In this blog, I will be focusing on the idea of masculinity that is produced by Rap artists and how it appears to those who idealize it. In many of the modern Rap songs that are released and even those within the last 10-15 years, there has been an image of a womanizing, drug-using, aggressive, violent and outspoken male. For those who idealize music such as this are getting the message that this is the definition of what masculinity truly is. This message is drilled into everyone's mind after the countless times it is played on the local Top 40 Radio Station and after the countless time the video is played, with half naked women in the club/mansion, expensive car, while they Rap Artist is flaunting cash and jewelry. Usually, I would blow this off as meaningless dribble on the television because I am old enough to turn the channel and not be influenced. But when I look at my 9 year old brother trying to emulate the "stylish" clothes and the attitude that these artists carry with them, I am bothered. I do not want to focus on the effects that these images have on young men especially black men, but I would like to focus on how these images are created such as through lyrics and videos. Each song speaks about some aspect of what I mentioned: oversexualized, drug references, agression toward women/ objectification of women, or violence.
Though in most songs there were only specific lyrics that were offensive and maybe not the entire song, people listen to these songs without really noticing the problems that occur in the lyrics. I had a hard time coming up with song and that is moreso because I have become conditioned to think that these songs are okay. And I am sure I am not the only one. In art forms, it is the common people, those who perform and those who adore it, who define it and all of the aspects that are involved. And masculinity is involved. The images of the Rap artists are translated to what a "real man" should be like and those who adore this music really watch those images and take what they like from it. There has always been a desire for men to be rebels, and this is something like that. Rap stars are making their own rules for how they want to carry themselves and though it is negative, for them it is fun.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Exploring the Playlist
Aggression/ objectification toward women
Soulja Boy
Title: "She got a Donk
Album: souljaboytellem.com
Release Date: October 2007
Album: souljaboytellem.com
Release Date: October 2007
Catalog Number: 000996202
Soulja Boy's "She got a Donk", which released in 2007 can still be heard in clubs and on the radio quite frequently. In the song, he is referring to a girl who has a big butt and he likes this girl for that reason. This explains the objectification of the female in Rap music. There are no songs about love and beauty in Rap, there are songs focused on the woman's physical appeal and to be a man in the Rap industry, it is cool to only care about sex when it comes to women. To be in love or in a relationship go against their idea of a masculine man.
Plies
Title: "Dat Bitch"
Album: Definition of Real
Album: Definition of Real
Release Date: June 2008
This song did not have the popularity of "Donk" from Plies, but this album did very well for him. When I first heard the song, I was very shocked and did not really understand what the point was. In this song, he is trying to talk a specific girl and chorus reads "I don't want that hoe, I want 'dat bitch'". What is interesting about this song is that he finds two degrading songs to refer to a woman, just in the chorus, which shows that he doesn't seem to think that women deserve to be approached in a respectful, gentle way, but more of an aggressive way. And the intentions of a modern day masculine man inundated in Rap culture should only approach women they want to have sex with. In the song link, it actually leads to a performance of the song and you can hear the crowd which does conssit of at least 50% of women who are singing "Dat Bitch" back to him.
Nelly
Title: "Tip Drill
Album: Da Derrty Versiions: The Reinvention
Release Date: 2003
This song has been in question since its release. It started as an uncut video on a late night video show on Bet called Bet:Uncut. The video features at least twenty strippers doing different seductive dances with less than bikinis on. All of the dances were used as a way to get the attention of Nelly and other men with him, who held money in their hands, mouths, etc. At one point, Nelly slides his bank card through one the dancers' butts. There is no way to describe the pure degradation that goes on in this video without having the actual video available. But what we see here is that women are only used for sexual pleasure and not only is that enough, but they must compete with other women to be sexual with a man and the way of competing is to be as seductive (borderline nasty) to get the attention of the man.
CashMoney Millionaires
Title: "Project Bitch"
Album: Baller Blockin
Release Date: September 2000
Catalog Number: 000153291
Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNlbKNSFd6kube.com/watch?v=FNlbKNSFd6k
Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNlbKNSFd6kube.com/watch?v=FNlbKNSFd6k
Around this time in rap music, the CashMoney Millionaires, were very popular. Wearing white tees that were 3 sizes to big and some sort of bandana was cool. Though they had an appeal, they were no different when it came to referencing women. In this song, chorus goes, "Give me a project bitch, give me a hoodrat trick, one that don't give a f***, and say she took that d***". Though they were trying to say in the song that even though they were making money and meeting lots of women, they still appreciated the women from where they were from, the projects. Unfortunately, they called them bitches and tricks and any other demeaning word that they could think of. And in addition to that, they referenced sexual skill, as a way of giving this female props. It shows once again that women are only appreciated for their sexual skills and the sexual appeal.
Young Jeezy
Title: "White Girl"
Album: Cold Summer: The Authorized Mixtape
Release Date: May 2007
Catalog Number: 000873802
I included this song to show that the degradation of women was not only toward women of color. In this song he talks about how they are so rich and famous that they appeal to white women as well, as if that was a direct result of them having material things. Though there is the idea that having white women was due to their success, Young Jeezy, is no more respectful to these women than he is to women of color. All women seem to be degraded just as equally and being measured by the quantity of women one man could get. In addition to that, the women must be in awe of their possessions and willing to be just as physically appealing and sexually available as I have described throughout the last few songs.
Violent
Eminem
Title: "Kim"
Album: The Marshall Mathers LP
In this song, he is rapping to his on and off wife, Kim. The song from the lyrics to the rage in his voice is very violent and quite shocking for a rap album. In the song, he talks about all of the problems that they had and how mad he is that she has apparently been having an affair. Basically the setting of the song, starts out in their house and they are arguing in front of their daughter. And he is making several threats to her life. The most astonishing part of the song is roughly the last 2+ min, where there are no words just sounds of him killing Kim and dumping the body. In 2000, this song was heavily criticized for being violent, but discussions of free speech came into place and in his defense, he said that he never harmed his wife, he just sang about it. But where do you cross the line? And what kind of message is being sent about yourself and other rap Artists? But this adds to the idea that most Rap artists are full of rage and dangerous.
50 Cent 
Title: "Many Men
Title: "Many Men
Album: Get Rich or Die Trying
Release Date: February 2003
Catalog Number: 493544
Catalog Number: 493544
Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkPSrQVPE6I
50 Cent songs, especially on this album, are usually full of all of the negative aspects that I have been discussing. But outright violent and aggressive language flows methodically throughout this entire album almost to the point where you do not notice that it is there. The beginning of this song starts with a group of men who are apparently waiting to do a drive-by on 50 Cent. The listener hears a barrage of gun shots and the car drive off. Then the song starts by 50 singing "Many men, many many many many men, wish death 'pon me". In this song, 50 Cent tells the story of him being shot down by people who did not like him and how they were intent on killing him and how he would seek his revenge. Regardless of it actually happening to him or not, I think that when it is broadcasted with the intent to sell records and become famous, it takes away the severity of the events. It sends the message that a man is not tough if he has not dealt with issues as extreme as this. As we see in the picture above, 50 boasts the build of a man fresh out of jail, with bulging muscles, but he wears his customized Gucci gun holster because you know, he's rich.
50 Cent songs, especially on this album, are usually full of all of the negative aspects that I have been discussing. But outright violent and aggressive language flows methodically throughout this entire album almost to the point where you do not notice that it is there. The beginning of this song starts with a group of men who are apparently waiting to do a drive-by on 50 Cent. The listener hears a barrage of gun shots and the car drive off. Then the song starts by 50 singing "Many men, many many many many men, wish death 'pon me". In this song, 50 Cent tells the story of him being shot down by people who did not like him and how they were intent on killing him and how he would seek his revenge. Regardless of it actually happening to him or not, I think that when it is broadcasted with the intent to sell records and become famous, it takes away the severity of the events. It sends the message that a man is not tough if he has not dealt with issues as extreme as this. As we see in the picture above, 50 boasts the build of a man fresh out of jail, with bulging muscles, but he wears his customized Gucci gun holster because you know, he's rich.
Ice-T
Title: O.G. Original Gangster
Album: O.G. Original Gangster
Release Date: May 1991
Catalog Number: 26492
In this clip, I have a recent clip of Ice-T performing a song that was made almost 20 years ago, and the mentality of someone who would idolize this song would be idolizing ganglife as well. An Original Gangster is someone who is one of the older gang members and if you have that status you have respect from everyone else in the gang. In this clip you see people enthralled by this song and the idea behind. He speaks before it comes on about how if you're from California, you know about that word and how it relates to people in gangs. But this is one of the original artists involved with Gangster rap, which was often times violent against other gang members or toward the police. But nowadays most rappers when they find themselves in trouble for violent raps, they try to reference Gangster rap even though often times early Gangster rap was a form of social justice.
N.W.A.
Title: F*** the Police
Album: Straight outta Compton
Release Date: October 1990
Probably as the first Gangster Rap group, N.W.A, gained much popularity for their in-your-face brash attitudes. As I said about Gangster Rap, it originally had a very specific role that it was to play in society. It discussed issues of police brutality, racism, inadequate neighborhoods, etc, but because the genre came about as a way of being fed up with the mistreatment, they were heavily criticized. What it did was make people more militant. Everyone who came from the same areas or backgrounds could understand what they were saying. In this song, they have given up on the police because of the racism and mistreatment. Oddly enough my parents (who oppose modern rap heavily) know the words without missing a beat to groups such as N.W.A because there are parts that you cannot help but see the loss of faith. As far as masculinity is concerned, at this time men were more militant, socially aware, but angry. These qualities often times do not mix. But at least the violent attitude was for a cause and not just to prove how tough you were. Men who idolized this music were masculine and tough because they stood for something.
Materialistic
Jay-Z and Jermaine Dupri
Title: "Money aint a thing"
Album: Volume 2, Hard Knock Life
Release Date: September 1998
Catalog Number: 558902
Catalog Number: 558902
Though this song is a bit older, the song took place near the start of the development of the successful career of Jay-Z. In 1998, Jay-Z was beginning to have the fame and fortune and repsect that he deserved, but this song, which was definately one of his weaker songs does nothing but talk about his fame and fortune and how much stuff he could buy. In this song, Jay-Z and Jermain Dupri are promoting a lavish life where they buy everything they want, clothes, jewelry, cars,boats, etc., just because they can. Clearly they are promoting that this is the lifestyle that everyone should have if you are a successful Rap artist and also, this is what you should desire if you are a fan.
Big Tymers
Title: "Real Big"
Album: Hood Rich
Release Date: April 2002
Big Tymers, which was a group linked to the CashMoney Millionaires, which by the name clearly shows what they are about before you hear their music. In this song, which is oddly similar to their other song, "Still Fly", they talk about everything that they own as being "real big". They have to money to make everything they own "real big", in terms of cars, clothes, etc, and this term doesn't so much refer to size, but moreso the idea that everything that they have/obtain is over-the-top.
T.I.
Title: "24s"
Album: Trap Muzik
Release Date: August 2003
Catalog Number: 83650
This is one of the first songs that I had ever heard from T.I. It started out being popular among those who searched for new rap songs to listen to on mix tapes and such, but eventually this song was well-known and sang by everyone. In this song, T.I. emulates every aspect of the Rap that I have been talking about in this blog. He gives plenty of drug references, shows lots of aggression, and of course flaunts his money (even though this was the start of his mainstream career, so it is safe to say he had no money). Either way, he sang through the chorus "money, hoes, cars and clothes, thats all my n****s roll, burnin 'dro on 24s!" (referencing his rim height). The chorus exemplifies the things that seemingly all Rap artists want, money, women (although they reference them as hoes, or bitches), cars, clothes, etc.
Gucci Mane
Title: "Icy"
Album:Trap House
Release Date:May 2005
Catalog Number: 73016
Catalog Number: 73016
There is always a rapper who is absolutely horrible by most standards, yet you can't get their songs out of your head. That is Gucci Mane, for me. And surprisingly enough, that seems to be the case for most people considering after dozens of mixtapes, he is finally recognized by the mainstream audience. This is one of the first catchy songs that I unfortunately enjoyed by him. He talked being "icy", which refers to him having lots of jewelry, diamonds that are big and he flaunts them around because he's so cool and any other adjective that he would like to use. Though all of the terms for having lots of jewelry have been played out in my mind, they never cease to be mentioned in Rap music. It is key to have certain things as a Rap artist or your authenticity is questioned.
B.G (from CashMoney Millionaires)
Title: Bling Bling
Album: Chopper City in the Ghetto
Release Date: April 1999
Catalog Number: unknown
Catalog Number: unknown
As I said, many of the terms to describe the jewelry that one wears that makes them look so cool are usually overused, but this is one of the first songs that flat out made a full song about nothing but the brightness of their jewelry going "bling bling". It sounds crazy, but this song was big and it was cool to know the words and guys I knew who clearly could not afford to buy the jewelry that was obviously rented in the video, they still tried to buy the best cubis zirconia that they could find so their necklace could too go "bling bling".
Drug Usage
50 Cent
Title: "High All the Time"
Album: Get Rich or Die Trying
Album: Get Rich or Die Trying
Release Date: February 2003
Catalog Number: 493544
Well by the title of the song, one can easily understand what he is talking about. In this song, 50 Cent, is simply explaining that he is high all of the time. The chorus says that because he's always high, he doesn't need to drink and at the beginning of the song, we hear light what we can assume is a joint and he mimics taking a puff from it. Considering this was a song that was made in 2003, many of the people my age who were listening to it were between 13-17 years old at the time. To say that the message in this song is good for anyone that age to listen to is just wrong. Because it is being promoted as if it is okay to do it everyday and because he comes off as relatively normal, there seem to be no obvious consequences of the drug.
D12
Title: "Purple Pillz"
Album: Devil's Night
Release Date: June 2001
Catalog Number: 490897
Detroit's own D12, with everyone's favorite white rapper at the time bring us the song about the unknown "purple pill", which seem to be ectasy. In the song and even the crazy video, they talk about the different effects that the drug is having on them. Because there are a lot of people in this group, you get a good number of perspectives of this drug, yet instead of scaring people away from doing drugs, the usage of ectasy has been on the rise over the last 5 years or so. It still may not be clear, why I target these songs as a way of defining masculinity, but there have been no female rappers that have had this sort of appeal and mainstream success with the sorts of negative images and lyrics that are present in many of these songs.
D4L
Title: "Geeked Up"
Album: Down For Life
Release Date: November 2005
Catalog Number:
This song was very very big when it was released. it made everyone get excited and dance in the club, turn it up on the car radio and download it to your computer. People sang along with the words as if they really knew what they were singing. But I doubt that people really thought about what they were singing before they sang it. The term "geeked" refers to being under the influence of nothing in particular, it just refers to it happening. So when people are singing the chorus, which just repeatedly says "Geeked Up", they are basically that they are under the influence as well.
MacDre
Title: "Thizzle Dance"
Album: Thizelle Washington
Release Date: October 2002
This song has the popularity but moreso in California. MacDre is well known on the West Coast for this song, which also has its own dance that people do along with the song and he is also known for the term 'hyphy". I personally think that the dance is silly, but what people do not know is where the dance originated from. Though "thizz' was a movement of song and dance that really struck the bay area, the dance is imitating what people bodies feel/look like when high off of speed/acid types of drugs. So even though MacDre, was known as being a pioneer of music such as thizz, he was also a known gang member with drug affiliations.
Lil Wayne
Title: "Feel Like Dying"
Album: Da Drought 3
Release Date: 2006
Catalog Number: 001197702
At first listen, it is hard to figure out what exactly is being said in the chorus, but after several listens, it is very clear, "Only once the drugs are done, that I feel like dying, I feel like dying". In recent news, within the last year or so, it has been the topic of Rap culture to discuss the heavy drug usage of Lil Wayne. And it mainly deals with how he is seemingly high in every tv appearance, song, concert, etc. In this song, he talks about how he feels when he is high and the realease that it gives him, but the chorus talks about how once those drugs are all done, he feels like dying. I'm not sure if it is because he feels so sick, hungover, that he feels likes dying, or because he is having withdrawal, or that he feels bad about doing the drugs that makes him feel like dying. What is apparant is that this song shows something more than a casual user who gets high when they go out, but an addict who needs drugs. Due to his recent success, and influences in fashion and music, how long before more and more "feel like dying"?
Nas
Title: "Smokin"
Album: Stillmatic
Release Date: December 2000
Catalog Number: 85736
Nas, who is usually known for having a higher quality of rap, has also been known to slip up and fall into the normal topics that rap artists choose to rap about. In this song, he is referring to smoking weed and in the chorus he questions what kind of weed other people are smoking. In the verses he describes what he and a friend do as they seemingly roam the city, high, and interact with other people. Since he is Nas, he tries to put some sort of meaning in the lyrics that he puts out. So what they all smoke keeps them together. No matter what way you put it, drug usage has been shown in too much of a positive light in rap music and that translates to "do whatever drug you want kids, because there are no effects", and that is obviously not the case.
Three Six Mafia
Title: "Sippin on Some Sizzurp"
Album: When the Smoke Clears
Release Date: June 2000
Catalog Number: 1732
This song, which was released quite some time ago still has meaning some nine years later. Snoop started after E40, to pronounce words with extra syllables and usually it was a 'z' that was added. In this song, Three 6 Mafia play with that trend, but all in all the song is talking about a night out where there are sipping on a drink called "syrup". This drink, which was relatively unknown for quite sometime, was usually drank in the south, but now more and more people are experimenting the concoction. This drink includes: some sort of liquor, a codine-based cough medicine, some sort of juice and some sort of pop. I am not exactly a scientist or a doctor, but I know that a normal dosage (roughly 2 tbsp) can put me to sleep for a full night's rest in about 30 minutes, and this drink clearly would have more than that in the cup in addition to liquor. This is the drink that Lil Wayne said he was addicted to and even checked himself into rehab. Yet, there is a song all about drinking it and Lil Wayne references it a countless number of times.
Anti- Gay
DMX
Title: Bloodline Anthem
Album: The Great Depression
Release Date: October 2001
Catalog Number: 586450
In this song, there are several references to homosexual men. And throughout many of DMX's songs, there have been many references by using the word , fag and many other derogatory words. I included an anti-gay seciton because when discussing hypermasculinity, what would be thought to be the exact opposite would be homosexuality. Though songs that are completely about homosexuality may not exist or I have never heard it, but there are still plenty of songs that have anti-gay references. In the Rap culture, you must hypermasculine, which is what I have been analyzing through these songs and they (the Rap artist) define it for you. You must want the attention and sexual pleasure from women, you must desire have clothes, jewelry, money. Being homosexual does not fit into their definition because they are "tough" and "strong".
50 Cent ft Eminem
Title: "Don't Push Me"
Album: Get Rich or Die Trying
Release Date: February 2003
Catalog Number: 493544
Eminem along with being held responsible for making extremely violent song about killing his wife, but he has also been criticized for making violent songs towards gay men. Though he was featured in this song and it was on 50 Cent's album, Eminem received much criticism for his verse. As I said before, in this hypermasculine world of Rap, there is no room for homosexuality because they view it as a sign of weakness. You are believed to not be a tough and strong man if you are homosexual. So in this song he has a few verse where he says he wants to "lay these c**ksuckers". Almost as if just because there are men in the world who are gay, that it somehow takes away the masculinity of straight men.
Playlist
This is by no means a complete list of all of the Rap songs that fit into these categories. I have come up with 25 or so songs that I could think of that fit into these categories. There are plenty more and maybe even those that I would have loved to have included. What I intended to do was show that most of the negative aspects in these songs, we never noticed or we blew them off and some of the songs are probably very disturbing. The point is that these songs do exist and with the increasing popularity of Rap Music, these songs that should bother us, will become more and more accepted. And the behavior that is presented on the videos and in the lyrics and undoubtedly going to be immitated.
Aggression/ Objectification of Women
Soulja Boy: "She got a Donk"
Plies: "Dat Bitch"
Nelly: "Tip Drill"
Too Short: "Broke Bitch"
CashMoney Millionaires: "Project Bitch"
Young Jeezy : "White Girl"
Aggression/ Violence
Eminem: "Kim"
50 Cent: "Many Men"
Ice-T: "O.G. Original Gangster"
N.W.A: "F**k the Police"
Materialistic
Jay Z and Jermaine Dupri: "Money aint a thing"
Big Tymers: "Real Big"
T.I.: "24s"
Gucci Mane: "icy"
B.G. : "Bling Bling"
Drug Usage
50 Cent: "High All the Time"
Clipse: "Grindin"
D12: "Purple Pills"
D4L: "Geeked Up"
MacDre: "Thizzle Dance"
Lil Wayne: "Feel Like Dying"
Nas: "Smokin"
Three Six Mafia: "Sippin on Syrup"
Anti-Gay
DMX: "Bloodline Anthem"
Eminem: "Don't Push Me"
Aggression/ Objectification of Women
Soulja Boy: "She got a Donk"
Plies: "Dat Bitch"
Nelly: "Tip Drill"
Too Short: "Broke Bitch"
CashMoney Millionaires: "Project Bitch"
Young Jeezy : "White Girl"
Aggression/ Violence
Eminem: "Kim"
50 Cent: "Many Men"
Ice-T: "O.G. Original Gangster"
N.W.A: "F**k the Police"
Materialistic
Jay Z and Jermaine Dupri: "Money aint a thing"
Big Tymers: "Real Big"
T.I.: "24s"
Gucci Mane: "icy"
B.G. : "Bling Bling"
Drug Usage
50 Cent: "High All the Time"
Clipse: "Grindin"
D12: "Purple Pills"
D4L: "Geeked Up"
MacDre: "Thizzle Dance"
Lil Wayne: "Feel Like Dying"
Nas: "Smokin"
Three Six Mafia: "Sippin on Syrup"
Anti-Gay
DMX: "Bloodline Anthem"
Eminem: "Don't Push Me"
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Specific Artists who fall into this Category
Soulja Boy
Cash Money Millionaires
Plies
T-Pain
50 Cent
Webbie
Gucci Mane
Yung Berg
T.I.
Cash Money Millionaires
Plies
T-Pain
50 Cent
Webbie
Gucci Mane
Yung Berg
T.I.
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