Lyrics of Rappers Degrade Women

502 Words3 Pages
Today many rap protagonists argue that since the explosion of hip hop in the 1980s, the rap game has changed tremendously. With the transformation of how "old school" songs covered topics such as politics and empowerment to now discussing more materialistic things such as money, cars and women, rap legends like Jay-Z and Nas say that the power of rap music has died and will never be the same. One of the most common and chief complaints of today's rap lyrics is the constant degrading it gives to women, primarily those of the African-American race. In the heat of racial comments made last year in reference to the Rutgers womens' basketball team by white, radio talk show host Don Imus, many activists began to question even further whether these degrading lyrics are partly to blame for the black culture's insensitivity and disrespect to its women. As an African-American woman, I strongly believe rap and hip hop artists help to create and sustain a tarnished image of the general black woman; however, I also know there are ways to combat it, and most importantly, such behavior is only proved more acceptable and valid when tolerated by those in which it degrades. For example, in the lyrics of rap artists The Game and Kanye West's song, Wouldn't Get Far, women are called "bitches" and "hoes," and those referred to as "video vixens" are even more degraded. The song goes on to further to explain that these women will do WHATEVER it takes to get to the top by saying, "She a video vixen, but behind closed doors she do whatever it take to get to the Grammy Awards," which is followed by a faint laugh by The Game himself. Upon hearing these lyrics, I was sure (or rather hopeful) there would be some type of uproar by black women across the nation and a boycott that left the artists in search of "props" for their video, but much to my dismay, the video contained

More about Lyrics of Rappers Degrade Women

Open Document