Authenticity in Rap and Violence Against Women

Screen Cap from 50 Cent's "Just a Lil Bit"

When hip-hop emerged in the 1970s, it was a culture the expressed the struggles and lives of those who were still left in the South Bronx after the White and Black flights. Over the years with the increasing popularity and commercialization, rap is often used to convey an image of hyper-masculinity which can lead to increased violence in the hip-hop community against women. 

By proving your authenticity in the hip-hop community, many artists resort to using women as subjects which can promote to violence against women. In Michael Eric Dyson and Byron Hurt’s piece states “society is teaching many young men and women to believe that the only way to be an authentic man is to dominate a woman … many young men see women almost exclusively in sexual terms.” (2012, p.360) For a man to be seen as masculine, he has to accept and perpetuate the objection of women that is seen all over our society and culture. 

        The objectification leads to men dominating women, subordinating them and derogating them which promotes a culture of violence of women. With the increasing popularity of rap all over the United States, many more young men and women are exposed to these dangerous ideas and are often influenced by what the artists convey in their lyrics and music videos along with their image. 

As Kembrew McLeod mentions in their piece about authenticity, being a “real” man doesn’t come from having the correct sex organ but it comes from acting in a masculine manner. By showing you are authentic, you cannot show that you are soft and you have to show your dominance over those who are not heterosexual males. (2012, p.167) Of course, you cannot just blame hip hop for this growing problem in the music industry, many other genres do this as well. Denise Herd did a study that showed that "attitudes towards violence in rap music lyrics also changed tremendously from 1979 to 1997. In the earliest rap songs, violence was viewed primarily in negative or ambivalent terms. ... In addition, the association of violence with glamour and wealth increased more than threefold -- from 6 percent to 21 percent and there was a trend for violence to be associated with increasing social status." (2009, p.5)

          Kanye West and Future have recently released a song together titled “I Won.” in 2014. With that, they released a game that features them sitting on two beach chairs and throwing chains at women in order to claim them. Of course, the women are faceless and are just objects you need in order to win. When you finally “catch” one of the women with your gold chain, they quickly turn into trophies in the sand. Future himself said that this song is “It's just me uplifting women in general.” 

      With the commercialization of hip hop, it increased the popularity of proving your authenticity. This has created a toxic environment for women in the hip hop community. Their portrayal most of them time equates them to objects or trophies one acquires. This can lead to violence against women since they are not seen as real people but objects you can just throw around. Women are also not seen as equals, but subordinates. However, there is a growing trend of people fighting back against it and hopefully women's image will change over time. 

Works Citied: 

• McLeod, K. (1999). Authenticity Within Hip Hop and Other Cultures Threatened With Assimilation. In Neal, M.A., & Forman, M. (Eds-.). (2004) That’s the Joint!: The Hip-Hop Studies Reader (2nd ed.). (pp. 165-178). New York: Rutledge.
• Dyson, M. E., & Hurt, B. (2004). Cover Your Eyes as I describe a Scene so Violent. In That's the Joint! That’s the Joint!: The Hip-Hop Studies Reader (2nd ed.) (pp. 359-369). New York: Rutledge.
• Herd, D. (2009). Changing images of violence in Rap music lyrics: 1979–1997. Journal of Public Health Policy J Public Health Pol, 30(4), 395-406.
• Weitzer, R., & Kubrin, C. E. (2009). Misogyny in Rap Music: A Content Analysis of Prevalence and Meanings. Men and Masculinities, 12(1), 3-29. Retrieved March 22, 2016, from https://webfiles.uci.edu/ckubrin/Misogyny in Rap Music.pdf?uniq=fn1t7r.