Pre Read Week 11

Through the lyrics of song hip-hop translates what it can mean or feel like to be a certain race. Songs will talk about politics, life experiences, love, and other things, which all tie in to what their race, class, gender, and sexuality. This also works for when artists talk about social justice and how it affects them on the daily.

In the beginning of its genre hip-hop played an important role in telling stories of the artists past experiences, their lives, what they have had to go through to get to where they are now. I think a lot of people entered the hip-hop world to express what they were feeling, but now I think it’s different. I think a lot of people in the hip-hop industry now desire the fame and fortune that often comes hand in hand with being famous. Hip-hop has evolved to where a majority of it is I about sex and killing and a few here and there will be deep and talk about politics or how hard it was to make it in the industry and out of wherever they came from. I’m saying this as someone who doesn’t really listen to hip-hip and the only hip-hop I do hear are the songs that are put on the radio or MTV so there may in fact be a lit of good hip-hop out there that is more than just the superficial stuff put on the air.

Many of the rappers that are in the industry are African American or Latino. Most white rappers out there have a difficult time being accepted, with the exceptions of Eminem and I would even go as far to say Macklemore who is becoming more and more popular. As for the consumers of hip-hop, they range from every race and ethnicity; everyone can find some sort of connection to hip-hop and pretty much any genre of music.

Hip-hop can be problematic in the way it portrays certain lifestyles; it gives people false illusions of what it’s like to be rich. The way it portrays women can excuse in the sexist treatment of women and place them in the category of objects. This is done by male rappers with their lyrics and music video girls, and it’s also done be the female rappers in the industry.

I personally don’t know of one rapper that in one song or more hasn’t said something that demeans the opposite sex or boasts about doing drugs. However, there are several artists who have made songs that don’t employ the problematic aspects o hip-hop. For example “Wings” and “Same Love” and couple other songs from Macklemore are pretty deep. Tupac has a deep message in song with “changes” and “The Message,” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.  I think almost every rapper and sever hip-hop artists will have a really good song that connects deeply with what’s going on in the world and to the people.

Chris Rock says he can’t defend rap music anymore because he can’t “break it down intellectually,” the rap that’s available now just don’t have any meaning behind, they’re hyper sexualized and very explicit. The songs on the radio now are dirty and women will enjoy the songs that degrade them.

Hip-hop is great because it gives a voice to people who may not be heard in any other way. It also gives a new soundboard for people to hear certain ideas. When people hear their favorite artist say something profound about life, politics, or love they may be more likely to take a moment and consider what they’re saying. I mentioned before that some of the things that these songs or music videos portray could be problematic because people might take them to serious or they reinforce stereotypes.

When rap and hip-hop first started there were a lot more women in the game, and they were good too. Women like Da Brat, Eve, Roxanne Shante, Salt n’ Peppa, Queen Latifah, and Lauren Hill were very popular and many of them were respected in their music. Yes, some of their songs were hyper sexualized, but they were women in what was and still is considered mostly a man’s world. Hip-hop is definitely misogynistic, there are several songs that put women especially in positions where they are mistreated, abused, or equated to objects. It’s more common for women to be mistreated in music than men. Women more often than not play the role of a sex conquest instead of an equal, that’s pretty rare, and the women in hop-hop play into some of these stereotypes.

Women and race in hip-hop intersect in the way that it’s more women of color that have a role in hip-hop instead of white women, we rarely see white women in the music videos or making the songs. It’s also these same women of color that are often objectified within the music.

Jay Smooth states that we have to look at both sides of to understand the other. We have to look at personal responsibility and the larger picture for it to be healthy again. He mentions that we have to address the larger issues to get to all issues.

He finds flaws in both arguments in that they need to work together and we have to acknowledge both sides if we want progress in the hip-hop industry.

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