Women in Hip-Hop: Round 2

Commonplace #10: Hip-Hop music is misogynistic.

Hip-hop gets a lot of criticism for its portrayal and objectification of women in lyrics and music videos and I must say that there have been many instances where it has been. Recently, women have started to take action on this issue by pro testing artists who m they feel degrade women. A few years back the hip-hop artist Nelly was protested at Spelman College while making an appearance at a bone marrow drive held by the school. The students felt that Nelly’s videos demeaned women and they didn’t want him at their school. The artist made the following comment during an interview with Tavis Smiley on PBS:

“ [The Spelman student protestors] were saying that some of my videos were degrading towards women, which is a controversy because I don't really see it like that. As far as what we did, we got adult women, we went to the clubs…we portrayed what some would consider a bachelor party…I didn't see it as degrading…I just feel if you really wanna get the roots out of your grass, don't cut it at the top. Dig down; you know what I'm saying? Dig down deep and pull it from the bottom if you really wanna get this situation resolved. I just think they took a shot at me at a vulnerable situation…I don't really think that anyone is really out to demean women. I know, I'm not, considering 85% of my fans are women. If they thought I was doing something demeaning towards them, they wouldn't support Nelly the way they do. I give women more credit than I think a lot of people do. I think they're definitely smart enough to say, well, this brother is doing this on purpose. He's out to hurt us, and he's not participating in anything in the community. He's not trying to help sisters at all. He belittles his mother and all the women around him, which is not true (Smiley).”


In another instance, rapper Jay-Z made a comment in Wall Street Journal that he realized the error of his ways in his lyrics concerning women. “Some [lyrics] become really profound when you see them in writing. Not 'Big Pimpin.' That's the exception," he told the Wall Street Journal in a candid new interview. "It was like, I can't believe I said that. And kept saying it. What kind of animal would say this sort of thing? Reading it is really harsh (Black Snob)."

Despite these artists attempt to justify or apologize for their “misogynistic” lyrics, I find it interesting that many women complain that “video girls” make the rest of us women look bad because I don’t agree. In my opinion, women who appear in these music videos, which are so controversial, are representing themselves, not other women. I personally think that they are disrespecting themselves by letting artists portray them in such a negative way. As a young woman, I couldn’t expect a man or anyone for that matter to respect me if I chose to appear in a music video like that. Therefore, I think that getting upset about music videos that supposedly “objectify” women is extraneous unless you share the same ideals as the women in those videos. Every woman is different and a music video with scantily clad women doesn’t necessarily generalize all women.

Sources:

Tavis Smiley. Examining Hip-Hop Culture: Representation of Women (Nelly).  <http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/special/hiphop/#>

The Black Snob: “Jay-Z Feels Bad for Past Lady Dissing” Oct. 2010. Web.