Patriarchy In Hip Hop

The Patriarchy within Hip-Hop
In the twenty-five years since introducing hip-hop into the music scene, only few artists (known commonly as rappers) have successfully been able to provide a respectable image of black women to listeners around the world (Chadwick, n.d, p. 1). Unfortunately, many talented artists chose to trade in their respect for women, especially women of African-American decent, at the start of their careers, just to harvest money as entertainers of the current generation. Audiences of famous rappers, such as Jay-Z and Nelly, have become accustomed to their misogynistic lyrics. Forced to acknowledge their unfair representations in hip-hop alone, black females are overheard or forgotten completely in any attempt at protesting

A main reason why the misogyny of rap music has been such a problem in this generation, is because as the years pass, each generation evolves and becomes more accepting of race, non-existent gender roles, and equality between men and women. These evolutions are prevalent in the everyday lives of black women, however, artists in the hip-hop genre clearly have never gotten that memo. Black women have found it hard enough to escape the social barrier between races and stereotypes, without rappers’ attempts to diminish their self-worth. Mike Klocke (2007), author of the article “Let’s take the rap for what we listen to,” has stated that hip-hop music found “objectionable” would be easier to ignore, and easier for black women to overcome, if the music wasn’t so anticipated and “in your face” (p.

Spelman College, a black liberal arts college for women, has taken a stand against the patriarchy in hip-hop, starting with black rapper Nelly (Holsendolph, 2005, p. 1). Feminists within the college, upon watching the rapper’s music video, entitled “Tip Drill,” held protests against allowing him to “present his plan to promote his bone marrow education program” at the school (Holsendolph, 2005, p. 1). When Nelly decided to cancel his presentation, protesters took a major step in the fight against misogyny, which fueled the idea that with enough effort, other misogynistic rappers would realize the harm they were doing to the black female population (Holsendolph, 2005, p. 1). The college has since joined with Essence magazine to sponsor “Take Back the Music” (Holsendolph, 2005, p. 1). This initiative lasted one whole week, and focused on “the controversy over hip-hop images” (Holsendolph, 2005, p. 2). Moya Bailey, a student and leader of the Spelman movement against the controversy of rap, has stated that the battle for a more appropriate representation of black women in hip-hop was formed on a “personal” level (Holsendolph, 2005, p. 2). She has been quoted to believe, along with many other students attending Spelman, that “out of the many issues [hip-hop raises with respect to black women] is the question of