The connection I made this week between last Thursday’s material
and This Tuesday’s was the similarities between the themes of riot grrrl
movement as discussed by Mimi Nguyen in her article “It’s (Not) A White World:
Looking For Race In Punk” and the themes present throughout Beyonce’s visual
album, “Lemonade”. Nguyen outlines the themes and purpose of riot grrrl
stating, “riot grrrl confronted the popular illusion of the ‘abstract (punk)
citizen’ and forced punk to examine its given categories of ex-/inclusion,” and
that, “Riot grrrl critically interrogated how power, and specifically sexism,
organized punk.” From these excerpts, I think a connection can be made between
the examination of sexist structures that riot grrrl forced on the punk genre and
the strong feminist messages in Beyonce’s “Lemonade”. While riot grrrl brought focus to the “masculinist
punk paradigm” and the discriminatory exclusion of women in punk, I think “Lemonade”
is able to visually embody this spirit through it’s direction and imagery,
ultimately doing the same for pop/hip-hop music as a whole. A couple weeks ago
we got to take a look at the rampant masculinity that was present in rap during
the 90s and 2000’s in Byron Hurt’s “Beyond Beats and Rhymes” documentary and
with “Lemonade” Beyonce makes a modern response to that. While much of gangsta rap and even some rap
today makes a point to objectify and hyper-sexualize women at every turn, “Lemonade”
makes a feminist statement that promotes themes like no longer putting up with
infidelity, solidarity through black female unity in the community, empowerment
through representation, and more to ultimately display the strength of the black
woman who, as Malcolm X describes, are “the most disrespected woman in America”
and “the most unprotected person in America.”
To continue this focus on feminist strength in pop music, I
wanted to first recommend M.I.A.’s “Bad
Girls” because it promotes feminism by acting as a protest against the
illegalization of female drivers in Saudi Arabia during its release. Also, the
music video is absolute heat.
M.I.A. – “Bad Girls”
My second recommendation is “Doves in the Wind” by SZA ft
Kendrick Lamar which empowers women to take control and find strength in their
sexual relations with men, empowering the side chicks of the world specifically.
SZA ft. Kendrick Lamar – “Doves in the Wind”
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