Musings from a Black Woman: On Hip Hop and Cultural Ramifications

From My Mic Sounds Nice: A Truth About Women and Hip-Hop, a documentary airing on BET:

"There are a whole lot of reasons why female rappers aren't as prominent in the hip hop game as they should be. But to me, honestly, I believe the bottom line is, it's a boys' game. It's a man's world. Straight up."

- Nikki D

"Male rappers have such an amazing amount of power and influence. And if they're spending a majority of the time dissing African-American women, then what is expected of the people that they're performing for, or the people that are buying their records. It's not much to be said for them wanting to spend money to hear an African-American woman speak her mind."

- MC Lyte

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Who's "we"?

I made a comment under this post over at Mr. Smooth's blog, so I hope it eventually appears. Until then, my sentiment is this: who needs to take responsibility for what? Last time I checked, I wasn't making any videos that involved one gender exploiting another. I'm not contributing to the history of misogyny in the United States and around the world. I'm not using racial slurs to refer to my peers, nor am I stating that any and all women I come across are prostitutes and/or female dogs.

This is the same way I feel when I hear people talk about how far the United States has come, and that racism, sexism and homophobia don't exist anymore, because this country was built on democracy and freedom, and it's the greatest country in the world. Most of the people who make those glib, propogandist statements have never left the country. They act like because they supposedly don't know any wife beaters, gay bashers or white hood enthusiasts, everything is fine, and therefore our country is so progressive. Except here's the problem I've often come across: it's not like there has been a large group of nonwhite people perpetrating this institutional bigotry. Meaning, there weren't a bunch of Asian people running the Middle Passage; there weren't a bunch of Native Americans rounding up Japanese American in internment camps; and there aren't a bunch of black people hiring Mexicans and Central Americans for cheap labor while simultaneously enacting discriminatory legislation to keep foreigners from "crossing the border" and "taking our jobs."

I'm not responsible for the bigotry perpetrated on certain non-white, non-male, or non-straight American citizens. I'm not oppressing myself. I'm not one of the people in this country who has "come a long way." I never had anywhere to get to. I've always been here. What needs to be said is the following:

• Certain (white) people in power, and even those not in power, need to stop being racist. I acknowledge that nonwhite racist people exist, but that is another discussion for another time.

• Straight people (and some queer people, too) need to stop hating the LGBT community.

• Men (and certain self-hating women) need to stop oppressing women and end the cycle of misogyny.

We all need to stop acting like the oppressed and the oppressors have, or should have, a equal say in the direction of our country and our society. We don't ask serial killers what we should do to decrease the murder rate. We don't ask rapists how to stop sexual assaults. Mr. Smooth, I agree that there is a discussion to be had about the history and future of hip hop, and the effects hip hop continues to have on our communities. But let's not pretend that every person's opinion is valid and equal, especially the opinions of those "artists" who still choose to making their millions by treating women like worthless whores.

(I'm not saying that sex workers in general are worthless. I'm saying that's how certain recording artists treat the women in their songs and videos.)

We need to tell people, "this behavior is wrong, and you need to stop."

I took a walk this morning,

and it was the Best Walk Ever! Readers of the female persuasion, you should go on a walk, too.

The group of people I walked with was made up of so many fabulous women at different points in their careers. During the reception that followed, I got to talk with talented individuals whom I had never expected to encounter, and whose work I never realized how much I appreciated until it wasn't there anymore. The coolest thing about the entire affair was how comfortable I felt. I was accepted by everyone, by women who have done so much with their lives already. And many of those successful women were impressed by me and my goals. I wasn't worried about what my face looked like or what clothes I was wearing. I felt so supported and empowered and connected. These are people who understand what I stand for and know how far we still have to go as women together.

After all of that positivity this morning, conversely this evening I've been watching And You Don't Stop: 30 Years of Hip Hop, a miniseries on VH1. After four hours of footage that included the LL Cool J, Run DMC, The Beastie Boys, and rises and fall of Tupac and Biggie, one guy finally mentioned "The whole misogyny thing", and pointed out that "[hip-hop is] so accommodating of different styles and different points of view...except for women." Ice-T then excused the industry's oppression and degradation of women by calling it a "back-and-forth", ongoing "battle of the sexes", stating that rappers like Foxy Brown and Lil Kim represent "Do me" feminism.

You know what I love? When men making millions of dollars off of hip hop--an industry now fully entrenched in the hate, mockery and subjugation of girls and women--try to inform me about feminism. Additionally, the entire contribution of women in the hip hop community was relegated to ten of the final 20 minutes of this five-hour special. Those ten minutes included commercials. Also, during this entire special, only one woman was featured as a talking head. One. I couldn't tell you how many men there were featured during those five hours, it was that many.

As I watched the special this evening, and as I listened to Steve Harvey talking to Smokey Robinson on the radio this morning, I realized how much of our culture is dominated by people who decided to say something and were given the power to do so. Not necessarily something important. Just something. Many of these people are men with absolutely nothing of value to say. I'm not talking about Mr. Harvey or Mr. Robinson in particular. I'm talking about fools like Nelly and Lil Jon, whose songs and videos degrade themselves and the women "hired" to gyrate in them. Hired is in quotation marks because I learned from another hip-hop special on VH1 that these women are often not paid for their appearances. Instead of getting much deserved residuals any time the video airs, they get harassed and abused for free. Now that's America. And how are Nelly and Lil Jon degrading themselves? Well, Nelly grew up in a middle-class suburb, and Lil Jon apparently has a bachelors degree. Yet they perpetuate this ghetto fabulous lifestyle acting like they have no sense. What is that about?

Ooh, so now I'm watching a commercial for Ben Stiller's The Heartbreak Kid which looks like a movie about Ben marrying a blond woman who is way too young and way too good-looking for him. He seems not to have known anything about his trophy wife before he married her, and now it turns out that she's crazy. And the movie wants us to feel sorry for him . . . why? I don't get it. Maybe he shouldn't have married some skinny blond woman half his age before he got to know her. Idiot.

I can't wait to see that other movie coming about that young, funny, driven college-educated woman who likes to talk about current events with her friends . . . Oh, that's not a movie? . . . I meant the TV show. . . No TV show either? Then I guess I'll go watch some more gay men on Logo. :(

Nope, there is obviously no problem with the representation of women in American media. You win, irwin.

That's all for now.