In the song, "I’mma Dog", by rap artist Gucci Mane, there is a terrible comparison between women and dogs. This song begins with Gucci Mane referring to himself as a dog, which in Hip-Hop, calling a male a dog is a positive thing. He then proceeds to say, "Ima treat her like a dog, beat her like a dog, then pass her to my dog". The rapper claims, he will treat a woman the same way he treats an animal. "Beating" her like a dog translates to him having intercourse with the woman; considering that he says he will pass her to his "dog". In this case he is calling reference to his friend. The rapper than proceeds to talk about how he only feeds his girlfriend crumbs, even though he boasts about being extremely rich. He continues, in this and many other songs, to objectify and bash women.
Not only do rappers bash women verbally, they also do it physically. If you go on a rap video, the chances are you will see a women dressed absurdly. In long stockings, with large "assets", making an attempt to look, "sexy". An extremely large majority of rap videos contain women being objectified. They are placed there to look attractive, be shown off and degraded. The rappers in the video act very misogynistic towards the women. The females, in most videos are just treated as a prop, to show off the success of the rappers, rather than another human being.
Why do people, especially women, support artists who repeat these hateful and degrading messages thousands of times over? It is extremely unacceptable and goes against our society’s current and developing values. Yet these artists are still selling millions of records, get tons of exposure and the songs are broadcasted over and over again, all around the world. On top of degrading women, a majority of today’s popular hip-hop artists promote criminal activity and homophobic lyrics.
Although Hip-Hop is a great genre of music, the dominant discourse in the messages today, are extremely negative, especially towards women. The promotion of these indecent messages and actions should be ethically wrong, yet many still seem to indulge in them. It’s time for a change in the messages being sent out in Hip-Hop because the continuous support of the same old hateful lyrics will only influence bad thoughts and actions.
Questions:
How do you feel about the way women are represented in the Hip-Hop/Rap scene?
What steps can be taken to reduce and stop this unfair treatment?
Do you listen to and enjoy music like this? If so, why?
Interesting post, one thing I have to say is that possibly among the target audience of these hip hop artists and rappers, it could be seen as "cool" and "hip", to degrade women in such a way. As such when the music endorses this kind of behaviour, it makes their listeners think it's okay to treat women in such as way. It is in no way okay, and I think that to reduce this, listeners of the music should be mindful and take what they hear with a grain of salt.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you Bryan. I feel that overtime, we have been so accustomed to listening to music that is constantly degrading women. I can say that more then 30% of the rap music I listen to is always talking down towards women. Most rappers nowadays basically replaced the word women as bitches. Knowing that this type of music is being praised and is getting millions of views on YouTube everyday is pretty disturbing if you ask me.
DeleteTo be honest, i actually enjoy some of these music just because it is so catchy. Even some songs that I do not like and find offensive after hearing it from the radio over and over again, it tends to grow on me.
ReplyDeleteSome songs might have the stupidest lyrics but kids these days don't pay attention to the lyrics. All they really need is a catchy beat. For example the song Gangnam Style by PSY. When it came out, it was everywhere. So many people liked his song but no one really knew what he was talking about, but it didn't matter because it was a catchy song.
I know where you are coming from. I think that most of the listeners aren't even listening to the lyrics anymore. As long as the song has a hot beat and a catchy hook, people will buy their music. The majority of these mainstream rappers, such as Lil Wayne have absolutely no skill. These rappers will do anything for money, including selling out and making sure the next generation is full of illiterate stupid people. Expressing your feelings for the government, life and all that does NOT sell simply because people would rather listen to a cool beats with addictive chorus and music videos that is full of booty shaking.
DeleteI listen to music and sometimes artist who rap include phrases which tend to degrade a woman just like the song listed above. Truthfully, I believe that it is wrong for woman to be portrayed in such a way, however at the end of the day the singer just cares about his/her profit. We see many music companies that include woman who are dressed inappropriately, however this is just in order to catch peoples attention. Now if rappers realize how their music videos look (dirty scenes, almost nude girls etc...), they may consider making better videos in the future.
ReplyDeleteYour post is out of this world, Ramoos! Women represented in rap or hip hop seem to be sex objects. Barely clothed and often very touchy. Women are often called b**ches and people just seem to be okay with it. I personally think it's very degrading as a female of today's society, to be treated with almost no respect. There are rappers out there who don't do represent women this way and actually treat women with utter respect and other rappers can learn a thing or two about them.
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