Women In Hip Hop

1092 Words5 Pages

While certain issues regarding women and music still remain in some regions, headway continues to be made. In her analysis, “Ethnomusicology Forum,” Abdalla Uba Adamu describes the Muslim woman’s role in music as “a sweeping tapestry of social transformation…” (248). According to Adamu, there is a remarkable misconception pertaining to the act of Muslim women producing music, and in fact, certain Middle Eastern areas are actually strongly accepting of music produced by women. For example, the Hausa, a small society of Muslims in northern Nigeria, highly regard female musicians. This is odd, considering that many Islamic societies of northern Nigeria are deemed to be highly conservative (Adamu, 247). Described as “mature,” women performance …show more content…

In her essay, “Hotep and Hip-Hop: Can Black Muslim Women be Doum with Hip-Hop?”, Anaya McMurray illustrates the way in which black Muslim women use hip-hop to create a space for fluidity, movement, and expression while simultaneously exercising their agency through Islam. While some may question the possibility of Muslim women even pursuing a career in the music industry, black Muslim women actually have an ardent role in hip-hop. First, the importance of hip-hop’s purpose and origin should be addressed. According to McMurray, there have been six key sociopolitical forces in shaping the hip-hop generation. These include: “the visibility of black youth in popular culture, globalization, the persistent nature of segregation, public policy surrounding the criminal justice system, media representations of black youth, and the general quality of life within the hip-hop community” (McMurray, 76). Thus, the culture was created as a form of communal resistance to financial instability and the institutional exclusion of the youth. Furthermore, hip-hop is initiated by the potential to fabricate alternative spaces for the purpose of growth and expression. Hip-hop as a “space” also works as a tool for accessing capital for people of color who were brought up in an America that has often cultivated values and attitudes similar to that of the Horatio Alger myth (McMurray, 76). Thus, the genre and culture of hip-hop have become an improvisation for the malleability of Islam and its debated meanings, political histories, and various