HIP-HOP
I’ve never really thought about hip-hop in a totally different perspective except that the beats were catchy, and often got me caught up and addicted to its music, but after being introduced to a film called, Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, directed by Byron Hurt, I was surprised that this beat to my heart was involved with the degrading of women, sexism and violence. It isn’t that I didn’t catch-on earlier; it’s just that I never really felt the urge to go deeper past the beats. The thought about women in the backgrounds of music videos and questioning why they decided to expose their bodies slipped into my mind once or twice beforehand, but I just pushed it to the back of my mind because we are constantly exposed to these vulgar images on a daily basis. I don’t believe that hip-hop should be banned, but rather there should be limits placed on artists (and not just hip-hop artists) on what images they choose to bombard us with. The thing is, with misogynistic imagery being put into the media so frequently, society will believe that these violent images are acceptable and this chain of mistreatment and lack of respect for women, even the ongoing stereotypical men, will keep living from generation to generation. Hip-hop is a mirror and mini feed that creates a society in which we can examine closer, in ways of reaching for a social justice that is possible without fear of asking for the answers.
Matthew Birkhold’s (of Wiretap) article, Hip-Hop Dogmatism and Potential Problems for Political Organizing, also integrates Byron Hurt’s film, but also exposes the need of “a call for deeper critique and reflection within the hip-hop community.” We learn from the film, that many rappers use such crude lyrics because, “explicit music makes money.” To discover that these rappers work under “white supremacy”, and get their approval to deliver the support of patriarchy and bloodshed is horrendous. Wiretap Blog-Patriarchy: A Primer for Men defines patriarchy as a “social and political system that gives men privileges, which result form a socialization process that teaches people heterosexual men are superior to women and all non-heterosexual men.” It is valid that hip-hop is dominantly in constructing masculinity. In the article, We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity, Bell Hooks mentions that “to a black man, work means putting yourself directly under a white man on a job and having to do what he says,” even with if there isn’t a “fair share of profits” present. It is no wonder Birkhold concludes that “refusing to engage in this reflection mirrors the refusal of many whites to admit to collaborating with racism or acknowledging that America itself is a racist nation.” This rippling effect of continuing a destructive movement to accept such impropriety equals the loss of our internal, mental innocence, but why are we only targeting hip-hop and more so African Americans?
The article, Caucasian Please! America’s Cultural Double Standard for Misogyny and Racism, written by Dr. Edwards Rhymes, supports my argument, when Edwards cites Ann Savage on how “we focus on the black artists, not the rockers and not even the white executives who are making the big money from this kind of music.” It isn’t fair to the black community that when we open up the subject of misogyny, we all associate this notion to hip-hop music, not really opening our eyes to think that even movies and high-rated television shows appeal in this aspect. Rhymes’ clear message “that the mainstream media and society-at-large, appear to have not so much of a problem with the glorification of sex and violence, but rather with who is doing the glorifying,” is undeniably accurate. The contributions to lead the belief that the cause of chaos is under the focus that hip-hop is the core of all destruction of morals is a dangerous perspective and is from pure ignorance.
I believe that educating society about the brutal images that are being thrown upon us could aide in destroying the barrier of sexism, racism and violence. Such a simple thing that we sometimes take for granted, like hip-hop music, gives us an entailing macroeconomic vision on humanity. Society is considered to be corrupted, but can’t we take action instead of accepting what is deemed tolerable? Let’s take a look “beyond beats and rhymes” for once.
REFERENCES:
· Dr. Edwards Rhymes, Caucasian Please! America’s Cultural Double Standard for Misogyny and Racism, 2007, Black Agenda Report, AlterNet
· Bell Hooks, We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity, 2004 Routledge, New York and London
· Matthew Birkhold’s, Hip-Hop Dogmatism and Potential Problems for Political Organizing, 2007 Wiretap
· Wiretap Blog, Patriarchy: A Primer for Men, 2007
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