Portrayal Of Women In Hip Hop Songs English Literature Essay

Portrayal Of Wo men In Hip Hop Songs English Literature EssayDisrespecting and Violent Attitude toward Women. It has been around three decades since hep joint hop emerged on the American cultural scene. The music genres which are groundworkociated with hip hop cultural phenomenon, especially gangsta rap and R B are believed to define passage youth culture. These two hip hop music subgenres seem to be more influential than the other as there is more emphasis border on lyrical content than the music itself. The abundance of explicit words and messages in the shouts makes them overly controversial. Before listening to gangsta rap songs, one must be watchful most of all to hear extremely explicit language. The great number of derogatory footing embedded in the song lyrics is especially disturbing as they are greatly addressed to women women of colour in particular. or so of the cases involve name calling and violent attitude directed more handlely at women in general than a particular person. Women in those songs are mostly placed in a fireual context and called e.g., holler out, whore, hoochie, trollop. Promoting violent stimulate written report was well documented in the Kubrin and Weizers research on the sample of 403 Amercian hip hop songs produced throughout the 1992-2000 besides also noted in other articles/books etcetera on the songs from the period 1987 1993.1The scholars have name that the primary(prenominal) purpose of such songs is to justify violence against women and make it a legitimate tool of social control.2In such a view hip hop music promotes a set of gendered norms and en soldierss sanctions for those who do not abide those set up rules. Eminems song killing You,3for example, describes women as vile, venomous, volatile bitches. Many other ordinary rappers, like Redman, Outcast, degrade women to being a chickenhead coined by association with giving oral sex. Whilst such terms are comm and perceived as pejorative, there are instances they may sound somewhat positive. One of the most successful rappers, Ludacris, in his summate song Pimpin All Over the World raps I used to think that it was route too glacial, til I went to Canada and saw some beautiful hoes4And according to Ja Rule any thug compulsions a down ass bitch5, i.e. a girl who is tough, and demonstrates her solidarity with her man and the gang they belong to. While these terms may not carry derogatory connotations in these songs, women are still positioned here deep down the cozy perspective. Interesting to notice is a fact that take awayensive terms aimed towards men are usually words with feminine connotation (bitch, pussy) Im slick and slippery/ On a high-speed chase all the way to the victory. / Yall niggaz is stone cold mysteries. / Too weak, cant stand in the ring with me. / Put a pussy back in his place, straightlaced.6It also seems like to humiliate women goes hand in hand with raiseting respect from the other men. Men ar e referred to be pimps who can get a banding of hoes. () Legalize pimpin for all the pleyas, puttin fine ass bitches in the streets and the hood.7While in most of the songs degrading women motif would appear randomly throughout the song, there are also cases in which that would be the main(prenominal) theme. The best example is Too $horts Aint No liaison Like Pimpin Aint nothing like a stupefy turnkeying bitch / You nasty, once a month bleeding, mother dealing, nasty ass, mother fucking bitch / I hate your mother fucking ass. To justify their attitude towards women, galore(postnominal) rappers give many reasons for doing so, such as women being too shallow We couldnt get no play from the ladies. / With s level off niggas in a Nav Navigator is you crazy?/ So we all said fuck you bitch and kept rolling.8Some time verbal disrespecting turns into violent threatening. According to Kubrin and Weizer aggression towards women appeared in almost 18 per centum of the hip hop songs anal yzed by them.9 radical hostility towards women represent the songs of Eminems where he attacks his relatives, especially his mother and ex wife in Under the Influence all bitches is hoes, even my stinkin ass mom.10He even threatens to kill them Bitch Ima kill you / You dont wanna fuck with me. / Girls guide you aint nuttin but a slut to me. He also seems to be perfectly aware of the fact his lyrics power controversy. In the same song he admits to that Oh, now hes raping his own mother/abusing a whore, snorting coke/ and we gave him the Rolling Stone cover? (Eminem, Kill you)11 arrange covers a broad spectrum in hip hop. Not solely is it perceived as a legitimate tool of manipulation between men but also facilitates as an answer for disobedience of women. Such insubordination is interpreted in many ways. According to the rapper Dr. Dre snobby-ass bitches get slapped out of spite.12Another popular performer Mase warns his potential sex victims to get tested on sexually transmit ted diseases beforehand or else If she make my nuts itch, I kill that slut bitch.13Eminem seems to have issues with women in general and promotes violence as the only communication means between men and women. Usurping and assuming power on women in hip hop songs are often represented by descriptions of rough sex Hit you with the dick, make your kidneys shift/ Im guaranteed to fuck her till her nose bleed.14Kubrin and Weizer noted cardinal recurring instances of violence in the American gangsta rap songs. Rappers pride themselves on sex acts that are harmful to women. They justify other acts of violence and threaten women who label to defy male supremacy. They also seem to encourage other men to resort to violence acts whenever they find it suitable. Violence seems to be the most appropriate reception to women who abuse such gendered protocol, i.e. dont eff their place.Women as Sexual ObjectsThe notion of sexual objectification means that a person is perceived through the prism of physical attraction with disregard to the persons intellectual abilities.15Kubrin and Weizer, in their paper on the misogyny in rap music stated that sexual objectification of women was noted in 67 percent of the songs analyzed.16The main conclusion drawn from these lyrics is that women are only good to satisfy mens sexual pleasures. The title of one of the N.W.A songs, Findum, Fuckum, and Flee. may serve as creed of the street code, according to which mens goal would be chase of pleasure and sexual exploitation of women.17Puff Daddys intentions are brazenly blatant in Call me Sean if you suck, call me kaput(p) when I nut. / Thats the end of us, get your friend to fuck18. While his fellow rapper, Too $hort, honestly admits the only thing he would try to get from women is sex without strings attached I aint Romeo, Prince Charming, or a knight in shining armor./ Im only out to fuck a bitch, fuck tryin to charm her. I treat a fine ass bitch like dirt./ No money in her purse, a fu ck is all its worth./ Cause Short Dawgll never cater to you hoes./ And if you aint fuckin, I say later to you hoes.19A pretty disturbing fact surfaced in this Xzibits song. Judging by the lyrics, women are considered to be mens property You got titties and ass./ that I got a dick and some cash./You aint talkin bout shit./ Then Ima smash, bitch./ On three, on me, bitch, you my property.20This brings back to life one of the atrocities of slavery, when lightlessness women were often forced to move on exploitive sexual relations with their slave masters in exchange for better treatment, food, or s point to satisfy the oppressors urge.21It seems that even though the American purchase order has come a long way from the times of slavery, black women are nowhere near to being treated as free, independent individuals. As the American culture critic bell hooks points in her book Aint I a Woman Black Women and Feminism, that black women in America have been suppress from the seventeenth century till today by white men, black men as well as white women. She argues that women of colour have been omitted by the white feminist movement as well as the civil rights movement. The author perceives feminist movement as being a white meat and upper class struggle which showed no interest in issues of women of colour. Black women found themselves trapped into confines both gender and race. Thus, they have never been change state from the institutionalized sexism patriarchy, and racism. Additionally, in bell hooks opinion the Black Power movement was both patriarchal, misogynistic. As much as it aimed to overcome racial divisions it also sought to reinforce the sexist ones.22Black male attitude towards their female counterparts presented in number of hip hop songs manifests their pursuit to hold on women subordinate. Nowadays many rappers often express how they would put women in the right spot, as Too $hort Hoes be nothin but slaves for me, / ready to go to their graves f or me. (Too $hort, Pimp Me)23, or Xzibit () Im intemperately on my hoes thats how it goes./ Bitch, get up off your toes, and get my six-four Chevrolet (Xibit, Pussy Pop).24Daniel Patrick Moynihan, an American politician and sociologist, in his report The Negro Family The Case for National Action, also know as Moynihan Report, released in 1965 analyzed the data from the U.S. department of labor and drew a conclusion that black women had significant advantages over the black men to be employed thus they could provide for the family more effectively. He also suggested that the traditional African American household is ruled by the matriarchal and emasculating women, an archetypical Mammy, which would imply that black men were symbolically castrated by their female counterparts. In order to stop degradation of the Negro family, black men need to look to the ways to restore their manhood.25The lyrics of contemporary hip hop songs suggest that by degrading women, rappers may seek to re gain their manhood. They suggest that the only desirable pick up of a black woman is the promiscuous and oversexed one as in Redmans I turn an independent woman back into a hoochie.26infamous B.I.G. humiliates educated girls I like em educated, so I can bust off on their glasses.27These stereotypical images have their roots in the times of slavery in America. Southern white males would consider black men and especially women as possessed by their hypersexuality. The reason for such supposition force be cultural differences between Western Europe and Africa of the time. European travelers who visited Africa were often stunned to see semi nude native black women and commonly original polygamy. Nakedness in that time was perceived as a manifestation of indecency. The travelers embraced such a shocking experience by assuming that all black women are promiscuous by nature. They contrast between the clothed Victorian ladies and naked native African women may have prompted assumptions t hat white women, on the turnaround to black women, are civilized and sexually pure. Hence the symbol of black women reinforced by such depiction was Jezebel.28It seems that African American women could not carry from the image of an instinctively promiscuous Jezebel assigned to them back in the slavery era. Stereotypes that were set at that time still affect black women nowadays. What is more, the stereotype of a seductive and lewd black woman has been perpetuated by their male counterparts. As the Jezebel image applied to black slave women might have been a way to justify maltreatment they were given, such reasoning applies also today.29Another justification for disrespecting women may be a fierce peer pressure on materialisation men in ghettos. Male promiscuity is highly valued there.30Casual sex with no committedness gets a man proud patch of a player, proves of his masculinity and helps to get respect from the others I had niggas making bets like, did he fuck her yet?/ Ask h er did he touch her bra, when I say nah they say ahh / So tomorrow I use that pressure to undress her.31The Kubrins research shows that bragging about sexual achievements was present in 58 percent of the songs.32Most of it implied how unaffixed for a player is to talk a girl into having sex You see I order one bottle, then I fuck with one mannikin/ Then I order more bottles, now I/ got more models/ Im from that city where them niggaz dont play mayn/ I take a chick to my/ room like caveman/ So ask your girlfriend my name ().33Women are also treated as a symbol of achievement. Having a lot of casual sex proves that you are either a player or have a lot of money. As these seem to be the only means of getting a girl into sexual intercourse in the ghetto Say dog, what kinda nigga be on top of the world?/Million dollar status got me on top of ya girl.34Ability to sexually please a girl is perceived as a symbol of your high status. Below there is an example of how the rappers pet their ego in that matter While your bitch be crying please dont stop. . . I fuck her like I know you wont./ If thats your bitch, homeboy youd better reserve her Cause she wont stay off my beeper.35The female is used here just to partake in a sexual competition between men. Women cannot be granted any respect from the rappers, as they are described to be as much interested in heavy drinking, sex, and money as men. The only difference here is that a man leave be positively referred to as a player or a pimp but a girl will be always called a bitch. Lyrics imply that if a girl is being promiscuous and greedy it also justifies the maltreatment she receives from men as in hit song The Gangsta, the Killa, and the Dope Dealer All on the grass marijuana, every bitch passed out/ A first not last, when we all hit the ass.36Women are treated as a commodity which can be consumed, used, passed to someone else and given out I know the pussys mines, Ima fuck a duo more times/ And then Im through with it, theres nothing else to do with it./ Pass it to the homie, now you hit it/ Cause she aint nuthin but a bitch to me.37Prostitutes are the perfect example of sexual objectification and exploitation. Such image of a woman is to be expected in hip hop music since it has emerged out of ghetto setting. This theme has been found present in one-fifth of the songs analyzed by Kubrin and Weizer.38Prostitution and pimping are celebrated by rappers and classified as a justifiable means of economic achievement.39These themes do not seem to be taken into consideration by any other music genre. Some rappers to get more credibility fill to have been a real life pimps ( Ice- T, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, K-Luv). Pimping has a broader meaning in hip hop than just managing prostitutes. To pimp something can mean to patronage it or to accessorize it. The term pimp is often used as a substitute for player, a man who mastered in seducing women or hustlers who show off with their nouveau riche assets40. Th is kind of a pimp chic imagery is a popular topic among rappers. Some even devote the whole songs to glamorize such modus vivendi The fancy cars, the women and the caviar. /You know who we are/cuz were pimpin all over the world.41There is also a number of rap songs in which we can find a lot of references to the standard definition of a pimp man who headhunts and employs prostitutes. Kubrins research takes into account this standard definition and notes that this theme was detected in 20 percent of the misogynistic songs.42Most of them contain the same message that women are good only to sell sex and men can usurp the right to access to their bodiesNo need for rest haven these hoesLets show em what they pussy made foLets me and you lay in these hoesAnd show em what they pussy made fo .Lets leave without payin these hoesAnd show em what they pussy made fo.43Such images are present even in RNB which is supposed to be focused more on the round and music than less abundant in explicit lyrical content Ace mizzy get all the hoes. /Gonna teach them shit they fatality to know. / Like fuck that pussy ass 9-4 girl./ Make that bucket a pot of golden.44These lyrics convey extremely disturbing misogynistic messages especially that hip hop aspires to be considered as a true voice of the urban ghetto. In that case, judging by the lyrics, the ghetto seems to inhabit pimps, pimps in training and prostitutes. While women are being described as sexual objects, men get the message to cherish the life of a pimp. Women seem to be painted with the same brush and not considered as an individual merciful beings. The only interaction between these two parties boils down to a scenario of what a pimp would do to a prostitute.Women Not to Be TrustedAnother put of advice, recurring in many hip hop songs, is the one that a man has to be careful of whom they put trust in. And women seem to be the to the lowest degree trustworthy. According to Kubrin and Weizer almost half of the misog ynistic songs exposed such attitude of suspiciousness towards women.45Another fact worth noticing here is that the lack of trust is directed at all women with no exception. All women in general are considered tricky criminal creatures. For some rappers a question How could you trust a ho?46is kind of a rhetorical one. Others unveil specific reasons why they cant trustem. In a song by a young girl is not only promiscuous but also will surely lie to you about her age which will get you in trouble and most likely put you in prison See nowadays man you got to know these bitches age/ Cause they ass be real fast when they be goin through that phase. / You fuck a girl thats young, and you gonna end up in the cage.47Women solidarity is criticized. There will be no point in defending yourself as the mother will be on her little girls side Cause her mom aint tryin to hear that you never knew her age.48Not only do women stand up for one other but will also try to get some material compensa tion from you. Some rappers, like Nas, warn that it is a full-grown idea to force women into having sex, not because of the atrocity of this act, but rape accusation that may follow Dont take the pussy, if she fightin/ Cause you saw what happened to Tupac and Mike Tyson./ Specially if you large famous, some hoes is trife petty/ contribute you on a rape charge, have you servin your life.49Despite being convicted of rape, a legendary boxer Mike Tyson and rapper Tupac Shakur, were considered as the most celebrated heroes of the hip hop generation in 1990s. This fact well illustrates the gender conflict of that generation. During and after the trial, many black male church leaders defended Tyson claiming that the whole forge was an attempt of the white supremacist to destroy a well-known black man. The president of the National Baptist convention in USA was suspected for offering a wages to the Tysons complainant. For a substantial back male part of the society the issue was not abo ut gender but about racism.50This example proves of an extreme solidarity within African American male society. Countless hip hop lyrics strongly reinforce the idea of conspiracy theory that is supposedly drawn by the evil system and women. Tyson was accused and sentenced for a date rape on 18- year-old Miss Black Road Island. Tupac Shakur heard the same charges from his groupie whom he forced to have a group sexual intercourse with. These two events may have influenced a number of hip hop artists who eagerly express a lot of distrust in beautiful women. Such attitude against beautiful women permeates throughout many hip hop songs. It seems to be more than certain these ladies will try to stag you with their looks and take advantage of you in no time. They are considered by the rappers to be decoys for set up. There are number of songs which describe such procedure You know they women might be the one to set me up. / Wanna get they little brother to wet kill me up/ Bitches be sche min, I kid ya not. / Thats why I keep my windows locked and my Glock cocked.51Another way for women to set men up is to get pregnant. This seems to be not only the concern of the rappers, but also a common detriment among the male in ghetto neighborhoods. Anderson states that to claim a child is against the street code of hit and run52. The rappers warn their male audience Why plant seeds in a dirty bitch, waitin to trick me?/ Not the life for me.53Owning up to pregnancy means not only breech of the code but also commitment which is condemned by the peers. But the greatest concern of men would be paying child support I aint lettin nothin leak cause if things leak, then Im a get caught/ And I cant get caught cause you know how they do it about that child support./ Shit, bitches is cold on a nigga who aint got his game tight/ getting 18.5 percent child support payments half your life.54Generally speaking, collection of child support is a problem in the times of crisis, especially fo r unqualified African-American workers. A tough choice has to be made, whether to cater for your own needs or your childs. As the money for the children upbringing goes to their mothers pockets, the male frustration and resentment towards women grows. Being bust does not match the image of the self-proclaimed pimp or a player. No more player, no Shorty the PimpI get paid, divert a hold back and get 40 percent.All the homies talkin bad, hair down, walkin sadGot the broad livin with me, baby sayin DadI could try to mack again but the bitches wont want meCause Im all washed up, broke, fat, and funky.I lost everything that I worked to beNever thought Id be a trick, payin hoes to serve me.55The lyrics make it obvious that women cannot be trusted because they are a hazard to men pimps. If they do not get you in prison or ridicule you in front of your peers and close up your image of a thug, they well surely drain your pocket. And this is what rappers seem to be the most anxious about. Getting rich ( or die trying by 50Cent)56seems to be the mostly frequent motive of all. And the streets seem to be filled with gold diggers on the prowl only interested in you because of your money put one across the honeys check your style/ Worthless, when they worship, what you purchase./They only see ice diamonds, not me, under the surface/Whats the purpose?57Gold Digger by Kanye West may serve as the best example of a song that describes a seductive, yet greedy woman who takes advantage of men.58This type of a woman is mostly feared by those men who climbed up the social ladder, became businessmen, or celebrities and like to show off their recently acquired wealth. They (who?) are considered to be the easiest targets as they feel no limits for dispensing money and splatter about their affluence. She (who is she?) is described as a very tricky cutie the bomb. Once she has set her sight on her super rich male target, the first thing she will try to do is charm him by her gorgeo us looks, and seduce him. She will try to blend in his elite circle to get to him. In no time she will make him spend money on her and her friends and he will do it just to impress her. And if you expect to get a chance with her you would better comply with the rules of her game. Her main goal is to bulletproof her life with her preys money. If she fails to drag his feet down the aisle, she will get pregnant just to get secure her life with his money anyway. Oftentimes it happens that after eighteen years of paying the child support the baby turns out to be not his. Whilst men in hip hop songs do not see anything wrong in taking advantage of women, they seem to fear of getting such favor returned by them. Their concern is also not to get ridiculed in front of other men. If that happens, Kanye West gives them a self explanatory answer back she aint messin wit no broke niggaz.59There is also a message to black women in general in the last stanza of this song. No matter if you are a g old digger or you are being a down to earth girl and stick to your man regardless of his material status, there is a bad ending for you anyway. If he is ambitious enough, he will get rich sooner or later. However when it happens, he will leave your ass for a white girl. This suggests that white women are ranked higher than black women in the hip hop social hierarchy. According to the findings of the study on the he effect of images of African American women in hop hop on adolescents sleek hair texture and lighter skin tone would be considered as the main determinants of female attractiveness60. These traits would be most sought for by both male and female who participated in the survey. Also historically these features were used as measures of social, political and economic significance for African Americans. Those who resembled European Americans would be located higher in the American social strata.61Such supposition may have influenced the pursuit of white women by black men. The image of a strong, emasculating black woman versus a pure and submissive Vi