This week's articles revolved around hip-hop feminism which emerged after black feminism. Hip-hop feminism took personal issues in terms of the political, involving race, sexuality, gender, and class. In The Stage Hip-Hop Feminism Build: A New Directions Essay, the authors state,
“Hip Hop feminism remains deeply invested in the intersectional approaches developed by earlier black feminists. ...rather than treating feminism as though it lends a certain intellectual gravity to hip-hop, we consider how the creative, intellectual work of hip-hop feminism invites new questions about representation, provides additional insight about embodied experience, and offers alternative models for critical engagement” (pg. 722).
By looking at this specifically, the authors have set up the article to really investigate the questions that are asked about the hip-hop industry and its lack of recognition and respect for its women.
I think that the way Black women, were looked at is due to how Male hip-hop artists would portray them in their songs, degrading them, and sending the message that they were tools for sex. This led to years of female artists having to prove their worth in the hip hop/rap community and we are just now seeing the emergence of these communities beginning to push and support their female artists. I feel the male hip hop artists/rappers were reinforcing how society viewed women through their music. I mean, black women didn’t get to vote until the late 60s, while African-American men had already had the right to vote. So I feel like that just shows how inferior men in our society believe women to be, that they had to wait before a man could tell them that they had the right to vote.
In regards to how female artists have paved the road, I don’t believe that society is ready for women, in general, to lead in the music industry. Is that hip-hop in the rap industry ready to embrace its female artists? I don’t believe so. I think that just recently, female rappers and hip-hop artists have taken center stage and that is because they have stopped waiting for Artists like Cardi B, Nicki Minaj, Beyonce, Megan Thee Stallion, etc. have stepped up to the plate and have been embraced as they do this. We see the love for these women being shown on social media, in the press, through their record sales/streams and festival performances. With platforms such as Instagram, SoundCloud, Youtube, etc. female artists are able to reach their audience at an astronomical rate, and it just shows how popular these women have become.
Similarly, in Kyle Flack’s article, The Rise of Seattle Hiphop, he discusses the artists who have lead to a rise of hip hop in Seattle and how that has lead to the generation of hip-hop artists we see today. He also makes the connection to the use of platforms for Seattle’s artists to get their music out into the world. He states,
“Along with the eternal barrage of garage bands and the steadily thriving electronic scene, Seattle's hiphop artists have taken to Bandcamp, SoundCloud, and other DIY methods of getting the word out, as astral interlocutors trade stages with lean-sipping burners and young, wide-eyed crossover potentials” (p.1)
This new generation of Young Artists is more reliant on technology and music platforms to get their music out, and I believe that it has really worked in finding some of the industries new and upcoming artists.
Songs:
I picked the following songs because I feel like they really embody Black Feminism. The days where females would be subjected to stereotypes put on them by their male counterparts are gone. These women are done asking for people’s permission and are going against society’s norms and loving themselves for who they are. They also speak to women who feel like they are trapped in a man’s world and let them know that they are finally free to feel welcome in a society where we don’t let anyone get in our way.
Cash Shit - Megan Thee Stallion ft. Da Baby:
***Flawless - Beyonce ft. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie:
None of Your Business - Salt-N-Pepa:
Soulmate - Lizzo:
Unity - Queen Latifiah:
We Run This - Missy Elliot:
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