Women should rebel against the language of Hip Hop. NYDNews

[Captain Hilts]

http://www.nydailynews.com/11-19-2006/news/col/story/472666p-397740c.html

Women must free themselves from
shackles of hip hop's sexism

By KIM OSORIO

It's time for young black and Latino women to own up to an uncomfortable and undeniable truth: Almost 30 years after the birth of hip hop, women in rap culture have officially been demoted to eye candy and cheap stage props.
It's high time we fought back - because misogyny no longer just pollutes the air in "free expression" like lyrics, videos and awards shows. Now, there's clear evidence it chokes the air real women breathe every day.

First, that means taking on the music itself. No, hip hop isn't the whole problem, but the music does contribute to the misogynist mentality. There's no way to write off the effect of Snoop Doggy Dogg walking into the MTV awards with two women on leashes, as he did in 2003. There's no way to minimize the harm done by the fact that oversexed, underdressed females like Lil' Kim, Foxy Brown, Trina and Jacki-O have become our version of "empowered" women.

In fact, a study by Emory Profs. Ralph DiClemente and Gina Wingood suggests that disrespectful lyrics could lead to lower self-esteem in young black girls. Of more than 500 teenage girls surveyed, those who saw more than 21 hours of rap videos per week were more likely to engage in risky behavior.

When they degrade us, we need to make the men of hip hop feel ashamed and uncomfortable - not, as they often feel today, powerful. Until we do, the industry will continue to sell records on the backs, and backsides, of women. And women, inside the hip-hop industry and out, will continue to pay the price.

Osorio is the executive editor at BET.com.

[pooja]

1. I completely agree with this....

Its time for women in general stand up to all the crap.. so what if my breasts are big or small.. the purpose of them is to feed children, not capture your attention. So what if I grow old, do I really have to spend that much on a cream to try and compete for your attention.

I am 27 and I admire so many women who are older than me. Who have it together. Who teach me their fears and their own life traumas. It empowers me to be better and not fake. I am me and its ok. I know I will grow with more experience and I want other women who are younger to look at me and realize that its ok to be them.

[Demeter]

2. We Could Spend All Our Time Rebelling Against Sexism

but we wouldn't get anything done, and the country would starve to death under a mound of dirty laundry and overflowing wastebaskets.

[WhiteTara]

6. maybe that would be the solution

of course it has been posited before. Women go on strike, in every area of our lives and things might change quickly. Or, they will try to kill us all. :shrug:

[Iris]

59. why? My husband knows how to cook and do his laundry.

I'm sure others could figure this out as well.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. LOL

Executive editor of BET, eh?

[Mythsaje]

4. SOME women need to get over their fascination

with "bad boys."

There's another term for "bad boys" that is usually a bit more descriptive. "Fucking assholes."

I didn't know about the Snoop Dogg thing with the women on leashes. Makes me wince just thinking about it.

WTF are these people thinking? This isn't cool. It's just...pathetic. "Oh, look how powerful I am."

Powerful is fighting to stay in school and learn something that'll make your future brighter than the average rap video. Powerful is saying 'no' to drug addiction and setting goals for yourself that you can achieve. Powerful is accepting that you may have made a mistake and gotten pregnant early, but struggling to finish school and make the best of your life anyway. Taking care of your kid and living a life you can be proud of.

These GUYS aren't powerful. They're little babies in big man's clothing and flashy jewelry trying to pretend they've earned adulation and admiration.

[roguevalley]

7. gawd, mythsage, you are my new hero :)

[Mythsaje]

9. How did Pink put it?

"Where's the dream of the first woman president?

She's dancing in a video next to 50 Cent."

Or something like that.

While I applaud women taking control of their sexuality and doing what THEY want with their bodies, I can't understand why they'd want, or need, to subjegate themselves to male pretensions of power. And that's what they are. Pretensions.

Power is acceptance of Self. It's not pushing someone else down so you can stand tall.

The rampant sexism is one of the things I most loathe about rap and hip-hop. Musically I think it's getting better. But lyrically? Uh-uh.

[Iris]

61. I just have a hard time believing that the way the media

portrays women taking charge of their sexuality is really the way most women would choose to do that if they were NOT influeneced by the media.

[bliss_eternal]

11. ...and when a young woman speaks out

in essence agreeing with your assessment, she's called the whore.

Karine Steffans wrote a 'tell-all book' about her experiences as one that's appeared in hip-hop videos, hip-hop men's magazines, spokesmodel, actress, etc. But when she told the truth, people like Tyra Banks (who interviewed Karrine on her show)call her out as a 'gold digger' out to make money off the guys names. :eyes: I see her as one that's sincerely trying to help young women see they don't have to go down her path and buy into the bullshit of the industry. She named names to make her experiences real and tangible to the girls that may read her book.

I'm constantly struck by all the internet forums that refer to Karine as a gold digging slut, because she was honest and didn't mince words. The men in the industry she speaks of use women regularly--chew them up and spit them out--many of which are married and have families and they maintain girlfriends, mistresses, etc. Every other word in their music is "bitch","ho","slut." Why does that make the woman the whore? :mad:

[bumblebee1]

14. You may want to add another word.

Pimps.

[Mythsaje]

21. Not in my book it doesn't...

But, then again, my book has always been a little tattered and strange looking.

[bliss_eternal]

24. LOL....

:hi: nothing wrong with your book. ;)

[Iris]

62. what can you expect from Tyra Banks? She's just another cog in the machine.

Watching her makes me uncomfortable because she's so pathetic in her attempt to appear sophisticated and "informed."

[bliss_eternal]

72. Iris...you expressed it perfectly.

I can't stand her. You are so right, she does try too hard to be what she is not. If she was "informed" she wouldn't sell out a sister in arms (a woman) that's fighting the good fight to defend who she called "her colleagues"...men in the industry. :eyes:

Karrine later said she believes it's because Tyra has slept with some of the same people Karrine did, so she had to try to discredit her or risk being exposed herself.

:hi:Iris!

[Iris]

76. thanks bliss_eternal!

Sometimes I feel like such a curmudgeon around here!

[Indy_Dem_Defender]

19. Mythsaje, You know what I noticed

about these rappers, After watching 5 rap videos in a row earlier this summer that I swear I couldn't tell apart I came to the conclusion excuse my expression here, but it's basically your getting a view into their wetdream. Nobody acts the way rap videos are played out, the wealth and women that it's all rented for the shoot, (these guys are poor as shit, how the ?, can a debut album rapper have all this stuff when they haven't sold a single CD yet) but when fantasy gets mixed up with reality from people seeing it over and over again, people start believing that's the way stuff goes down.

[Mythsaje]

22. It's all a facade...

Self-glorification at the expense of everything else.

[bliss_eternal]

26. ...especially the women.

Women in hip hop are nothing more than eye candy, beautiful, glittering arm-pieces to adorn them--they are nothing more than pretty playthings, human "bling."

[YOY]

46. Aparently you don't know about Missy Eliot, Fergie, and Queen Latifa

Although Lil Kim and Foxy Brown...yeah you do know them.

[bliss_eternal]

50. Care to review the thread and op...?

We are talking about "the men" in hip hop and misogynist lyrics and culture. Or did that somehow escape you? But I'm not sexist, I'm willing to consider the women too, if their lyrics are applicable. But feel free to take it up with the writers of the article linked in the original post, instead of making empty comments to those trying to have a discussion.

If you don't have something of substance to add to this discussion--perhaps you'd like to start one of your own, discussing women in hip hop. Otherwise, take your flames elsewhere. :)

[YOY]

52. Not flamin'. Just sayin'.

Just reminding you that there are positive females in Hip hop.

and some females who push the same envelope that the men do. I recall Foxy Brown taunting an inmate to masturbate with klenex and vasiline and picture her. Sexist? A power play flip? Don't really know.

and I generally agree with Mythsaje, but a broad picture is being painted.

[bliss_eternal]

57. Then take it up with whoever you have the issue with...

This nit picking over comments is inane, on a good day. You take issue with Mythsaje's comments, but you post to me? Yes, that makes SO MUCH sense and is very productive. NOT. :crazy:

Tell them--not me.

[YOY]

73. Well didn't we wake up on the wrong side of the bed

Grumpy grumpy...

[bliss_eternal]

80. Clearly...

you have nothing of value to contribute here.

[MamaBear]

41. The record companies lend the groups the $$ for the videos

and they insist that they get made. The videos are essentially commercials for the "product" -- the CD, and the production costs are ADVANCED to the groups by the record companies.

So the rappers -- some of whom are intelligent and political -- do what they get told to do in order to make the name so they can do the stuff they want to do. Some get lost along the way, and yeah, all the bling is rented.

Some of these young men likely are the thugs they pretend to be in their acts. But the "look" of the videos is largely a matter of what the "market" demands, according to the producers, directors, etc.

Once a musician has made a name, and fulfilled the first big contract, they can negotiate different terms. Some do. Some leave the big studios and use the money they salted away to do other things.

I'm not trying to defend the miserably horribly misogynist stuff you see on TV, but part of the problem comes from the business end.

[bliss_eternal]

81. Good points, MamaBear.

:hi:I was surprised to learn how little input some of the artists have regarding how they are packaged, which includes their videos.

Some do have input and the ability to say which director is hired for their videos based on the "treatments" they offer. In the treatment the directors state or pitch the way they would shoot the video--the theme, setting, background, props, etc. Then the artists decide of all the treatments which they like the most and would like to see created for their video.

I'm not entirely sure how well established an artist has to be before they can say who they want creating the visions of their videos, though. :shrug:

A little off topic, but I know of a few bands that worked with newbie directors when they were newbie bands. Once the band found some success they stipulated they wanted to continue to work with the same video director and were able to do so. But I can't say how frequent that occurs in the "hip-hop" world. For so many it seems they think "they've made it" when they have a video by THE video guy that looks just like all the others (i.e. Hype Williams).

[LWolf]

25. You nailed that one.

:applause:

[pnwmom]

5. I couldn't agree more.

[Kellyiswise]

8. If only they would. I agree.

[Nikki Stone1]

10. I hate to tell you but women have been trying this for a long time with hip hop

And they are ridiculed for it. Seems that the way for poor urban males to get power is to slander and debase women. They wouldn't be the only ones.

[bliss_eternal]

12. I've noticed this, too...

even from women within the culture, which really saddens me. When women speak out--they are frequently villified for doing so. :(

It's so sad that there was a time that the only women in rap videos were dancers with choreography--or actors with a role to portray. These days, there's no choreographyor acting--just women gyrating, bumpin and grinding to the music while some asshole pours champagne or beer on her...oh wait, I guess the women "act" delighted that someone is pouring alcoholic beverages on them. :eyes:

[HardRocker05]

36. it's time for women to physically, emotionally, and financially boycott these men (or women)

who support the degradation and exploitation of women, whether through rap music or fundie conservatism, or whatever. what gets me is why any woman in her right mind would date or associate with people who treat her like shit.

[bloom]

51. It would be a good thing if men boycotted them also.

I can boycott it for decades - and it's not going to make any difference - because I wasn't buying it anyway.


I wonder if some white men buy it and think - oh - look at me - I'm not racist (aren't I cool) as the white and black men join together in their misogyny.

[AngryAmish]

55. Most rap is bought by white teenagers

Most records period but it also true in hip hop.

[spillthebeans]

13. Yo!

More clothes and better lyrics?


Ask the Dixie Chicks and what happened to them with Clear Channel after their political remarks.

The problem is that the whole corporate structure endorses mindless hip-hop.

[madmusic]

15. I'm not a hip hop fan, but think it itself is a rebellion...

Against PCism and White middle-class nannyism. It is very much like the rebellion during the Progressive Era when "The forces of liberation challenged the segregation and confinement so essential to the progressive social order. They upheld 'The Sovereignty of the Individual' that had been denied by progressive thought."*

In its place, "modernism offered the slippery stream of consciousness, the uncertain depths of unconsciousness, the multiple perspectives of cubism, and the intensely subjective individualist perspectives of Sherwood Anderson and Mable Dodge."

"Most of all, modernism, movies, and migration promoted uncertainty. The outcome of all those liberations, like the African-American journey northward, was unknown; the destination, like Chicago, was unclear. For that matter, there was no certainty that Americans even wanted to arrive at a final destination."

The pendulum will always swing, and even the women in those hip hop videos may sense the need to rebel. "The forces of liberation certainly flouted Victorian conventions, but Victorianism was already under assault from every side, including the middle class itself. Modernist culture and the other forms of early twentieth-century liberation were much more important for their attack on the newly powerful ideology and practice of progressivism."

When an ideology grips too fast, there will always be rebellion, and it will always grip to fast. Ideology cannot help but consume more and more freedom to think differently. It's like a Black Hole that can never yield its gravitational pull. Eventually, there's a big bang. Hip hop is just one of those big bangs.

The revolution has just begun.

*A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1970-1920.

[BlooInBloo]

16. Oh god please spare us. Sometimes misogyny is just mysogyny.

[madmusic]

17. Consider yourself spared.

Go in peace and sin no more.

Actually, it was just a test. Now I'll segregate and confine myself with silence so as not to upset the social order so essential to the progressive social order.

Or something.

[BlooInBloo]

18. Excellent - thanks very much!

[madmusic]

20. You're very welcome...

BTW, it must be driving you mad not knowing who Mable Dodge is. Undoubtedly, you have heard of Dodge City, right? Well, she has nothing to do with that other than their names are spelled the same, but they are pronounced differently. Isn't it strange how you can have one pronunciation on one side of the country and a different one on the other?

Anyway, Mabel Dodge was the pimp of New Orleans. Though some might technically call her a Madame. A very able and uppity woman who was a vicious business person, but she treated her slaves well. They happily did her bidding and hip hopped at every command. She was very generous and allowed her slaves to keep 1% of their income. That's a full .001% above the average for 1912! The famous New York madame Polly Adler trained Ms Dodge in the ways of the world. The even once traveled to Europe together on the hunt for new women to enslave. That's when the found Bonnie.

Bonnie was so sexy and beautiful she tore the two friends apart. They even had a cat fight over her on the steamer during their return trip. Bonnie was naturally flattered and decided to flip a gold coin to determine which of the women would be lucky enough to own her. She intentionally flipped it high in the air and it went overboard and fell into the deep green sea. When Polly Adler leaned over the railing to see, Bonnie pushed over!

Bonnie and Mabel Dodge turned to each other and smiled the way only a couple can smile when one of them just pushed a nuisance over the railing on the way back from Europe on the hunt for a woman slave.

And there you have it. And example of rebellion, a direct cause and effect, against constraining uppityness that results in bad poetry. But you do not get copy rights. I won't get rich, but some do, and good for them. Long live hip-hop and whatever else that comes along that will help shatter this nanny, nanny, nanny shut-up smugness.

Nanner-nanner.

[HardRocker05]

33. the Klan and Jim Crow were rebellions against the end of slavery; doesn't make them right

right, excusable, or 'understandable.' i'm sorry, it's time for men who feel put upon by the idea of women as their equals to grow the fuck up.

[bloom]

53. Misogyny is not progressive - that is just bullshit. nt

[Zhade]

23. Sooooo not indicative of ALL hip-hop.

Listen to Kanye West and then say he's misogynist.

Nu-uh.

But yeah, there's a TON of it in the crappy stuff, and that's unfortunately the popular stuff.

[HardRocker05]

37. i think the statement was about the stuff that IS nasty misogynistic garbage. i don't

think the main point of the article was to suggest that each and every piece of rap music is mysogynistic.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

45. Plenty of people say Kanye West is misogynistic.

Especially Gold Digger, and its video with scantily clad women.

[Zhade]

78. Well, I haven't heard all of his stuff.

I'd have to review the tracks in question.

[ProfessorGAC]

27. And From The "Look Who Just Caught Up" File

Sheesh, people have been saying this for 20 years. What took you so long, Kim?
The Professor

[Lance_Boyle]

28. who is this author to decide that

Lil' Kim, Foxy Brown, etc. are "oversexed?" While I agree with many of the sentiments expressed, that line strikes me as elvis-hips-hysteria redux.

[Iris]

77. you must be blind. n/t

[RedStateShame]

29. When I get home, I'll turn the TV on to BET and see how seriously Osorio's plea is being taken.

My money is on the prop women being proudly displayed.

[HardRocker05]

32. what's your point? if what she says isn't popular she should STFU? she's right,

and she should keep saying it. if the early women's rights workers had listened to people like you, women would be in worse shape than they're in now, but maybe you don't care about that. maybe you care a little more that the early abolitionists and black ciivil rights workers didn't listen to people like you.

[donsu]

30. true

nt

[Horse with no Name]

31. I think it is not only the young Black women, but also the young Black men

My daughter and I discussed this not too long ago.
These people in rap are becoming role models for both the young men and women.
She read something about Maya Angelou speaking out against it and (paraphrased) why would you as a young Black person wear Timberlanes when the person who manufactures them is a racist? By supporting his product, you support him and his views.
And another--I think Bill Cosby and some of the older activists addressed the way that the young people dress and talk. Basically that the blood that was spilled so that they wouldn't be called "nigger" is for nothing if they use the term for each other. It's a term that shouldn't be used. Also addressed dropping out of school and tried to impress on the youth of the people who died so that they had the RIGHT to go to school. Not being educated wasn't cool.

[butterfly77]

49. Who are the role models for...

girls gone wild... or the women on the bachelor who are fawning over this man like they are desperate...

[Iris]

65. well, I'd be willing to bet NOT a father living in the home or

an emotionally absent father living in the home.

[butterfly77]

66. There are plenty of fathers who are living in the home...

Who have daughters who display the same behavior and this has nothing to do with race, whites aren't superior...

[Iris]

67. I did not say anything about race.

I see your point about the Bachelor and all that crap. But I'm still willing to bet women who put themselves in those situations have no father figure and just because a father lives in the home, doesn't mean he is emotionally available to his daughter, which I also said.

[butterfly77]

85. But the post specifically picked out certain races of people...

[Iris]

86. so that makes my point less valid?

Because we're only talking about particular races? The fact is, this sort of thing is a problem across all races.

[butterfly77]

88. My point exactly...

[Fierce]

34. Either that, or men should just STFU.

That would be OK, too.

[Gregorian]

35. Tell it to Queen Latifah

I'm sitting here listening to Frank Sinatra.

Need I say any more? Probably. But I shouldn't.

[HardRocker05]

39. i think queen latifah would be the first one to call BS on mysoginistic rap music

or any other kind of music; why do you seem to want to excuse mysoginistic music (as long as it's rap)??? why not just acknowlege that the OP had a point? i don't know what it is about women's equality, but so-called progressives seem determined to minimize the issue into oblivion.

[Gregorian]

40. I had several points.

The op is right. There is a lot of sexist talk in some hip hop. But why single out hip hop. To be honest, I feel safer with it in the open than I do with the likes of Frank Sinatra. He was lethal. He killed women's careers with a nod. Hip hop is about protest. It's an act. And sexism is everywhere one wants to find it. Not just hip hop.

I think Latifa would agree that there is hip hop that is sexist. I don't see her criticizing the genre.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

38. I know that there's a lot of politically aware rap and hip-hop, but

we can fault the music production companies for promoting the garbage. They're in it only for the money, and they know that adolescent male fantasy (all the money and gorgeous women I want!) sells. They also know that a certain percentage of young girls are attracted to macho-macho men when they're young and stupid, so there's another market.

You might also ask, if you're in a more tinfoil hat frame of mind, who benefits when young men from poor families are drawn into a subculture that promotes greed, disrespect for women, pointless macho bragging, obnoxious behavior, cold-blooded violence, and a disdain for the education and work opportunities that their ancestors fought and died for?

I think, in the mind of the Establishment, it's better for young black and Latino men to be bragging about their "bitches" and the "bling" instead of wondering why any mediocre middle class white layabout can coast into a not-very-demanding college, graduate with a C average, and coast right on in to a management trainee job. Better that they gun one another down over some trivial matter instead of demanding fair treatment in this society.

[NotGivingUp]

42. yep, it's the big corps that are pushing this crap down our throats

everywhere you look. most of the movies are pushing it too. sexism, violence, etc.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

44. Right-wingers love it when the plebes are mean and dumb

They can be marshalled as an attack force by anyone who wants to use them.

[Duke Newcombe]

82. Just because they're selling...

...doesn't excuse "us" buying...sheesh.

Duke

[bloom]

54. those are good points.

Following the money...

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

43. I'm not sure I understand what course of action the author suggests. A boycott? -nt

[Iris]

64. She doesn't say that but how about a 17 year old girl emboldened enough

to refuse to go out with a guy if he plays that stuff while she's in the car? Obviously,a lot of men aren't going to treat women with dignity, so women need to be taught to demand it for themselves.

[YOY]

47. Oh Joy! An article to attract the 'Let's ban someone else's expression'

Focus people, Liberals don't ban anything! Freedom of speech and expression is manditory no matter how vulgar it is.

Don't like it? Make a counter movement that expresses the opposite. Until then, feel free to boycot something you would never even partake in in the first place.

Yeah, hip hop is sexist. It's sexist as hell. I don't like how sexist it is at all. I switch the channel when I see something I don't like. BUT I'M THE LAST PERSON WHO WILL TELL YOU TO BAN IT!

This kind of sh*t only gives the RWers ammunition.

:rant:

[izzybeans]

48. Can we work on rock n' roll, r n' b, and other forms of music?

Sexism of this sort is not unique to hip-hop. It just happens to be its biggest platform these days.

[ecstatic]

56. I agree. And southern rap is the worst

I think it all goes back to allowing that first shameful song-I actually forget which song it was-I think it was with Luke and/or 2 Live Crew, but the fight was taken all the way to the Supreme Court. From that point on, something went terribly wrong--especially in the South.

I cringe when I see these so called music videos with half naked women prancing around near men fully clothed (sometimes in winter gear). On one hand, I cannot blame the women who choose to be in the video, because they are hoping for their big break into Hollywood. They cannot see the big picture though. It's sad. I'd have no problem boycotting, but I cannot do it alone. I remember the women of Spelman College faced a huge backlash when they stood up to rapper Nelly.

[bliss_eternal]

60. Dh and I were trying to trace the beginnings

of the way women are used and shown in rap videos today. He swore it was the 2LiveCrew videos--but I had this nagging feeling there were others that predated Luke and company. Maybe I'm having major brain fog. lol. Reading your post and comments now, it makes sense that maybe it was the southern rappers that lead the way on this. :shrug: I'm really not sure anymore.

I pulled up the Wrexx n' Effects video for Rump Shaker--tame by today's standards, but 2live crew does seem to predate them. Guess I need to do some more research on this. I'm sincerely curious when and how it began. There was a time, as I state earlier in the thread, women actually had things to do in rapper's videos. They were dancers or "the love interest" but that has changed so much...

:hi: Always enjoy reading your comments! and Thanks for the information on southern rap. Very informative!

[ecstatic]

68. hey!

:hi:

You bring up good points, I forgot all about Wrexx n' Effect but that was also definitely part of the turning point in rap! Also, remember when female rappers used to wear baggy clothes? LOL... That is definitely no longer the case.

Thanks for the compliment. I'm actually shocked because I'm usually irritated and angry when I post here and I assumed I was ignored by most people. LOL. I enjoy reading your posts too, particularly on the AA board. Keep up the great work!

[bliss_eternal]

79. Oooh, I'd forgotten about the baggy clothes...

Some were very casual, tees and jeans--if you think back to MC Lyte or Monie Love--who I think did both, she wore baggy stuff and casually in jeans, etc. Have you seen that Ciera girl? What is she doing...? She's usually half naked and gyrating in some provocative fashion. :wtf:

TLC's left eye wore baggy garb for a while, until their image "grew up" so to speak.

While Salt n'Pepa were more "fashionable" I never really felt they sold us all down the river, know what I mean? They did sometimes dress provocatively, but they always carried themselves with respect. I didn't see them in videos and think,"...Eeuuuww...why is she naked?" And their lyrics were female positive.

No--you are not ignored. lol. But I know what you mean. If not for those that feel the need to flame me, sometimes I'd wonder if anyone noticed anything I said. LOL! :hi:

[lies and propaganda]

58. This is so 1990.

its stupid and pointless, just like the parental advisory stickers, just like banning Two Live Crew. People are going to do what sells, and people are oing to buy it because other people are telling them to buy it.

[Iris]

63. No - it is SO much worse than the 1990s.

We thought it was bad then but it just gets worse and worse.

But you're right "people are going to do what sells and people are going to buy it becasue other people are telling them to buy it" - and THAT can be corrected through education and some people (women in particular) taking a stand, which was kind of the point of the essay.

[RandomKoolzip]

69. Wait...hiphop is making people uncomfortable?

Guess what - our indignation just fuels more sales. That's how the game is played, people.

If you don't like the shitty mainsttream misogynist idiocy, ignore it. Don't buy it. There's GREAT underground hiphop that gets NO attention, and yet is made with 150% more craft, skill, and intelligence than the shit that sells - why not promote that stuff instead of condemning the bad stuff? Aesop Rock, Cannibal Ox, Anticon, Immortal Technique, Sage Francis...shit, even OutKast make mind-expanding, thought-provoking art using the hiphop form. Why not send a message by BUYING their stuff instead of fueling interest in the bad stuff by getting all huffy and puffy about it? Controversy sells.

Consumers DO have alternatives, ya know.

[thingfisher]

70. Our culture is in a state of schizophrenia.

[KittyWampus]

75. our culture is heavily influenced by marketing which knows how to manipulate

people using symbols that speak to our psyches.

[KittyWampus]

74. Consumers get mindfucked without realising it. Marketing is a Science.

So it goes a lot further than just 'saying no'.

But many people like to get up on their high horse and pretend they're just too fucking smart to get caught up in the brainwashed masses.

[Nikia]

71. We need more feminist music

In all musical genre's including Hip Hop. Yes it is out there, but it seems to be the women taking off their clothes and playing the sex object that get the most attention.
Male rappers say that they are angry and expressing that in their art. There are a lot of women that are angry about male oppression and that needs to come out in art and be heard too.

[Duke Newcombe]

83. Yeah...

...until then, Indigo Girls will have to suffice.

Duke

[donsu]

84. check out the Ladyslipper music site - all kinds of feminist music

http://www.ladyslipper.org/

[JVS]

87. This line makes me laugh...

"Of more than 500 teenage girls surveyed, those who saw more than 21 hours of rap videos per week were more likely to engage in risky behavior."

If you're watching 21 hours of music video or more, you've become this decade's answer to Beavis and Butthead!