Lizzie Horne

AASP400
November 23, 2010

Queens of Consciousness
Black Women Rappers and Masculinities

Masculinity is a social construct – it is an image many men feel the need to

conform to, and most do not know how to identify themselves without it. It is something

that most men and many women try to achieve as way of characterizing themselves in a

society full of constructs. Being a man or a woman in American society is not defined

solely on the biological traits a person may possess. Gender is mainly defined by how

men and woman are expected to act, which has been decided by society and fed to people

at an extremely young age. From the beginning of life, people are lead to believe that by

being a man or a woman they will have to follow certain unwritten “rules” of what is

expected of them based on their sex. Masculinity and femininity start out with the color

of clothes, but then it leads to teen hobbies and later job choices. Unlike its singular

counterpart, masculinities are performances. Men are not predisposed to masculinities,

just as women are not predisposed to femininities. Both are taught and reinforced

throughout the lives of men and women worldwide – it is rare that one can make the

choice to perform something other than what society has deemed appropriate. There is no

such thing as a definitive masculine core, but rather a set of dynamic masculinities that

guide male social practices (Alsop 136).

Masculinities are not subject to describing one group of people; religion, culture

and race all come into play when discussing the idea of masculine performances. Black

masculinity is especially different from other types, and is significant in the discussion of
hip hop. Because hegemonic masculinity is describe as being intrinsically white, black

masculinity is often defined as subordinate masculinity (Alsop 150). Dominance is often

associated with groups of people who have been consistently powerful throughout the

course of world history. That is why most associate dominance with whiteness and

blackness with inferiority. The negative construction of the black man is what has

empowered hegemony for so long; as black masculinity is given a negative connotation,

white masculinity remains at the top of the social construct hierarchy.

Despite the fact that white male hegemonic masculinity is what most people strive

for, it is black masculinity that defines much of today’s American society. “While black

masculinity is in conflict with the normative definitions of masculinity, black men, in a

bid to retrieve some of the power and authority denied to them within a white-dominated

culture, look to other means of asserting authority” (Alsop 152). Although white men and

the hierarchy they have created make it extremely difficult to assume masculine roles,

black masculinities seek to reclaim the staple dimensions and authority of white

hegemony. Hip hop is one of the most prevalent and powerful ways by which the black

community has asserted authority in society – and through the use of black masculinities.

Longtime journalist and professor, Jared Ball has made claims that hip hop is a

form of mass media. He says that “hip hop is often taken out of the existing context of

political struggle, repression or the primacy of a domestic/neo-colonialism in the service

of which mass media play a leading role” (Ball). Ball explains that the colonialism that

played a major role in the creation of hip hop is far too often left out of the discussion,

which leads people to misunderstand where it came from and why masculinities are

displayed as they are. He also says that while what has been made popular by hip hop
glorifies certain parts of the black community that have been deemed money-makers by

the media, the fundamental relationship between hip hop and society has remained intact

and hip hop has continued to leave a negative stigma attached to the black community.

The females of the black community have been especially affected by that very

negative stigma society has placed on hip hop culture. In hip hop, black women and their

femininity have been consistently portrayed in a negative light; not because they chose to

be portrayed that way, but because males have demanded they do so (Collins 149). The

term “bitch” is a popularly used derogation to describe black women as hypersexual,

aggressive, manipulative and rude. Male rappers use this term to assert their masculinity

and put women in more feminine place. Female rappers have attempted to reclaim this

word by using it to describe themselves as tough, strong and proactive (Collins 146). The

interesting part of this debate is the shear irony that it demonstrates on multiple levels.

When men describe women as “bitches” being hypersexual and aggressive as a way of

assigning them femininity, they are really assigning them hyper-masculinities. Men are

always applauded for being masculine when they have sex with lots of women and are

aggressive enough to fight other men; meaning the way male rappers are portraying

women is in a masculine light. By the same token, female rappers are attempting to

reclaim their femininity by changing the word “bitch” to mean strong and tough; this

alone is an act of masculinity because society has deemed men as the more physically

superior gender. In Gwendolyn Pough’s Check It While I Wreck It, she describes the

complicated double entendre that lies within the world of hip hop:
 “A common form of representing that occurs in hip-hop is men

rappers representing black women and black womanhood. This

representing plays out in a variety of ways, but the most often noted

is the representation of black women as bitches, hos, stunts,

skeezers, hoochies and chickenheads. All of these derogatory

representations have been the subject of much feminist criticism of

rap. Likewise, there has been a lot of focus on representations of

black women as strong black mothers or dear mamas and black

queens…Such representations of black womanhood garner the most

attention, both from the women rappers who speak out and from the

feminist thinkers who offer other critiques” (Pough 93).

She also says that black women use the whole of hip hop cultures to not only

assert agency, claim voice, grapple with and create images, negotiate sexual and body

politics, evoke black feminism, continue lineages and empower themselves, but also to

lay claim to society and subvert stereotypes and domination by bringing a powerful

feminist stance (Pough 86). Rappers like Lil Kim, Nicki Minaj, Queen Latifah and Salt

‘n’ Peppa, among others, have worked to take on that stance and assert a powerful place

in the world of hip hop. Since hip hop first emerged and became popular in the 1980s,

women have been working their way up and trying to make a positive name for

themselves in the industry. One of the ideas that many female rappers have struggled

with, however, is the idea of feminism and what it has meant in American society

throughout history.
 Feminism is a term that has often been applied to members of a white middle-

class women’s social movement – one that many black women feel they cannot relate to.

Black female rappers, especially, struggle to self-identify as what society knows as

feminist. “Intersections of race, gender and class make it difficult for black female

rappers to engage in cross-racial sisterhood, especially if that sisterhood exists at the

expense of black women’s racial identity. This is not to say that black female rappers do

not critique and challenge the misogyny and sexist discourses of their male counterparts”

(Hess 200). White hegemony is something that does not only affect black males, but

more heavily black females. Black females have consistently been pushed to the bottom

of the social hierarchy and have rarely been a part of what society knows as feminism. In

a discussion about violence and women, Jennifer Maschke explains that “although

collective opposition to racist practice has been and continues to be crucially important in

protecting black interests, an empowered black feminist sensibility would require that the

terms of unity no longer reflect priorities premised upon the continued marginalization of

black women” (Maschke 145). Black women have a feminism all to their own, but it is

much different from what most people would define as general feminism. Black

femininity is something that hip hop has played a major role in defining; it is totally

unlike the radical and progressive feminism associated with liberal white women. It is a

mix of sexual and powerful feminism that allows women to decide who they want to be

and how they want to go about performing it. Unfortunately, many women have been

stuck performing the stereotypical “hoochie” character designed by men in hip hop. But

female rappers have made the effort to develop their own personal feminism that defies

the stereotypes the industry and society have assigned to black females.
 Hip hop culture, like many other musical cultures, has often been identified as

masculine and misogynist, primarily because of its extreme lyrical content, but also

because of media coverage of different concerts and performers (Hollows 185). From the

beginning of hip hop, women attempted to avoid the false lights provided by media

coverage and sought to fight against the masculine and misogynist identification of the

culture. Lil Kim and Erykah Badu emerged as break out figures in hip hop as women of

sexual consciousness and authority figures for other women looking to make it. “Early

women rappers, while shedding light on the female perspective of life in urban America,

often employed strategies such as appropriating male performance behavior and directly

contradicting male standards as a way to gain recognition” (Keyes). Rappers and other

hip hop artists recognized that if they reclaimed their sexuality and remained conscious of

their race, hip hop could be positively reprised and turned into something positive –

especially for females.

An issue that has arisen, obviously, is that some female rappers have not gone

about their careers the same way as some of hip hop’s women pioneers. Some artists have

given in to what men have deemed feminine and masculine, and have continued to

perpetuate black male stereotypes by performing black hyper-masculinities. “Female

rappers are often loathe to condemn some of the more anti-female antics of their peers

because it feeds into the wider process in which black masculinity is seen as

pathological” (Hollows 185). Hip hop is at the center of how people view black men and

what society believes black men should act like. Although they are not men, women

rappers who over-perform and overtly do things that are associated with males tend to
feed into the larger issue of black men being viewed as aggressive, violent and

dangerous.

Another issue women rappers have faced regarding black masculinity is the idea

of the “hip hop cheerleader.” Most women actively involved in the hip hop world have

made and are making a valiant effort to step away from the sideline and avoid being the

“groupie” that many men wish women would be. The masculinities displayed by black

men in hip hop have helped to perpetuate this idea that women are worth nothing but

docility.

I’m a hip-hop cheerleader

I buy all your records

Despite the misogyny

Not looking for the blond in me…

I’ll scream the HAY’s

I’ll tolerate your hoes

I’m a hip-hop cheerleader

Jessica Care Moore’s poem comments on the stereotypical image of women as

cheerleaders and on the perceived lineage of black women as diligent supporters of their

black male counterparts. Many female rappers seek to disrupt this image of women being

passive and worth nothing aside from what they do for males.

But the rising movement among black women to demand respect from both rap

artists and recording companies is a movement that is making headway. In Deborah

Atwater’s discussion on black women’s rhetoric, she say that the people “that produce,

promote, protect and profit from them is a rightful and righteous call. Although the focus

is necessarily on black women’s demand for respect given the gross, insupportable and

almost canonized degradation of them in gangsta and related rap, the issue of degradation

and disrespect is a larger one. It’s about black people as a whole, how we are perceived

and treated in society itself” (Atwater 133). Current emerging women rappers like Nicki

Minaj are working to get the discussion going and to change what hip hop for women has

turned into over the years. While it may have been something that was powerful and a

good mix of feminine and masculine back when it was first developing, it has become

something defined almost totally by black masculinity. Today, a hip hop music video

without women being objectified is about as rare as women rapping. But with powerful

women slowly coming to the forefront and talking about masculinities in hip hop and

how they can be addressed, many of the issues have the potential to be solved. “At the

very least, black women rappers are in dialogue with one another, black men, black

women and dominant American culture as they struggle to define themselves” (Atwater

133).

Within the black community and hip hop especially, black women will have to

make it clear that patriarchy and black masculinity is a critical issue that negatively

affects the lives not only of black women, but of black men as well. If rappers and other

artists address this core issue head-on, hip hop could have the potential to reshape

traditional practices and end the justification for rallying around misogynistic policies

and patriarchal values (Maschke 145). While black women, namely those involved in hip

hop culture, may often feel as if they are not making progress in relation to black men,
they are on the path to eventual success. “Women may not know it, but they have started

something big. They are taking over the human male’s last hunting grounds. For the

human male is and always has been a hunter. He started out hunting large animals, other

men and women, and went on to hunt money, other men and money. Now women have

started hunting as well, and men are going to lose their two most important prey, money

and women, and they aren’t allowed to hunt other men. Women are making the male

redundant except as a stud and the consequences are impossible to predict” (Alsop 135).
Works Cited

Alsop, Rachel, Annette Fitzsimmons, Kathleen Lennon. “Theorizing Gender.” Retrieved

from elm.umd.edu.

Atwater, Deborah. “African American Women’s Rhetoric.” Copyright 2009.

Ball, Jared. “Hip-Hop, Mass Media and 21st Century Colonization.”

http://www.greeninstitute.net/?q=node/31.

Collins, P. 2010 “Get Your Freak On: Sex, Babies, and Images of Black Femininity” in
Rose Weitz, ed. The Politics of Women’s Bodies: Sexuality, Appearance and
Behavior. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Ferguson, T. “Black Female Rappers’ and Sexual Politics in Rapic Music” Paper

presented at the annual meeting of the 33rd Annual National Council for Black
Studies, Renaissance Atlanta Hotel Downtown, Atlanta, GA. 2010-11-11 from
http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p302476_index.html.

Hees, Mickey. “Icons of Hip Hop.” Copyright 2007.

Hollows, Joanne. “Feminism, Femininity and Popular Culture.” Copyright 2000.

Maschke, Karen J. “The Legal Response to Violence Against Women.” Copyright 2007.

Pough, Gwendolyn P. “Check It While I Wreck It: Black Womanhood, Hip Hop Culture
and the Public Sphere.” Copyright 2004.

Reeser, Todd. “Masculinities in Theory: An Introduction.” Wiley-Blackwell. Retrieved

from elms.umd.edu.

Thomas, Greg. “Hip-hop Revolution in the Flesh: Power, Knowledge and Pleasure in Lil
Kim’s Lyrics.” Copyright 2009.