The hip hop world is fairly dominant nowadays, in the entertainment and media places I frequent. Rarely, am I able to turn on my television, and miss the visuals of hip hop and rap artists. It wasn’t until just recently, that I realized, exactly what Hip Hop was telling me that I was. I mean how can it define me?
I’m a single black woman, and at one point in time, I’d be involuntarily pumping my fist at the visuals Queen Latifah and Lauryn Hill provided. Now, well….. I’m not particularly worried about marriage, because according to rap lyrics, I’ll probably never be worthy of being “wife-d”. Somewhere down the line of hip hop changing, young African American men were told not to wife my type. In fact, many successful “artists” who beat the odds of certain environments like poverty to become successful artist only want exotic women. Maybe I shouldn’t leave out the fact that I’m dark skinned, and that I’ve never see anyone who looks quite like me in their videos. Guess I should also cross out the fact that I could even be considered attractive. So many questions have begun to surface, and the one inquiry that sits at the top is: Should I hate myself?
Unfortunately, the only term today’s rappers will seem to identify me with is “b*tch”. Tutorials provided by many of todays “video vixens” tell me that if I make a little bit of money and add the hair follicles of a Brazilian woman’s to my own head, that stops at my a*ss, I can at least be a “bad b*tch”. I can’t sit here and confirm that this is how I should actually feel, but how many of our “favorite emcees” choose to procreate with different women, of different states, never offering them any commitment? How can a genre that once taught me to respect myself, when no one else would, now have audacity to tell me to hate the color of my skin as well as my natural hair? Honestly, it feels like today’s hip hop has fueled this unwanted presence of so much self-hatred, from women, mothers, just like me. Hip hop also tells me, in various ways, that I should get some type of monetary reward for any type of sexual orientation I participate in. Should that really be my only motive? God forbid, I actually want true love. I’m now forced to decide between adding to my “bank account” via my own sexual desires and adding to the enjoyment of pure life. Let’s not leave out the fact that HIV/AIDS stereotypes live vibrantly in hip hop, and at the “same damn time” promiscuousness is encouraged to a pool of young men that I must choose from. So, even if I want a trustworthy, loyal relationship, hip hop is telling my strong black men to “get as many women as one can handle”, and treat them like objects, not as queens. Funny yet saddening, that no one cares that black women dreadfully have taken the lead in new HIV cases.
Hi, I’m an African American woman, and if I listened to what hip hop told me that I was, I’d be the equivalent of nothing. Yesterday’s news. Material that must be morphed in order to be worthy. That would be me. Inject manmade material into my God-given body is what they say I should do if I want more “ass-ets”. Meanwhile, my curves that derived from Africa, given to me by my creator, should be more than enough. You see, I’d rather have hip hop appreciate me, being that many of its participants derived from households raised solely by a woman. Prison rates aren’t lying to us, and the absence of “fathers” in households is a pretty vivid picture now. How do young black men grow up to spread disrespect toward African American women? Hi, I’m a young black woman, and if I listened to what Hip Hop told me I was, I’d be doomed. Defeated. Useless. Paint me another picture, because I’m not buying what Hip Hop tells me I am. I am a queen. We started out that way, and we will remain that way.
Strong article & strong responses. The unity that once was is continuing to die slowly. Watered down rap music is only the vehicle for said disaster, not the lead culprit. Black men & women no longer see eye to eye for we allowed the enemy to come in & tear us apart. Instead of building each other up, we find ways to tear each other down; lot of times for self gain & self gratification. & we are quick to shift the blame to the ones who hurt us, instead of taking responsibility for our own said disappointments. As are sisters are objectified, the minds of our brothers are morphed into the ways of a hustler. We as the community are the ones to blame starting with the parents who missed the hints, all the way to the youngins who are too mad & “real” to wake up & see they are dying. Meanwhile, the ones with the power & desire for change stands in the corner & cringes.
You should have known better than to post that bro!!! Lol. When our black women read or hear stuff like that they take it as an attack and go into defense mode. Not once did anybody that reply your post admit that SOME black women sometimes do have nasty attitude for no good reason. I’m 25 and I have to admit most relationships I’ve been with a black woman and I find myself paying for the mistakes her last boyfriend made, the guy that already had a girlfriend when she met him! But they’ll never admit to their bad behaviors and the nasty stuff they do to provoke mens opinions of them. If a man is used and abused by a woman and he’s very quick to leave a woman at the first hint of problems or sleeps with women and uses them just for their bodies he’s a dog he’s very immature. If a woman is used and abused by a man and she’s quick to leave at the first hint of problems and just uses men for money she’s just being strong and just can’t be the “victim” forever….. That being said, generalizing is a huge problem we all have to deal with personal. Let each person’s actions speak for them nevermind what the last person that look like them did. And as far as rap music goes they do dogs our women out. I honestly don’t watch music videos and I don’t listen to the radio. I own a lot of mixtape instrumentals the beats are still nice. Rap music is just as damaging to black men as it is black women every rap song I hear the rapper saying “you’re broke, I can buy the woman you love, I got 20’s on a new Bugatti what do you drive, I got money I spend the money you make in a year in the strip club in one night I got this I got dat you have nothing.
I was recently thinking about this subject I look at it as a chance for black women to gain a low-key success. Forget music videos and what rappers say go to school get educated…become an attorney, doctor, teacher…just someone black grls can admire… stop buying the rap music…and change the statistics… use protection and stop having kids by these good for nothing n*ggas. Be silent with success and eventually others will begin to notice and want to b with s black woman again… let these rappers hv whatever race they want bc thats their loss not ours. And dont let ur sons listen to the music they put out there.
I am reading on hip-hop. I found your article. My queston is: is hip-hop’s misogyny not a continuation of the way black women have been treated for about the last 35 years (or more)?
And don’t any of you girls reading this give in to hip-hoppin boys with no future. Attitude says a lot more than greenbacks. And their speech is their “thinking”.
This article should be an eye opener, not a beat down of the sexes or races. There is always a solution to a problem. The focus should be on “How can I change this situation?” or “What can I do to stop this type of abuse?”. I know that everybody has heard the saying “If you have something good to say, then keep your mouth closed” or “Don’t talk about it; Do something about it”.
How exactly is this article an “eye opener” when it fails to provide sources for it’s argument? These are accusations on top of accusations. I agree that many mainstream hip hop artist look at most women, regardless of the color of their skin, as disposable. What I can’t stand is black women thinking these artist are attacking you specifically just because they say “foreign.” You do know that Africa is foreign, right? You do know Jamaica is foreign, right? Many other places in the world with beautiful dark skin women and it’s foreign. This article was written by a young lady who is suffering from an inferiority complex. Name 3 rap songs on the radio right now that disrespects black women exclusively. Prove me wrong. I’ve done my research, now it’s time to do yours and stop fishing for sympathy.
Good article, but my only problem is that its one sided. Nothing is 100 percent, meaning ALL HIP HOP IS NOT LIKE THIS. There are many songs that dont break down black women; many songs that in fact build you up. If we arent going to get the positive songs more publicity and encourage more rappers to make uplifting songs to women, then whats the point of just always pointing out the negative?
Maybe if you(read: black women in general) spent a little bit more time being feminine instead of “mrs independent woman” you wouldn’t recieve so much ‘hate’ from people. Men don’t like aggressive, loud, ‘independent,’ I don’t need a man, women with attitudes. This is why you see exotic women in their videos, because they’re actually FEMININE, without the attitude.
Inb4 not all women are like that.
Inb4 insecure men don’t want ‘successful’ women
The overbearing women of which you speak may act that way toward you because they don’t respect you. Not every man is worthy of respect.
Also, you attract what you are. So if all you seem to come across are negative loud ignorant black women I’d be willing to bet $$ you have the same mentality or you’re only focused on them. Take responsibility for your own shortcomings and then maybe you’ll start to notice more educated, personable and lovely black ladies on a daily basis.
If black men took on more responsibility, then there would be less aggressive, independent black women. This is a result of high expectations being carried by black women, yet little to no expectations being desired of or by black men.
RESPONSIBILITY & ACCOUNTABILITY look it up
Great article. Very true indeed. I am a 44 year old father and husband and at one time in my life I was mesmerized by the hip hop filth that is being pushed on us too. Just to think, back in the day Too Short was one of my favorite rappers. Wow how fucked up I was. It is no accident that the music industry targets our young generation. It is designed to keep us acting like hoes, tricks, bitches, niggas, gangsters, playas, pimps and anything negative that one can think of.
I have been saying this for some time now. In our neighborhoods, there are billboards with famous black artists with two to three barely clothed women on their arm, and a huge bottle of whatever brand they are sponsoring to lace their pockets. Is this the image portrayed for all to see in suburbian neighbohoods? NO..because they don’t want their children to be bombarded with these negative images, but its ok for inner city youth. It’s ok for the music industry to bury the positive rap icons and replace them with young people spewing verbal genocide! …somebody needs to direct this at the big industry that keeps pumping out this crap by the truck load to poison the minds of our youth. Hip hop was on the verge of a major face lift toward the positive in the early to mid 90’s when we realized what was happening to our youth was “self-destruction” and many artist did their part in coming together to do something about it. Not anymore, music industry has lured in the greedy, self motivated, weak minded and easily swayed to be used as instruments of musical genocide to a musically fueled society. So now what?
So now what? This is what we need to do. In each major city (Chicago, New York, LA, Atlanta, Dallas, Baltimore, Miami, New Jersey, and all other cities where there is a large black population); there needs to be a coalition of people who march and protest against the radio stations that play the vile music that depict young black women as bitches and not young ladies or women until they agree to stop playing the music. Let them play that BS on white radio stations (NOT!!!) since the only people BUYING their music is WHITE People. Black people don’t buy music we bootleg music, so we are not the one supporting these black rappers and even Beyonce with her silly ass music. But I can guarantee you this, the first time a song comes on a white radio station, it will be the first and last time, because that radio station would get so many calls within the next hour, they wouldn’t dare play the song again. But not black people, nope, we just turn the music up and say something stupid like “That’s my song !!! ” Oh yeah, rape me, use me and call me a bitch !!
Great article Chakara!
I agree and disagree only because I am a African American woman that has witnessed the good and bad influences of hip hop upon the female gender. I saw a comment on YouTube that said “bitch is now a word that means queen and is empowering for black girls”. I saw this and felt failure as a female hip hop artist bc men only do what females allow them too. We let them get away with this yrs ago. Now it’s gonna take double the years to fix this mess. Hip Hop is not solely responsible. Female artists (rnb n rap) use this word against each other when its convinent and backs their point. Then we turn around n call ourself “bad bitch”. It’s stupidity and ignorance. I say we speaking in general for females in the industry. This is deeper than Hiphop it’s History of the black female nation. But HipHop can be held reliable for addin insult to injury. It’s fucked up. Lets focus on ways to heal the wounds instead of informing others on the faulters.
Ahhh yes…A rappers favorite line to use…”I got foreign brawds and foreign cars.” The reality is that the models in these videos are actresses and i havent seen any of these foreign dimes anywhere except on TV…not in any bar, club or where ever. Its sad, but black women must hold there heads high anyway. I just hope my daughter doesnt get caught up in believing that she cant get money without degrading herself. These rappers got kids to and still talk reckless…smh
The word b#tch, Ni$$er, and hoe were around long before rap became popular, stop blaming Rap (Hip Hop)
Just because those words have always been around it doesn’t make it right. We have borrowed the language of the oppressor to describe ourselves, and have become co-conspirators to the KKK. Throwing our beautiful women underneath the bus for the All Mighty Dollar. Record execs (JEWS) love to promote and push that stuff, but in no way will we be ever able to diss and dismiss any other race of woman, like we do to our own, and we perfectly fine with it….SMDH
Ricky’s right. it’s about choices. there’s alternatives. it’s easy buy and help spread the word of what you like.
# 1: It all depends on who she (and others) listen to. # 2: The easiest way to insure that what you want to hear is available is to make it yourself. As a photographer of New York City’s underground music scene, I see and hear people doing it everyday. # 3: As swift as she is to indict the males of the industry and the general population at large, there’s only passing mention of the numerous and varied shortcomings of women…within and outside of the industry. # 4: My parents taught my siblings and I a long time ago that nothing–positive or negative–can define us until we allow it to. # 5: As one that does not own a television set nor listens to the radio, I duck a lot of the nonsense that most people–the author included–seems to be inundated with. My suggestion to her and others with the same grievances is to turn off or get rid of both.
Good points, but the sad reality is that even when you turn off, and get rid, you still gotta deal with those that have not done the same. So everyday women have to do deal with B and H word treatment. Even though you may not be called one to your face, people can surely give you that kind of treatment.
dead prez-turn off the radio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOMN9MY0oII
Spot on.
NO quite true. Its really the HIp HOP radio chooses to air tells you that, and who in charge of that…… Hmmmm Its plenty of great hip hop music but its not aired on the mainstream radio stations. which is where they get there message remember when everybody was wearing Malcolm X hats African beads and all that, it was the music speaking to us but that was quickly stopped and got the young people start “blowing money fast. Remember satan was a musician he used music to control his followers.
Even still, Lupe Fiasco’s – Bitch Bad got airtime and that song was pretty much addressing this exact issue (hence ‘Bitch Bad’ as opposed to ‘Bad Bitch’)
otherwise yea sadly you have to do some searching underground to find empowering hiphop
Yes, Hip Hops portrayal of American African women is false, I believe we must contact the voices responsible for this portrayal to due accountability, otherwise it’s a cycle of genocide on the minds of young women who know no better view of themselves.
I am a black woman of mixed heritage I am of Chinese and South American origin. I can see where the sisters points derive – I would like to point out Rap Music is not representative of HIPHOP KULTURE. A rapper that spits hype has no affiliation with a Wordsmith Emcee that has an artistical repertoire of verses in poetry.
HIPHOP somehow has been hijacked by charlatans that are saturating and distorting the True Kulture and way of Life that so many believers are saddened by. Ask yourself this -do you see the described scenarios from KRS1 or Chuck D. These are Emcees with a Cause. The diatribe in the chart or on the Radio is not HIPHOP KULTURE. Counterfeit has been sold to the corporate bosses – they bought it as it is a ill supressive portrayal that can be churned out on a loop for Payola. Anyone requiring to gain knowledge about HIPHOP KULTURE. Should tune into the teachings from the Temple of HIPHOP via You Tube – remember there is a difference between Hip Hop and HIPHOP it is one word in Unity of the Elements it represents. Peace Unity Love and having Fun. Mentioning the word let me remind everyone in our Kulture we celebrate Friday as Fun Friday. PEace and Harmony -Resonating.