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Reblog this and money will be entering your life this week

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Annotated Bibliography

White, Brooklyn. " Straight Capitalism, No Chaser. bitchmedia.org. 09 05, 2009. 11 25, 2019. https://rb.gy/osgwkz.

This article was used to explain how Megan the Stallion snatches back her sexuality by speaking positively about sex while speakingly highly of herself.

Alcantara, Amanda. "Afro-Cuban Women of Havana’s Hip Hop Scene." Latinousa.org. 05 24, 2018.  11 25, 2019. https://www.latinousa.org/2018/05/24/afrocubanwomenhiphop/.

This article was referenced when I spoke about how women are expressing themselves how they want to in any way they feel is needed.

Nicki Minaj, Autobiography

The song lyrics were used to describe the issue of sexual acts at a young age and the outcome of those actions.

Lomax, Tamura. “In Search of Our Daughters’ Gardens: Hip Hop as Womanist Prose.” Bulletin for the Study of Religion 40, no. 3, (2011). https://doi.org/10.1558/bsor.v40i3.004.

This article expresses how women in Hip Hop have been given a platform to tell their story and pass it to future generations. The world has seen women as a minority and Hip Hop being such a masculinely run genre sees them as an even bigger minority, making them vulnerable. This article addresses how women, including Nicki Minaj, have used their platform to speak their truth and make way for progress.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVUF9xMn4Lc

This piece of media gives an insight into Nicki Minaj’s upbringing. She goes in depth to talk about the harassment and abuse that her and her mother endured during her childhood. The song reflects the resentment she held towards her father and the work she has done to move past that time in her life and make a better life for her mother and herself.

2Pac. 2Pacalypse Now, 1991

               This Album was Tupac's debut and in this album he discussed social and political issues plaguing his community. He established his position in the rap game as one of awareness and empowering his fellow African American males. He also wanted to shed light on the sexual victimization of women at the hands of those closest to them.

City High. City High, 2001

               Single album put out by the group City High attempts to carry Tupac's message and offer positive alternatives for those trapped in trouble or warn against problematic situations. Girls are encouraged to push through their trauma and stand tall, while men are advised to be honest, softening the bad boy persona so popular in rap. The song "15 Will Get You 20" is a wakeup call to the growing sexualized culture the 2000's were already becoming, more so now with social media. Something as simple as assuming age could ruin a young man or woman's life and the song tackled the little recognized female accused of rape situation.

Genius.com

               Used this website for help finding accurate lyrics for the songs chosen. The site itself is partnered with Spotify and offers glimpses of artist interpretations to their works but it allows user submission so it was relied on for lyrics.

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Outreach

The analysis concluded that women are highly sexualized compared to their male counterparts. Majority thinks women are taking their sexuality back, but it was in the middle. They don’t really think hip-hop is a safe haven for black women in hip-hop. Tupac and City High were mostly praised for their effort to bring awareness to women situations. Some people think don’t think it’s a male’s duty to assist in the bringing women stories to the forefront but others believe it helps and should be encouraged. Plenty of people somewhat agreed with the solutions described because they felt that talking bout it helps, but often felt that not much will change. 

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The Solution

Hip-hop may not be able to solve these issues with music videos and lyrics. However, hip-hop has a way of starting a conversation that their listeners tend to discuss on social media, with friends, family or in public like in class. This could end up leading to the solutions in the long run. Women in hip-hop have took it upon themselves to find their voice and take their sexuality back. La Faraona encouraged women to be free with their expressions of themselves no matter what it may be including the way they dress (Alcantara). Another woman who's been expressing her sexuality with no limits is Megan the Stallion who expresses her unfiltered love for sex and chasing the bag while maintaining her identity and confidence (White). Even though some people may not think so these type of women break the stereotypical image of women in the hip hop community by allowing themselves to be the ones who are in control of their sexuality and image.

As far as the issue of sexual situations that occur. First, we as people need to acknowledge there is a problem occurring when it comes to sex and how it shouldn't be ignored. Once the problems (rape, young pregnancies, molestation, etc) stops being pushed aside, ignored or downplayed then there has to be actions being put into place. There are too many situations where women speak on being molested or raped and not much happens to the perpetrator or they get a slap on the wrist. This sends the wrong signal to the victims as if their issue doesn't matter which can cause future victims to fall silent. This could be avoided as long as people acknowledge there is a problem, fight for justice for victims and spread awareness to women. While spreading awareness to women there has to be a global campaign that tackles the prevention of men conducting them in sexual acts that are unwanted or selfish.  

- Monique Robinson (Group Leader)

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The Issue

There are many issues within the hip hop industry that has been addressed within the lyrics and music videos of various artists. However, we're going to mainly focus on the victimization of women within the hip hop community. The overly sexualization of women in this industry has been here since the start and has remained prominent til' this day. Globally, the use of using sexy women within music videos has been a trend. Women can be seen wearing skimpy outfits or bikinis to showcase their body frames as they conduct themselves in a sexy manner by dancing, grabbing their bodies or be seen in slight sexual acts. Plenty of male artists use women as a way of showing their status by having the women chase after them, walk around in sexy clothes to appeal to the artist and their entourage or engage in sexual activities to be with them.

Although hip-hop artists tend to focus more on sex rather than the victimization of unwanted sexual acts there are plenty of artists who spoke about the ugly reality of the world. Women fall victim to underage pregnancies, rape, molestation and other unwarranted sexual advances. Tupac was one of the well-known artists who didn't hesitate to speak on these topics. "Brenda's Got a Baby" touched on the story of a young girl named Brenda who became pregnant opening the listener eyes to the reality of underage sex and the aftermath of what happens to some girls. Nicki Minaj spoke in her song, "Autobiography" about her aborting a child she had at a young age and the feeling of regret she felt afterwards. In her lyrics she proceeded to ask for forgiveness explaining she was young and naive. Unfortunately, these issues are still rampant throughout the world happening to girls and women in all racial groups.

- Monique Robinson (Group Leader)

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Nicki Minaj as Roman Zolanski 

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Nicki Minaj as Harajuku Barbie 

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Nicki Minaj was no stranger to abuse and, therefore, can rap about it firsthand. In her song Autobiography, Minaj mentions how she grew up in a home where her father was not only a drug addict but physically abusive to her mother. She grew up resenting her father for what he had put her family through and worked to abolish everything he stood for. Minaj worked hard so that she and her mother could have everything they did not have when she was growing up due to the abuse of her father on the family.  

                                                                  - Karina del Amo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVUF9xMn4Lc

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Karina’s Korner - Relating our Project to the Class

Since the beginning of time, women have been a minority and subject to abuse and violence. Women in Hip Hop have an even greater disadvantage because of that. Hip Hop has been a predominantly masculine genre in all aspects.  As a community, many steps are being taken to progress towards a future that is inclusive and shows equality towards both genders. The steps that have been taken are to create a safe space for women where they can express themselves without the worry of being taken advantage of. Women are sexualized beings, and the Hip Hop industry has only glorified sexualizing women. Women in the Hip Hop world, specifically black women, are taking steps to re-define being sexualized and spinning it to be a positive form of empowerment, like Nicki Minaj in Tamura Lomax's article “In Search of Our Daughters’ Gardens Hip Hop as Womanist Prose.” Tamura Lomax also brought to light that black women have created a safe space within the realm of Hip Hop that allows them to continue their ancestral legacy, to create more history, and to pass down to future generations. The form of expression that women in Hip Hop have been using has served as a healing mechanism from past abuse, and it has served as a form of documentation to pass down stories, shared experiences, bring awareness and create history. When women have the freedom to express what they are feeling in a creative setting, they can be heard, and advances can be made towards the progress of equality in Hip Hop. When a woman can express herself freely, she can bring awareness to issues on violence towards women so that more people are compelled to change and to do something about it.  

Nicki Minaj is one of the main examples used in the article by Tamura Lomax because she used her music as a platform not only to tell a story but to tell her story so that others can relate and be aware of the violence going on around us. A platform she has used very creatively by speaking through her alter-egos and bring awareness and empowerment to women everywhere. Minaj could be described to be what Lomax calls “womanish,” and as the article states, her sex positive attitude is defined as outrageous, audacious, and courageous. The two alter-egos Minaj useses the most in her music are “Harajuku Barbie” and “Roman Zolanski.” Harajuku Barbie is an Asian inspired sexualized woman who fights for what she wants, and Roman Zolanski is a macho man who struggles with his sexual identity. By using her alter egos, specifically Harajuku Barbie, she is embodying what the world sees as desirable and sexy. Harajuku Barbie dresses provocatively for herself and not to please anyone else. Just because she is dressed in a certain way or acts a certain way does not mean she is giving consent to any man. Minaj is just unapoligetically herself, and that is something to be commended. Minaj, through this, alter-ego, fights for women's freedom of speech and freedom to dress the way they desire without having to worry about sexual assault or rape.

                                                                                 - Karina del Amo

 Lomax, Tamura. “In Search of Our Daughters’ Gardens: Hip Hop as Womanist Prose.” Bulletin for the Study of Religion 40, no. 3, (2011). https://doi.org/10.1558/bsor.v40i3.004.

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2Pac & City High

2Pac

           Tupac Shakur in the 1990s  took on the challenge of shedding light on the plight of his community in his first album 2Pacalypse Now. Two works from this album in particular brought to light the issues surrounding rape in poorer communities and how it would affect not just the victim, but the community as a whole. The two songs "Brenda's Got A Baby" and "Part Time Mutha" both tackled this issue and today almost 30 years later women from that era are coming forward. The first song "Brenda's Got A Baby" features a story telling flow, detailing the life of 12 year old Brenda who was impregnated by her cousin. Her family never noticed because they simply needed her for government assistance, and when she was a burden she was kicked out. Brenda gave birth on her own and in the song it stated she already knew she was pregnant so its ambiguous if her young body couldn't handle the pain or she was on drugs possibly. Tupac continues her tragedy stating she tried to sell drugs, only to be robbed and to support herself and baby, this young child resorts to prostitution. "It's paying the rent so she can't really complain. Prostitute, found slain, and Brenda's her name, she's got a baby." (2pac 1991) At the time Tupac released this song, there was very little, still there is little, attention being given to threats to women in minority communities. His other song "Part Time Mutha" expanded on this tangent. This song instead focused on the perspective of family abusing family. Tupac featured artist Angelique, driving her verse home with a children's prayer. This strongly depicted just how innocent this girl was but her mother wouldn't believe her stories of molestation at the hands of her father. Tupac wanted to change things and knew awareness of these horrors would be the first steps.

City High

           The more ephemeral group City High, who only had one album release in 2001, continued Tupac's mission a decade later. They made a name with their hit song "What Would You Do?" but special attention should be given to the song "15 will get you 20". Their hit continued Tupac's legacy of storytelling, another young girl molested by family turning to stripping to feed her child. This group however, was the next step that Tupac always had to hope would come, ending their songs preaching positive messages of perseverance. The woman from the song is told in the bridge to get up and push forward so her child doesn't go through what she did. What truly set this album apart was drawing attention to another growing problem in the song "15 Will Get You 20" discussing innocent consensual hook ups turned to statutory rape. The song itself told the story of three different youths (one female) roughly 18-20 who approached or were approached by someone attractive and for neglecting to ask their age, found themselves arrested. This is a stark contrast from what we've seen so far, where in this case there is consent and the victim is simply ignorant and not malicious. They warn to never assume anything and always ask necessary questions, it isn't rude, just being safe. "Let me tell you about my friend Genie, 1997 homecoming queen. Working hard on her degree, but then one hot day she was out at the beach. There he was about 5ft 9, Chocolate Tango  in the middle of July... He was only 16, with the body of a God and the face of a King. Man, oh man, how could this be? So damn fine but only 16." (City High 2001). Tupac began the awareness campaign and City proposed the change, time will tell where hip-hop goes next, and just maybe it will come through the voice of a female artists.

Works Cited

2pac. 2Pacalypse Now. 1991.

City High. City High. 2001.

Genius.com. August 2009. www.genius.com (accessed November 29, 2019).

( Tomas )