The Role of Rap Music in Beauty Appreciation

When it comes to the appreciation of women, rap music has a pretty bad track record. In "The Black Beauty Myth", Riley talks about rap music when she states:

"It is the latest mainstream forum for objectifying women of color, because almost all of the ghetto-fabulous black male rappers have the obligatory video girls parading around everywhere from luxury liner cruise ships to mansions in the Hamptons. If this doesn't speak to the distinctive race/class twist that these images add to the body image discussion, I don't know what does." 

Although I couldn't agree more with her statements, I think that her statement can and probably has been used by some to continue to bash hip-hop as an exclusively degrading genre. As patriarchy runs rampant throughout rap music—and most pop music for that matter—(and the predominately white, male, wealthy corporate figures who control its mainstream dissemination) there are bound to be a lot of issues (such as objectification of women) that are produced through the music and the videos that accompany them.

However, as the basis of rap music is subversive and socially conscious in nature, there is a lot of music that speaks to these types of issues. Shockingly (well not to me), this music is almost NEVER heard on the radio and these artists are not really given much clout because they don't perpetuate the class and racial stereotypes that attract music labels (that's a statement that deserves an entirely separate post that has little or nothing to do with this women's studies class so I'll just stop there). More recently, I have noticed a few popular artists that have began to put messages of black beauty appreciation, respect for women, and language towards women in their music. The genius of some of these messages is that they're presented in a way that is consistent with the sounds, approaches and style that is used to objectify women in the first place. They are effective because they reach the people that need to hear the message the most.

Primarily, in Lupe Fiasco's song "Bitch Bad" he details how the use of the word 'bitch' in rap music can be harmful to the perceptions of women. He brilliantly lays out how the use of words skew their meaning, and in the process skew how women are treated by men and how they look at themselves. Secondly, in their album Watch the Throne, Jay-Z and Kanye West bring to light several issues regarding women, and present them in a way that is consistent with degrading music, and then flips the message back on the listeners and asks them some important questions. For example, in a song called "That's My Bitch", the two begin by making a series of statements that completely objectify women and would seemingly be in line with typical degrading hip hop songs. However, towards the end of the song, Jay-Z makes a couple of points (some more explicit than others) that questions the absence of women of color in standard beauty discussions, and then explains that people treat women like "dogs" (hence the use of the word bitch in the song).

On the surface level, people may not hear this message, but after a few listens it's almost impossible to ignore. As the two preceding songs show, it is very possible for prominent rap stars to use their clout, privilege, and influence to spread messages about the treatment of women, beauty ideals, and women's empowerment.