Women in HipHop
Thanks to Linda for bringing this to my attention. Essence will be running an article about the depiction of women in hiphop throughout the year. It basically consists of different folks perspectives on the issue. I just wanted to post a few and see which one sparks something in you. I saved the one that shocked me most for last. If you're going to read only a few, I suggest you read Kevin Powell's, Jill Scott's, Melyssa Ford's, Nelly's (if you can stomach it) and the last one's.
Jill Scott
The focus on women in most videos is on being a certain kind of attractive. And as far as our sexuality is concerned, it seems that it's more nasty than it's sexy. Sexuality, in my opinion, is not so obvious. It's coy. It's sly. It's sweet. And we're not doing that right now; we're just like, "Look at my ass."
Life is about choices, but I do think that women have to make a decision about how we're seen by the world. You have to teach your daughters. You have to be responsible. not just for your child, but also for the other girls around you. So let them know, "That skirt is inappropriate." "You're not wearing that," you know. Say, "No, honey, your breasts don't have to be exposed like that."
Carolyn West, Ph.D.
Many adults are quite ignorant about what's out there. We can't afford to pretend it doesn't exist. We live in America, and people have a right to produce those images, so I'm not talking about censorship. But even if artists won't be responsible, the community has to hold them accountable.
My fear is that girls don't see their victimization anymore. They say, "I'm a bitch, I'm a ho, I'm a tip drill." As porn moves into the mainstream, it only normalizes the behavior and how we deal with sexual assault and violence. I get concerned when I see girls mimic the X-rated clothing that Li'l Kim wears of the X-rated lyrics of songs like Kelis' "Milkshake." It puts young girls in positions that they can't handle once the attention is drawn to them.
Nelly
Part of the reason rap artists come under fire more than any other group is because people don't respect what we do as art.
[Eb's Interruption]
Time out! Time the fuck out!!! ART???? Sliding a credit card between a woman's ass cheeks is NOT art!! You need to die... a slow painful death.
[/Eb's Interruption]
When actress Halle Berry appears in Monster's Ball, people separate the character from the real person, and she wins a Oscar!
[Eb's Interruption]
Rappers are not supposed to be actors, you brainless piece of shit! Rappers are not supposed to have a "persona" or "character." And how the fuck am I supposed to know the difference between who you are in "real life" and who you present yourself to be in videos? I don't recall you sending out the memo that stated "any characters resembling real life persons are purely coincidental because I am a frontin ass mofo perpetrating a lie!" As far as I know you slide credit cards down women's asses every day OFF camera and I have nothing to dispute me of that notion. And for the muthafuckin record, those who pretend to be someone/thing they are not are called "FRONTERS!" Someone needs to pick up a copy of Main Source's album and pay close attention to "Fakin the Funk!" Silicone ass rappers.
[/Eb's Interruption]
A rapper couldn't use a line describing what she did in the movie, let alone film it in a video, without getting heat for it. So I accept my role and my freedom as an artist. I respect women and I'm not a misogynist. I'm an artist. Hiphop videos are art and entertainment. Videos tell stories; some are violent, some are sexy, some are fun, some are serious. As for how women are shown in the videos, I don't have a problem with it because it's entertainment, whether it's Dilemma or Tip Drill, Mos Def or Terror Squad. Women are in videos by choice. No one knows what a particular woman's situation is, what her goals are. Being in that video may help further those goals. Several women who have been in my videos have gone on to do TV appearances and movies. No one can dictate other people's choices and situations.
[Eb again] TV Appearances and movies???? PLEASE DIE!!!!![/Eb again]
Kevin Powell activist, author, dude from The 1st Real World (lol)
Black women, dating back to slavery, have always been depicted by this society as sexually loose, as whores, as objects to be used, then discarded. What is new about this mind-set is that there seems to be no boundaries, no coded language in the way men-Black men-rap or sing about and relate to Black women nowadays. Factor in music videos running all day every day depicting Black women in compromising positions, and you have the double insult of the visuals reinforcing what have essentially become a reckless disregard and, in some instances, hatred, for the lives and psyches of Black girls and women.
In my work as an activist and a speaker, I ask Black boys and Black men this question all the time: What other men on the planet are allowed, or even encouraged-for the sake of keeping it real or making a profit for their record labels-to refer to the females in their lives as bitches, hoes, chickenheads, skeezers, sluts or what have you; have it put on CD; have it depicted in their videos in the most pornographic ways possible; and have all those horrific sentiments shipped all over the globe? No one but us.
Melyssa Ford, former video ho
When I started doing videos, it was to help pay my tuition. *gas FACE* It wasn't a way to meet rappers. That was the farthest thing from my mind. We've become trophies. We're like the equivalent of a platimun chain and a pendant. It's one of the reasons why I took control of how I was seen. People were trying to exploit me, but I decided to exploit myself and make all the money from my images, including those on my calendar and DVD. People see it as contradiction, but I don't. I'm eye candy, and that's as far as it goes.
[me]
The fact that "that's as far as it goes" is the problem you dumb slut! You should want to be more than an ornament. You're a fuckin blow up doll! And you may think that you are empowering yourself by "exploiting yourself," but you're wrong.
[me]
Russell Simmons
We live in a very sexist society. Popular culture exaggerates everything, including this kind of sexism, for profit. That's the nature of capitalist society and entertainment. There is no question that the sexism that's in our hiphop videos is a reflection of how sexist men are in the world today. It's just that in the past things weren't so obvious. Men were holding doors for women, but then they'd do things privately that kept women from being equal citizens. Now when you watch videos and you see the girls dancing, it's a more raw expression of the same sexism. Although these records and videos are offensive, young girls can learn about the mind-set of the young guys they're going to school with. Now that the truth is out there more, young girls can learn how to deal with guys.
[me]
Sexism as a learning tool? You can die, as well.
[/me]
Ludacris
In my videos I try to be versatile: Sometimes I have women dancing, and the, for example, in my Stand Up video, there are no naked women. I don't mean to depict women in a certain way. The ones who want to shake what their mama gave them are going to do that whether they're in videos or not. As artists, we explore our creativity through videos. Who sees those videos on BET, or whatever music channels showing it, is not always up to us.
Jay "Icepick" Jackson, senior VP of A&R at Ruff Ryder Records
I have a 7 year old daughter, and she can't listen to my music. She can't listen to it in the car, not in the room, and she can't watch videos. Right now she loves Usher. His music is good, but the lyrics are a bit too much for her-especially once she starts to understand what he's saying about adult relationships. So I went and bought her the HipHop Bears CD, and we listened to it together, and she loves it. I gave Usher's CD to her mother.
*refraining from saying the painfully obvious*
Talib Kweli
Videos can be art, but the video didn't start out as art. It started out as a promotional tool to get an artist seen without having to fly him around the country. So what's the easiest way to sell something? When you drive down the street you see titties selling you all types of things, from clothes to cars to alcohol to everything. So why not use ass and titty to sell music? It makes perfect sense. Whether it's right or not, I feel that as a man, when I see it, I'm going to look. It's going to catch my attention. I believe an artist's responsibility is not to uphold the morals of society. An artist's responsibility is to speak honestly about what's going on and what people are going through.
*GAS FACE*
I can't do any more personal commentary. Y'all know how I feel and the entry is already "long."
Poll Who speaks to you?
Jill Scott
The focus on women in most videos is on being a certain kind of attractive. And as far as our sexuality is concerned, it seems that it's more nasty than it's sexy. Sexuality, in my opinion, is not so obvious. It's coy. It's sly. It's sweet. And we're not doing that right now; we're just like, "Look at my ass."
Life is about choices, but I do think that women have to make a decision about how we're seen by the world. You have to teach your daughters. You have to be responsible. not just for your child, but also for the other girls around you. So let them know, "That skirt is inappropriate." "You're not wearing that," you know. Say, "No, honey, your breasts don't have to be exposed like that."
Carolyn West, Ph.D.
Many adults are quite ignorant about what's out there. We can't afford to pretend it doesn't exist. We live in America, and people have a right to produce those images, so I'm not talking about censorship. But even if artists won't be responsible, the community has to hold them accountable.
My fear is that girls don't see their victimization anymore. They say, "I'm a bitch, I'm a ho, I'm a tip drill." As porn moves into the mainstream, it only normalizes the behavior and how we deal with sexual assault and violence. I get concerned when I see girls mimic the X-rated clothing that Li'l Kim wears of the X-rated lyrics of songs like Kelis' "Milkshake." It puts young girls in positions that they can't handle once the attention is drawn to them.
Nelly
Part of the reason rap artists come under fire more than any other group is because people don't respect what we do as art.
[Eb's Interruption]
Time out! Time the fuck out!!! ART???? Sliding a credit card between a woman's ass cheeks is NOT art!! You need to die... a slow painful death.
[/Eb's Interruption]
When actress Halle Berry appears in Monster's Ball, people separate the character from the real person, and she wins a Oscar!
[Eb's Interruption]
Rappers are not supposed to be actors, you brainless piece of shit! Rappers are not supposed to have a "persona" or "character." And how the fuck am I supposed to know the difference between who you are in "real life" and who you present yourself to be in videos? I don't recall you sending out the memo that stated "any characters resembling real life persons are purely coincidental because I am a frontin ass mofo perpetrating a lie!" As far as I know you slide credit cards down women's asses every day OFF camera and I have nothing to dispute me of that notion. And for the muthafuckin record, those who pretend to be someone/thing they are not are called "FRONTERS!" Someone needs to pick up a copy of Main Source's album and pay close attention to "Fakin the Funk!" Silicone ass rappers.
[/Eb's Interruption]
A rapper couldn't use a line describing what she did in the movie, let alone film it in a video, without getting heat for it. So I accept my role and my freedom as an artist. I respect women and I'm not a misogynist. I'm an artist. Hiphop videos are art and entertainment. Videos tell stories; some are violent, some are sexy, some are fun, some are serious. As for how women are shown in the videos, I don't have a problem with it because it's entertainment, whether it's Dilemma or Tip Drill, Mos Def or Terror Squad. Women are in videos by choice. No one knows what a particular woman's situation is, what her goals are. Being in that video may help further those goals. Several women who have been in my videos have gone on to do TV appearances and movies. No one can dictate other people's choices and situations.
[Eb again] TV Appearances and movies???? PLEASE DIE!!!!![/Eb again]
Kevin Powell activist, author, dude from The 1st Real World (lol)
Black women, dating back to slavery, have always been depicted by this society as sexually loose, as whores, as objects to be used, then discarded. What is new about this mind-set is that there seems to be no boundaries, no coded language in the way men-Black men-rap or sing about and relate to Black women nowadays. Factor in music videos running all day every day depicting Black women in compromising positions, and you have the double insult of the visuals reinforcing what have essentially become a reckless disregard and, in some instances, hatred, for the lives and psyches of Black girls and women.
In my work as an activist and a speaker, I ask Black boys and Black men this question all the time: What other men on the planet are allowed, or even encouraged-for the sake of keeping it real or making a profit for their record labels-to refer to the females in their lives as bitches, hoes, chickenheads, skeezers, sluts or what have you; have it put on CD; have it depicted in their videos in the most pornographic ways possible; and have all those horrific sentiments shipped all over the globe? No one but us.
Melyssa Ford, former video ho
When I started doing videos, it was to help pay my tuition. *gas FACE* It wasn't a way to meet rappers. That was the farthest thing from my mind. We've become trophies. We're like the equivalent of a platimun chain and a pendant. It's one of the reasons why I took control of how I was seen. People were trying to exploit me, but I decided to exploit myself and make all the money from my images, including those on my calendar and DVD. People see it as contradiction, but I don't. I'm eye candy, and that's as far as it goes.
[me]
The fact that "that's as far as it goes" is the problem you dumb slut! You should want to be more than an ornament. You're a fuckin blow up doll! And you may think that you are empowering yourself by "exploiting yourself," but you're wrong.
[me]
Russell Simmons
We live in a very sexist society. Popular culture exaggerates everything, including this kind of sexism, for profit. That's the nature of capitalist society and entertainment. There is no question that the sexism that's in our hiphop videos is a reflection of how sexist men are in the world today. It's just that in the past things weren't so obvious. Men were holding doors for women, but then they'd do things privately that kept women from being equal citizens. Now when you watch videos and you see the girls dancing, it's a more raw expression of the same sexism. Although these records and videos are offensive, young girls can learn about the mind-set of the young guys they're going to school with. Now that the truth is out there more, young girls can learn how to deal with guys.
[me]
Sexism as a learning tool? You can die, as well.
[/me]
Ludacris
In my videos I try to be versatile: Sometimes I have women dancing, and the, for example, in my Stand Up video, there are no naked women. I don't mean to depict women in a certain way. The ones who want to shake what their mama gave them are going to do that whether they're in videos or not. As artists, we explore our creativity through videos. Who sees those videos on BET, or whatever music channels showing it, is not always up to us.
Jay "Icepick" Jackson, senior VP of A&R at Ruff Ryder Records
I have a 7 year old daughter, and she can't listen to my music. She can't listen to it in the car, not in the room, and she can't watch videos. Right now she loves Usher. His music is good, but the lyrics are a bit too much for her-especially once she starts to understand what he's saying about adult relationships. So I went and bought her the HipHop Bears CD, and we listened to it together, and she loves it. I gave Usher's CD to her mother.
*refraining from saying the painfully obvious*
Talib Kweli
Videos can be art, but the video didn't start out as art. It started out as a promotional tool to get an artist seen without having to fly him around the country. So what's the easiest way to sell something? When you drive down the street you see titties selling you all types of things, from clothes to cars to alcohol to everything. So why not use ass and titty to sell music? It makes perfect sense. Whether it's right or not, I feel that as a man, when I see it, I'm going to look. It's going to catch my attention. I believe an artist's responsibility is not to uphold the morals of society. An artist's responsibility is to speak honestly about what's going on and what people are going through.
*GAS FACE*
I can't do any more personal commentary. Y'all know how I feel and the entry is already "long."
Poll Who speaks to you?