Misogyny in rap music

"[11] Responses to misogyny in hip hop music have ranged from criticism by women's rights activists, student protests and organized campaigns to a 2007 congressional hearing.

[12] Woman rap artists have used their music or started organizations to explicitly oppose hip hop misogyny,[13] and have expressed resistance by using self-empowering lyrics and emphasizing their independence as women.

[18] Lindsay Melanie builds off this work, writing, "Based on these three stereotypes, the videos present African American women as greedy, dishonest, sex objects, with no respect for themselves or others, including the children under their care.

This early representation is likely a result of the gritty circumstances in areas like the South Bronx that influenced young men to portray themselves as tough in order to stay protected.

[22] He notes that while the term queer rap might offer visibility to LGBTQ+ artists but it can simultaneously marginalize them by creating a subgenre that separates their work from mainstream hip hop.

Academic Elijah Anderson links the treatment of women in hip hop culture with troubled gender relations in inner-city Black and Latino communities.

[1] While hip hop began as a producer-based art form among the working class and poor African American and Puerto Rican youth, some claim that its transformation into a global consumer product has influenced its treatment of women.

[36] Academic Margaret Hunter suggests that in this period the commercialization of Hip Hop for largely white audiences became linked to the overwhelming objectification of women of color in rap lyrics and videos.

[6] Journalists Jeff Chang and David Zirkin contend that the misogyny extant in American popular culture provides "incentives for young men of color to act out a hard-core masculinity".

[47] Misogynistic rap often depicts physical violence and rape as appropriate responses to women who challenge male domination, refuse sexual advances, or simply "offend" men.

[51] In his song "Circo Loco," Drake dismissively raps, "This b- lie 'bout gettin shots, but she still a stallion," implying disbelief in her account and downplaying the severity of the incident.

Such remarks not only demonstrate a lack of support for Megan Thee Stallion but also reveal a bias towards his male counterpart, ultimately demeaning and undermining the experiences of women.

By displaying such a powerful message like respect, helps show that rap music can be used positively by the African American community to reinforce social movement.

The casual references to rape and other forms of violence and the soft-porn visuals and messages of many rap music videos are seared into the consciousness of young Black boys and girls at an early age.

The survey also suggests that repeated exposure to sexually degrading lyrics may lead girls to expect that they will be treated with disrespect by their partners and that they have to take a submissive role.

[68] In a 2011 study, Gourdine and Lemmons identified age and listening habits as key factors which determine the perception and impact of misogyny in hip hop music.

Kanye "engages in the process of sublimation vis-a-vis the sexual violation of white women, in order to mitigate his frustration regarding a system that abets the invisibility and exploitation of black males.

[72] Bailey continues by saying that we have to question Kanye's sincerity of his messages when he raps at the end of "New Slaves" about threatening to sexually violate the wives of private corporations' owners, by forcing them into intercourse, and by ejaculating semen inside of their mouths and on their clothing.

According to Mark Anthony Neal, a professor of American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin a "tip drill" is "a ghetto colloquialism for the proverbial ugly girl with a nice body",[73] In the video, Nelly states, "What did I do wrong?"

Benjamin Moore Dupriest said that Lil Wayne, "engages with Rebaka's "idyllic impulse" of resistance, restitution, transcendence and opposition in discursive ways, despite the controversial subject matter of his lyrics and the representational implications his visual images."

"[75] The common lyrical expression of misogyny, materialism, and yearning for respect from males leads many researchers to hypothesize low self-esteem in audiences and hip-hop artists alike.

[76] This is attributed to the “cultural lens” in which black listeners utilize when identifying with the music, which suggests they can relate with motivational aspects that enhance collective self-esteem and disregard lyrics that do not.

[82][83] Building on the momentum generated by the Spelman College protests, Essence magazine launched a twelve-month campaign entitled "Take Back the Music" to combat misogyny in hip hop culture.

[93] Musicians who present a masculine persona like Young M.A will often perform songs along the lines of "Ooouuu" that place her in the male role with the lyrics "I don't open doors for a whore / I just want the neck, nothin' more" and "I ride for my guys, that's the bro code.

Similarly, sociologist Patricia Hill Collins has argued that female performers must follow certain rules and even objectify themselves in order to be "accepted within this Black male-controlled universe.

[104] In 2010, at the Rock the Bells hip-hop festival in New York he condemned misogyny on stage by stating: "Your mother, your sister, your grandmother, the girl you came here with tonight, or the woman you're going to marry someday, she might have lost her virginity by being a victim of rape ... and she might never tell you.

"[105] The same year, Canadian rapper Shad released the song "Keep Shining" where he talks about the positive influence women have had on his life and the need for hip-hop to have more female or woman MCs.

Other rappers, such as Tupac, leave a complex legacy, sometimes playing into misogynistic themes, yet also producing music that affirms the worth of black women, in songs such as "Keep Ya Head Up" and "Dear Mama".

South African rap and hip hop music artist Pope Troy, often uses examples of political ideologues that tend to become relevant due to the use of stereotype misogynist ideals, to decry sexism and exploitation of children through the use of hyper-sexualized campaign content.

Rudman and Lee then completed an experiment on 30 men that "tested the assumption that violent and misogynistic rap music would activate automatic Black stereotypes in high and low prejudiced subjects alike (Devine, 1989).