According to Kanye West, Hip Hop is the new Rock N Roll, and I can’t say I disagree. Just a few decades ago Rock N Roll was heralded as the music of our youth -- it represented freedom, fun, rebellion and self-exploration. While traditional rock music has mostly become a niche genre as of late, the Hip Hop industry has snuck its way into popular music.
Much like Rock N Roll, Hip Hop is often criticized for the messages it sends to teens and young adults. And while there may be many defensible arguments for Rap’s lewdness, there are some tendencies that are harder to ignore:
Misogyny rears its head in nearly all genres of music, but as the King of crudeness, Hip Hop seems to objectify women in the extreme. Even female rappers (*cough* Nicki Minaj *cough*) have lyricized the feat of being able to land, pull or steal “b*tches” and “hoes.”
While rappers tend to validate their success, their skill or their general finesse by quantifying how many and what types of women they are sexually involved with, they often shame those very same women for being their sexual partner.
Take a few lines from Kane Grocery’s “Dope Runna ft. Marcy Mane” for example:
“Got your b*tch poppin’ her ass she’s a f***in’ slut/ I told that bitch get out my face you little f***in’ mutt/ I don’t care about no stupid ass f***in’ sluts”
While it seems that he’s proud that he’s got the woo to be able to seduce another man’s lady, he also asserts that she’s a mutt, a slut, and a b*tch who he subsequently does not care about. (Huh?)
Of course, Dope Runna is not a one-off scenario. Slut-shaming is probably the least of the evils perpetrated against women in Rap.
In Lil Wayne and Gucci Mane’s “Steady Mobbin’” Wayne describes that he’ll take his enemies’ woman, force her into prostitution, make her steal and kill for him, all before murdering her and sending her dead body back to the man she came from.
Or how about Tyler the Creator’s “Sara” where he kidnaps a girl, murders her and then rapes her lifeless body, all because she turned down a prom invitation?
One of the pleasures of Rap music is that it’s gritty -- it speaks to a very primitive part of the human psyche. It can be an outlet for pain, struggle, poverty, anger and frustration. However, there is a difference between recognizing that it is in our nature to have urges of violence or sexual expression, and encouraging sexual abuse, shaming and physical violence against one gender.
Being a lady Hip Hop fan can be embarrassing -- no one wants to be the chick dissecting every lyric for misogynistic/misogynoiristic undertones. In the same token, we don't want to ignore hateful attitudes toward women just because it's spoken over a catchy beat.
Well, let me be one to say it is perfectly OK to hold writers and rappers accountable for their rhetoric.
Because Hip Hop is dominating popular music, it is also a highly influential genre. Regardless of the fact that each individual has autonomy and gets to choose which philosophies he or she will or will not subscribe to, it would be remiss to believe that we never reflect the attitude and beliefs that we see and hear on TV, online and in music.
The more sexist attitudes are expressed in music the more normal it becomes. Young men might think it’s OK to consume women sexually with no other interest in them as a human being (and their worth and value subsequently decreases for having been consumed). Young women will begin to think that it’s OK to be classified by their waist-to-hip ratio. Violence against women may become more acceptable.
The narratives of Hip Hop may very well yield very real and very dangerous results for women in the real world and, yes, we should combat that. We can enjoy the grit without the degradation.
It’s hard to say what exactly the solution may be, but it could start with what and who we choose to listen to. Musicians only have a platform if they have fans. They only have a career if they have album sales. We impact every entertainer’s career with our wallets. If rappers felt as though they wouldn’t sell records or wouldn’t be played on the radio because of misogynistic lyrics, guess what would would hear a lot less of?
Social media also offers us the opportunity to speak directly to our favorite celebrities (or at least their agent. Close enough, though right?) This is a viable platform to express distastes, dislikes and grievances.
With our voices and with our finances we can at least begin to motivate renovation and change in the industry. We can transform Hip Hop into a genre we’re always proud to listen to.
