A few days ago, I came across a tweet from a guy (@musicandbuilds) that said "How can you hate the woman that you create?" He explained that the thread would challenge the accountability of men in the culture they all took a part of creating: the Hip Hop Girl. Starting with slavery, he mentioned that Black men and women always stood side by side. On the other hand, White plantation owners were religious and came from a history of patriarchal societies, which included treating White woman as less than. He mentioned that Black men adopted this mindset as well (which was an interesting take). During and after slavery, Black men gained a love for the church, and became more involved in the church i.e., becoming preachers. The Black woman followed them into the church as well.
In the 1920's Black men entered the conscious area, in which Black women followed after them. Once the lynching of Black men grew in numbers, Black woman joined the fight on the front lines with Black men. Black women were side by side with their men, marching, going to jail, and becoming heavy activists. Once Black men started to adopt the more radical approach of things, Black woman, again, were right beside them.
Then came the Black men entering the entertainment era, which was the beginning of the switch in dynamics. Black men no longer stood side by side with Black women, but instead, took on more dominant roles such as pimps and the Black woman followed by playing the role of hoes. With the Black men entering the entertainment realm, a shift in lyricism occurred as well. The account @musicandbuilds, mentioned that the degrading of Black women didn't start in Hip Hop, but instead, started with the Blues in the 1930's. Both Black men and woman made songs about physical abuse: between each other and their children. I thought this was an interesting take because I never took into consideration the impact Blues had on the Black community. To me, Hip Hop had the most influence on the culture.
Then came the 70's, 80's and 90's and the formation of gangs (of both men and women) and the rise of Hip Hop. As the War on Drugs and crime bills started to pass, many Black men were removed from the homes, which produced a lot of single parent households. A lot of Black women were locked up as well for following after the men who were involved in the game. Once Black men got more into gangster rap which was more vulgar and disrespectful towards Black woman, women got into rap as well. From NWA emerged HWA. As Hip Hop rose to popularity in the 1980's, conscious rap (a subgenera of Hip Hop that promotes the awareness of socio-political, economic and cultural issues) emerged. You had rappers like Grandmaster Flash, Public Enemy and many others that spoke more on social issues like police brutality, poverty and the harsh realities of the ghetto.
On the contrary, rappers like Uncle Luke and Too Short started making songs about smutting women out. Black people were portrayed so poorly in the media that there were conferences held to ban rap music and videos that portrayed Black people in a degrading way. But as conscious rap stared to fade, the lyrics went right back into the degradation of Black women. Women on the other hand were tired of the disrespect in music. Artists like Queen Latifah emerged to combat the disrespect.
The thread went onto explaining how Black women always followed after Black men and even (subconsciously) submitted to the types of women that he wanted. By the late 90's women lyrics imitated men’s lyrics. They talked just as much about killing, robbing and sex, which is evident in lyrics such as Lil Kim and Foxy Brown. With the women following after the men's footsteps and Hip Hop becoming more "violent, aggressive and non-submissive," then came the product of the "Hip Hop Girl."
Now here's where we get to the good part. He then touched on a very important subject. He explained how many Black men complain about how they don't want a woman that's "too revealing," and that is too "hyper sexual," BUT men in Hip Hop have shown the complete opposite. Men in Hip Hop are hyper sexual themselves and love the women who are hyper sexual as well. This was an image that people in Hip Hop created and the women just followed (subconsciously). He mentioned how Karin "Supahead" Steffans revealed that the men in the industry loved hoes. How of course they will marry the "good girl," the one that's good for their image, but they will also entertain the same type of woman they rap about. She mentioned how the hoes would receive the "wifey " treatment, while the actuals wives would be home raising the kids. By the 21st century, the Hip Hop woman started to embrace the hyper sexual woman as well, because by then they KNEW that's the type of women the Hip Hop man liked. This had rappers like Snoop criticizing women rappers like Cardi for their music being too provocative, when in reality, this was an image the Hip Hop man, like himself, created. "The hip hop man is a flawed man who raps about sex and materialism. The hip hop woman is also flawed and raps about sex and materialism. The 1 created the 2."- @musicandbuilds.
I said this was a very important subject because if you listen carefully, people usually tell on themselves. Usually, the type of woman a man bashes 24-7, is the same type of woman he is (subconsciously) attracted to. He will never openly admit this because 9 times out of 10, that woman is not good for his “image.” So instead of admitting this, he will try to make you feel better by putting the next woman down, when in reality, that’s the type of woman he wants.
Now back to the thread, @musicandbuilds pointed out how the Hip Hop woman is a replica of the Hip Hop man: Everything the man raps about and embodies, she embodies that too. He discussed how a lot men complain that the modern women aren't submissive enough and are in fact too masculine. They're hyper sexual, they party too much, and they love trap rap. They (modern men) fail to acknowledge that she's a reflection of you (them).
Of course, I read the responses and wasn't surprise that the tweet received so much push back. I knew that women would agree, but I was honestly surprised to see that just as many men agreed to it as well. Then you had those (mainly men) who of course couldn't comprehend what the tweets really meant and felt attacked. I can talk about music all day and the impact I think it had and still has on the Black community. Hip Hop is the greatest influence of Black culture and everyone knows this. Both men and women imitate what they hear in the songs and you can see this in the way people dress, the way they carry themselves and their mentality. There are people who are more easily influenced than others and will base their entire existence on imitating a rapper’s life. They're completely unaware of the fact that a lot of the rappers today, don't live the life they rap about and will have no shame in admitting it.
I never really gave too much thought into Black men, specifically Black men in Hip Hop, creating this hyper sexual, hyper independent woman, but these tweets definitely had me thinking. It's crazy to witness the shift in lyricism and watch it unfold in real time. A lot of us complain about this "new generation" of both men and women but where did it all stem from? Either way, I absolutely love how women are taking charge, owning the narrative, fighting against the norms and traditions. I’m here for it! Now I want to know what you think? Leave a comment below!
Brilliantly written and spot
on!