ipl-logo

Patriarchy In Hip Hop Culture

1690 Words7 Pages

Patriarchy is a Bitch Introduction Hip Hop culture is often criticized for the use of misogynistic language and imagery. Calling a female “bitch“, “hoe“ or “slut“ and having scarcely dressed women dance for the entertainment of men is not an unusual practice for Hip Hop artists, but who is to blame for such a disgraceful portrayal of women? - The most common form of critique of the representation of females in hip hop culture is to denounce the artists and the culture, that glorifies this kind of language and imagery, rather than to get a better understanding of what role the capitalist patriarchal structures play in popularizing this phenomenon. I argue, that the misogyny exercised in Hip Hop is a reflection of capitalist patriarchal …show more content…

As Byron Hurt states in his documentary “Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes”, “People call you soft, or weak or a pussy or a faggot, and no one wants to be any of those things, so everyone stays inside the box”. There is a pretty narrow ideal of what is considered to be a real man in Hip Hop culture. While the young African american males were already struggling to be accepted in society, they will at least make an effort to fit in with their peers and confirm to the hyper masculine image the patriarchal representation and the misogyny, even though some of them do not consider this appropriate and a few artists even condemn this behavior and express their disapproval through their lyrics. One of those artists is the late, great Tupac Shakur, who is considered one of the best rappers of all time. In “Keep Ya Head Up“ Tupac expresses his affection with conflicts faced by young black women. Some say the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice I say the darker the flesh then the deeper the roots I give a holla to my sisters on …show more content…

I think that the responsibility on how Hip Hop will develop is on the audience as they dictate the market, so maybe it is time to deviate from what is put in our faces by mainstream media and to make up our own mind of what we want the standard to be and how we can accomplish

Show More
Related
1375 Words | 6 Pages

As anything connected with femininity becomes devalued, men who appear to relinquish their superior position in the gender order are also subject to ridicule” (2009). The homophobia found in gangsta rap also finds correlation in other spaces, including black institutions and the mainstream middle class, though N.W.A. and other hip hop acts are often the main targets in mainstream culture ("Gangsta Rap and American Culture,” p. 416, 2004). Because N.W.A. were main targets, their criticisms from the LGBT community would seem like a main conflict in Straight Outta Compton. But like the criticism faced by women on their misogynist lyrics, the issue again goes

Read More
160 Words | 1 Pages

The article “Hip Hop Planet” by James McBride is about how hip hop is not his favorite type of music but, it needs to be heard. McBride shows us this by explaining that he avoided hip hop most of his life. In the article McBride says that he basically ignored “the most important cultural event in my lifetime.” James informs us that hip hop has influenced the world globally and that it has become a phenomenon. Furthermore, McBride made clear that he eventually realized that hip hop is much more than just music, it has a message.

Read More
1268 Words | 6 Pages

Whether we are watching the news or reading the newspaper, we hear stories of how women are brutally abused by their husbands, someone who had promised to love her in sickness or in health. Many times we hear that these women end up dead, because the abuse was so brutal that they couldn’t take it anymore. These stories though, are most commonly heard of in the black community, also known as the ghetto. In the article “From Fly Girls to Bitches and Hoes” Joan Morgan connects the abuse of black women in their community to the lyrics of Rap and Hip Hop artists, and how they are influencing the black male. In the title alone, Morgan raises the question of how we went from asking a girl “Suga how you get so fly?”

Read More
392 Words | 2 Pages

“Beyond Beats and Rhymes” Summary This movie was a broad discussion about hip-hop music (or more specifically gangster rap) and what kind of social issues the music not only showcases but seems to promote. The producer of this film, Byron Hunt, interviewed people involved in all aspects of the hip-hop industry, including famous rappers, to try to get to the bottom of this. Some of the most prominent issues discussed in the film were the over-sexualization of women, gun violence, and anti- homophobic attitudes. Hunt would ask those involved in the industry about why they think these themes are so prevalent.

Read More
1186 Words | 5 Pages

Hip Hop is seen as something inspiring, but most people see it as a way to speak out the truth about a problem. As in “Hip Hop planet” being able say the truth can sometimes worsen any situation because sometimes what we say can promote violence and whatever happens after is not in our control. The essay is about how hip hop has changed into speaking out the issues that need to be taken care of in order to maintain a proper society. McBride talked about how rappers use violent lyrics to degrade women and gays and because of this it shows how the music has evolved into something entirely different that no one would have ever expected to have changed. In James McBride's essay “Hip Hop Planet,” he argues that hip hop has a negative influence on American Culture despite people thinking of it as inspirational and how people live through different experiences in life despite of your race.

Read More
1016 Words | 5 Pages

And it can be seen all over the time of movies, music, and social media that African American women are portrayed in these types of typical scenarios. “The controlling image of the “bitch” constitutes one representation that depicts Black women as aggressive, loud, rude, and pushy” (Hill Collins, 167). In many of the rap music made from the male African American, but also white male rappers they describe African American women with this term that makes them seem not approachable. And so many of these women that listen to this kind of music think or are told that is how they are supposed to ask and that all African American women are just like they describe them. But, also some female rapper have embrace the bitch label to make themselves be independent.

Read More
1882 Words | 8 Pages

Hip-hop culture has been the topic of various academic, social, and political discourses. Rap music, in particular, has made its way to mainstream media which is evident in the numerous films and movies that centers on what was once a part of an underground culture. Scholars explain that the popularity of hip-hop in both music and films are partly due to its potential to disseminate information, address an issue, and promote social change. Tinson and McBride (2013), for example, note that hip-hop is a “…form of critical education at the intersection of, and inseparable from political engagement” (1). Scholars further note that hip-hop’s current state “…requires frequent accounting of its engagement with the social, political, and cultural climate

Read More
633 Words | 3 Pages

In her essay “hip hop’s betrayal of black women,” Jennifer McLune implies that “(h)ip-hop owes its success to the ideology of women-hating” (193). She does not agree with Kevin Powell’s article that hip-hop does not mean to “offend” black women, but instead artists are only letting out their temper throughout their music. McLune feels infuriated that many artists in hip hop (including black men) rap about their community and downgrade their own women. In the hip-hop genre, sexism is mainly used, not only by black men but also by many other race hip-hop artists. Artists assume that women-hating in their rap songs will be accepted by women, but do not realize that it is affecting all women.

Read More
506 Words | 3 Pages

Many people forget to realize that hip hop began as an outlet for African American and Puerto Ricans living in the South Bronx, so it was never meant to be something everyone should fear.

Read More
946 Words | 4 Pages

What seems to us now as excessive violence and misogyny in hip hop stems from a culture that has been consumed in a continuous battle against social and economic oppression since its early days. In the beginnings of hip hop, there was an explosion of defiance against the subjugation these artists had to experience on a daily basis. For many artists, rapping about guns and gang life was a reflection of daily life in the ghettos and inner-city housing projects. Not only did rap provide an outlet to voice the struggles of black youth, it also gave them a sense of pride. Before major hip hop groups such as NWA arrived on the scene, people would refuse to admit they were even from Compton.

Read More
921 Words | 4 Pages

Hip Hop was the wildfire that started in the South Bronx and whose flames leapt up around the world crying out for change. James McBride’s Hip Hop Planet focuses on his personal interactions with the development of Hip Hop culture and his changing interpretations of the world wide movement. Many of his encounters and mentions in the text concern young black males and his writing follows an evolution in the representation of this specific social group. He initially portrays them as arrogant, poor, and uneducated but eventually develops their image to include the positive effects of their culture in an attempt to negate their historical misrepresentation.

Read More
1006 Words | 5 Pages

The Impact of Hip-Hop Ever since its birth in the 1970s in West Bronx, Hip Hop has been known as “Gangsta” music and most commonly associated with black culture. Since its creation it has become a fast growing genre of music and has growing fame all over the world. The popularity of it has increased to all races, age and gender. However the growing popularity of hip hop has come with several controversies among scholars. Some scholars argue that the growing popularity of the genre is very helpful to low income families who can use this as their outlet into going to Universities, on the other side some believe associating the genre to black culture is bad for the culture as a whole and they should not be associated together.

Read More
1797 Words | 8 Pages

The block parties, graffiti art, rapping, disc jockeying and diverse forms of dancing built Hip Hop by the black youth. They expressed their feelings, thoughts, but most importantly the problems they had to face, which were related to their race, gender and social positions. The rights that were given to black people during and after the Civil Rights Movement left the following generations at a lack of how to continue the fight for black rights. Hip Hop gave them this platform and with the usage of black nationalism, Hip Hop can explore the challenges that confront American-Americans in the post-Civil Rights Movement era. In the 1990’s Hip Hop lived its prime, sub genres started to appear and famous groups, MCs led the whole community, providing a voice to a group of people trying to deliver their message.

Read More
759 Words | 4 Pages

¨If Hip Hop has the ability to corrupt minds, it also has the ability to uplift them.¨ Hip hop music, also called rap music, is a music genre developed in the United States by African Americans consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted. Mainstream hip hop culture is also filled with misogyny and negative images of women. These artists are unaware that sexism has been forced onto them through the brainwashing from the media, which is controlled by a patriarchal society. Conversely, feminism is the belief that both genders should have equal power.

Read More
133 Words | 1 Pages

Hip Hop grew out of the Bronx in the 70’s, a time where racism and hatred towards people of color was still rampant. Our music was defined as a genre where all people could speak their mind of the injustices that they face everyday and it was used as a rallying force against the oppression of the white man. However, as we progress as a society, we see Hip Hop straggling behind still stuck in their misogynistic ways of the past. There is nothing inherently sexist in the genre of Hip Hop, but instead years of enlarged egos and showmanship has led to a present where the accolades of a woman who has reached levels of superstardom can be destroyed by one man claiming that “[He] made that bitch famous” (Kanye West “Famous”).

Read More

More about Patriarchy In Hip Hop Culture

Related Topics

Open Document