Musical Misogyny: A Regional Break down of How Hip Hop Hypersexualizes women

Everyone loves Hip-Hop!

"Mustard on the beat, hoe!" the weezy-esque flick of a bic, a "whaaaaaat!" uttered by problem, or even the laugh of tyga provides people with an expectation & are considered universally recognizable cultural symbols. Hip hop has been definitive of American culture for a better part of this generation. With Miley Cyrus' appropriation of black culture creating an avenue to place "twerking" in the dictionary, it's more than apparent that the influence of hip hop has reached a multitude of demographics. You can find the most privileged of little white girls in the most prestigious of homes exhausting themselves in efforts to make it clap, "doing it for the vine." It isn't uncommon that a group of adolescents, irrespective of ethnicity, is heard rapping the lyrics of YG's "my nigga, my nigga" (at least in California where racism is extremely covert, anyway). Twerking is nearly a socially acceptable form of dance; it's even segued into dance competitions along with vogue, another taboo form of minority dance style:

 The threat is so serious that Bill O'reilly has waged a war on hip hop's first lady, Beyonce. (because he's so concerned about the young women of color out there. LOL):

This begs the question, is hip hop degrading? 

Because of the social construct of patriarchy, women have always been objectified in society. That sense of objectification is rooted entirely in ownership. Any group that experiences subjugation seeks to reclaim ownership of themselves; this includes women. A lot of women, white feminist women in particular, take issue with the genre of hip-hop because of the way in which it objectifies women.

"The entertainment industry is vast & is a reflection of the society we live in-
"Superhead" Karrine Steffans"

ethnocentrism & narcissism aside, these women need to realize these songs are not about you. they aren't speaking for or to you; some women do embody these stereotypes & if you don't, why are you offended by the discourse? music is used as a medium to express emotion. It unifies people by depicting common experiences or thoughts. music can also draw on emotions & elicit reactions...i get that. however, this world doesn't operate in a mutually exclusive fashion; everything we experience is within a certain context. if the context does not apply to you & cannot be understood by you, you haven't a right to be offended by it & speak for those it does apply to. Hip Hop provides women of color representation. Rarely do we see women of color on T.V. Predating the early 2000s & even much of today, black women are represented scarcely in the media. The "Video Vixen" gave women of color a platform; even if it is considered a negative or frowned upon depiction, it still shows young black girls that they also exist. I've long been immersed in the hip-hop culture; I was years away from puberty singing about the "humpty dance." When I was in kindergarten, my big cousin Aryka taught me how to pop my butt & censorship wasn't anything but a word when it came to the music that boomed from the speakers riding drop top passenger's side in my mom's 5.0 mustang. I grew up loving all music...I was foxy brown & i tasted just like candy, I was janet jackson & this was my rythmnation, I was prince stomping around in platforms twirling around a little red corvet, I was janie & i had a gun, & yes, on some days I was lil' kim asking 'how many licks?' The issue hasn't ever been music or hip-hop for that matter, & it was absolutely ludicrous (no pun intended) for Fox news to dedicate a smear campaign against Eminem & for the FCC to try & censor him. As Wu-tang & other influential rap artists have shown the world, hip-hop is powerful, it is a movement & it is a message. MSNBC commentator Toure said it best,

"Hip-hop is merely speaking about the situations that we have been dealing with for the last 20 to 30 years." - Toure

Hip hop reflects the attitudes of those in its society. It's birthed from mind & experience & is created in a social context. We cannot disconnect & censor that expecting the social ills tethered to its creation disappear. Hip hop is misogynistic, but guess what else is misogynistic? society.

Now that I've said my peace about hip-hop & justified the ratchet ignorance i willingly & excitedly subject myself to,  I'm going to make the case that,

Women are objectified differently in hip-hop based on region

"All i want for my birthday/is a big booty hoe" -Birthday Song
"I got hoes in different area codes" -Area Codes
"I'm lookin for a dime/that's top of the line/cute face slim waist/with a big behind" Badd
"Booty, booty, booty, booty, rockin' everywhere" Ms. New Booty
"You heard what I said, that could put you to bed/That ain't trying to love you baby, just fuck you instead/And don't tell 'em nothing baby, you know that I'm coming baby/Just hit up my phone whenever you need you some company/Got this drank in my cup/Oh yeah" Drank in my Cup 
  
"Bounce dat ass up and down to da flo/shake that shit till you cant no mo/twerk that monkey let me see ya get low/freak that nigga till ya shit get sore" -Shake that Monkey
"Bitch you broke/shut up/don't talk to me/get your bread up/we used to fuck but i got fed up" -Bitch you broke
"Front, back, side to side/Pussy pop, do it right/Shake it, shake that wrapper candy/Wrapper on your booty/Girl, you lookin dandy/Now pop that pussy" -Candy
"make it nasty/make it nasty/drop drop it on a bitch/make it nasty" Make it Nasty
"There she go slidin' down the pole/there she is/there she go" -Sliding down the Pole 

Southern style culture & rap objectifies women with the aims to portray them as property. all I want for my birthday is that hoe; whereas, western style rap is more about an altruistic pimp & hoe culture with the focus not so much the woman & ownership of her as it is the tasks she can perform for me i.e. "shake that monkey, bitch, or make your booty bounce, bopper." Both still have inherent misogynistic undertones, but in a different way. I'd argue that southern style rap is more disrespectful of the physical presence of womanhood while western rap disrespects the spirit of womanhood/personal morale. This is reinforced by the cultural behaviors of men in each region. In the southern portion of the U.S., men are more chivalrous & ready to open doors, censor their language, give up seats, pay for you or "take care" of your needs. The west coast hasn't adopted much of the chivalrous attitude; progressive gender-equity & feminism is the beat of this cultural drum. (I will argue to the death that the feminist movement has demolished chivalry in its efforts to diminish patriarchy).  The "wild west" & development of society in the western region of the country required women to hold their own & pioneer for themselves; this was a stark contrast from the "southern belle" pedestal lifestyle southern women were accustomed to, both of these social constructs are prevalent & translated in the lyrics of the aforementioned songs. 

Dance, too. 

Even examining dances within different regions, yiking, shaking it like a red nose & other dances hailing from the west coast are much more vulgar, provocative & demeaning in comparison to the yeet, the nae nae, or even soulja boy's ridiculous arsenal of dances that culminate in the south & east coast.

Yikin' it:

Yeet, Nae Nae, Big Lexi: