GWSS 241 Blog Post 2

Winter Roberts
May 6, 2020
GWSS 241
Blog Post 2

A recurring trend in hip-hop music is the objectification and empowerment of female bodies. As Byron Hurt makes the example in his 2006 documentary Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes a great deal of music with early mainstream success in the genre focused on the objectification of black bodies. Male hip-hop artists used derogatory language to describe women, among other hardcore aspects that didn’t necessarily extend beyond the music, to appeal to their audiences and used the same language to insult one another by their association with black female identity. A great deal of hip-hop feminist ideas have focused on the reclamation, by ethnic women, of the sexual identities and power that the genre historically robbed them of.

The dedication of an entire section in Kyle Fleck’s “The Rise of Seattle Hiphop” in The Stranger to song about butts is alarming, to say the least. Within the autonomous employment of an artists own sexual identity there is little concern for disempowerment or even risks from intentive over-sexualization. Fleck’s writing, however, doesn’t discuss self-autonomous sexual identification, but the sexualization of women as objects reminiscent of Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back,” among other tracks he mentions (Fleck). This and plenty of other examples, some of which also remain popular today, make clear the urgency for activism in the hip hop community.

Hip-hop feminism is an idea, the history is Alicia Durham, et al’s essay “The Stage Hip-Hop Feminism Built” from Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. The article goes beyond the discussion of black females like Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, and Queen Latifah’s reclamation of their own bodies by resisting narratives that presuppose they are not entitled to speak about their own sexual experiences and grievances concerning men who have continually objectified them, demanding respect. The article discusses how activism in hip-hop continues to resist boundaries tied to queer identities and the greater struggle for queer women — where Frank Ocean was supported by his community when he “admitted that he had fallen in love with a man,” Nicki Minaj’s bisexuality was not (Durham). Artists pushings these boundaries continue to incite activism through music, discussing any number of relevant socio-cultural issues today.

DJ Selection:
“C7osure” by Lil Nas X discusses feeling like he has to hide and the necessity of his coming out. When listeners were not made certain by the release of the track in June of 2019 Nas came out publically on Twitter.
“Good as Hell” by Lizzo celebrates the autonomy of women in general and emphasizes the right to love themselves without a man. In 2020 as an out queer artist Lizzo is another great example of someone who is empowering herself successfully.

Readings:

Fleck, Kyle. “The Rise of Seattle Hiphop.” The Stranger, Index Newspapers, LLC, 27 Jan. 2016, www.thestranger.com/music/feature/2016/01/27/23480690/the-rise-of-seattle-hiphop.

Durham, Aisha, et al. “The Stage Hip-Hop Feminism Built: A New Directions Essay.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, vol. 38, no. 3, Mar. 2013, pp. 721–37. DOI.org (Crossref), doi:10.1086/668843.