit, see some of those taboo issues confronted, and have the opportunity to understand them more thoroughly.

This Popular Male Artist perspective is brought to you by...

Wed, 04 May 2011 05:27:00 -0500

This Popular Male Artist perspective is brought to you by Drake.

Katie Couric: “Some lyrics can be demeaning to women, what does that mean for the new generation?”
Drake: “There’s a fine line between demeaning…and fun, and wit. A lot of the music that me and Wayne made, for example…it’s fun, it’s witty. ‘I Wanna F*** Every Girl In The World, that’s one of our biggest songs. Is it to be taken literally and dissected? No. It’s more just fun, witty moments. Hip hop has elements of comedy. Those make the best punch lines. “

“I ain’t bein disrespectful baby I’m just bein Millz
And I dunno how fake feels so I gotta keep it real
I just wanna f___ every girl in the world

Every model, every singer, every actress, every diva
Every House of Diddy chick, every college girl, every skeezer,
Stripper and every housewife that resemble Eva
My role model was Will, so married women and MILF,
It doesn’t matter who you is
You can get the business”

ha
ha
ha

I’ll leave you with this thought:

“Women’s anger challenges men to acknowledge attempts to trivialize opression with, “I was only kidding.” And women’s anger is unacceptable to men who look to women to take care of them, to prop up their need to feel in control, and to support them in their competition with other men. When women are less than gracious and good-humored about their own oppression, men often feel uncomfortable, embarrassed, at a loss, and therefore vulnerable.” -Allan G. Johnson

Two Great Quotes on Hip-Hop

Tue, 03 May 2011 23:36:41 -0500

Two Great Quotes on Hip-Hop

"As a black woman and a feminist I listen to the music with a willingness to see past the machismo in..."

Tue, 03 May 2011 23:27:57 -0500

“

As a black woman and a feminist I listen to the music with a willingness to see past the machismo in order to be clear about what I’m really dealing with. What I hear frightens me. On booming track after booming track, I hear brothers talking about spending each day high as hell on malt liquor and Chronic. Don’t sleep. What passes for “40 and a blunt” good times in most of hip-hop is really alcoholism, substance abuse, and chemical dependency. When brothers can talk so cavalierly about killing each other and then reveal that they have no expectation to see their twenty-first birthday, that is straight up depression masquerading as machismo. […]

This is crystal clear to me when I’m listening to hip-hop. Yeah, sistas are hurt when we hear brothers calling us bitches and hos. But the real crime isn’t the name-calling, it’s their failure to love us – to be our brothers in the way that we commit ourselves to being their sistas. But recognize: Any man who doesn’t truly love himself is incapable of loving us in the healthy way we need to be loved. It’s extremely telling that men who can only refer to us as “bitches” and “hos” refer to themselves only as “niggas.”

”

- When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost, from fly girls to bitches and hos, pp. 72-75

This video is incredibly interesting and touches on many views...

Tue, 03 May 2011 22:01:36 -0500

This video is incredibly interesting and touches on many views of women in hip hop. Some of the quotes from it are shocking as well. Irv Gotti the record produces says that it’s ok to have 15 year olds in his videos. Further when they touch on the disconnect between rappers and artists holding their mother above anything else, yet treating other women as sex toys, he says it goes “mom, dad, God” (Gotti). I thought that hierarchy was interesting as well. To go against that, however, Kevin Powell, who is a writer and activist, disagrees. He thinks that all women should be viewed at that standard and that we have become accustomed to treating women as bling.

Hip Hop Archive

Tue, 03 May 2011 22:01:28 -0500

Hip Hop Archive:

This site was created by a professor of the department of African and African American studies at Harvard University, Marcyliena Morgan.

Beyonce - If I Were a Boy When I first heard this song, I...

Tue, 03 May 2011 22:01:23 -0500

Beyonce - If I Were a Boy

When I first heard this song, I thought it addressed the issues that were stereotypical of men to sing about in hip hop songs: sex, promiscuity, having multiple women at one time, etc. However, after watching the video, I felt as though it made women seem weak still. The idea of the man being the cop struck me. Is it more masculine? Is it to represent power? The relationships cops have in general are very strained because of hours that they work etc. So does it send the wrong message to women who have husbands/girlfriends who are cops?

Beyonce is a very popular artist, and she does a lot of songs to address women’s empowerment. Do her videos match?

What is Feminism?

Tue, 03 May 2011 19:48:11 -0500

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/puot0002/fd2011/

Check out this cool blog for opinions on what feminism is, and what some of the issues that surround it are!