After reading Imani Perry and Rana
Emerson’s pieces on womanhood in hip-hop, I immediately thought back to a music
video that was produced by a group of kids I knew in high school: Starting Six.
The group is comprised of (you guessed it) six members all two years my senior.
Their lyrical content usually revolves around alcohol, sex without a condom on,
and general partying. The initial video that I wanted to discuss was one called
“Thirsty” (see below), a party song that focuses on the members all trying to
get the same woman’s number with the chorus “your bitch is thirstaaay.”
Thirsty, as Starting Six uses it, has a dual meaning of 1) thirsty for alcohol
and drinks, and 2) a desperation for sex/the men of starting six. I thought I had
plenty of material to use, what with the spraying of alcohol on the video
girls, specific angle shots of a the main woman in a shower, etc. Though, when
I was looking for the video I came across their most recent production, aptly
named: SOD (Sit up On a Dick).
To begin, the camera follows
Aliky’s (the female guest star) behind as she walks up to Nic Nac’s house and
knocks on his door. The opening dialogue goes as follows:
Aliky: Nic you invited me over here
there’s nowhere to sit. You have no furniture…
Nic Nac: Yeah, uh, about that. You
could sit on this dick?
Aliky: Ok
The rest of the video, as Nic Nac, Goose, Bread, and Big Steve rap, shows scenes of women in thongs, being covered in alcohol, being shot with toy guns, being violently spanked, sucking and playing with dick-shaped lollipops and dildos, miming use of said dildos; biting of women's underwear, mock humping of sex doll--the list goes on and on...
This video seems to me like the very epitome of the heterosexual male
gaze—rivaling Nelly’s “Tip Drill.” The female behind is the largest central
focus in the camera’s gaze.
As Imani Perry states: “Even the
manner in which the women dance is a signal of cultural destruction…The women
who appear in [this video] are usualy dancing in a two-dimensional fashion…
more reminiscent of symbols of pornographic male sexual fantasy than of the ritual,
conversation, and sexual traditions of black dance” (137). The women in this
video exist for one purpose only: to act as visual representations of asses of
which the male viewer can imagine to “sit up on his dick.”
What’s interesting about “SOD,”
though, is that most of the women exhibiting these seductive and
two-dimensional dance moves are in fact not
black women. In fact, the “blackest” woman in the video (in strictly terms
of pigmentation), would be Aliky herself, who’s arguably showing the least
amount of skin the 3 minute shoot. Aliky starts off her verse with: “I’m a bad
bitch/ you a bad boy/ got a fat ass/ I’m like your play toy.” Aliky is not only
complicit in the oppressive narrative being constructed, she is one of the main
actors in creating it! “The video is an apt metaphor for her
self-commodification…” and is a explicit form of internalized sexism.
The
term outing arose in the 20th century to describe the uncovering of
people who were “in the closet” or non-heterosexual. In ancient Rome
outing was also used when people violated societies sexual codes and
would result in social stigmas about the persons unmanliness. During the
blacklisting era of McCarthyism government workers that were suspected
of being gay were fired from their jobs and many others left quietly to
avoid being outed weather it was true or not. The government saw them as
perverts and a threat to national security.
Lyrical
outing is when hip hop artist out other MC’s by calling their sexuality
into question. This is not necessarily to prove they are gay but to get
an upper hand on them and to put their realness into question. Having a
secret life of sexual intercourse on the down low would call their
realness into question as would simply feminizing them by calling them
gay. Heterosexuality is a form of realness to many hip hop artists and
claiming that an MC is gay is questioning their realness.
From the reading, Tim'm says, "hip hop heteros rely heavily on the
inappropriate faggot in order to even exist. In a really twisted sort of
way, they rely on the verbal bashing of fags in order to substantiate
their manhood." Basically, in order to assert their masculinity and
heterosexuality, rappers feel the need to bring other rapper’s sexuality
into question, through bashing them with their verses and rhymes.
Jay
Z and Nas have had a history of attempting to out each other. In Nas’s
song “Ether” he calls Jay Z Gay Z and references aspects of Jay Z’s
business to slander his sexuality saying that it’s named after a man
that died of Aids which was and in some cases still looked at as a gay
disease. Jay Z retorted with more gay slurs about Nas’s sexuality
shortly after. However the outing of gay rappers by other MC’s is not
something of the 21st century.
Activist’s
rappers like Easy E and Tupac tried outing Dr. Dre. Calling him gay in
multiple songs. Easy E and Dre have a long history of working together
in NWA where they produced multiple political critiques and
inspirational songs. However when the group split apart there were hard
feelings and the once partners now had a lot of animosity towards each
other. The video below is shows Easy E publicly insulting Dre and
attacking his sexual preference of them were accused at some point for
being gay, Tupac for possibly getting raped in prison and his feminine
childhood, Easy E for contracting the aids virus, and Dr.Dre for a rumor
about him having sexual relations with a young man during his marriage.
One
of the more current outings was that of J Rule and DMX. Rather than
calling J Rule gay DMX tried to use specific stories to legitimize his
claim. As a result J Rule lost nearly all of his fan base and was
completely ousted from the hip hop community and for the most part never
recovered. In the movie that we watched in class artists said that they
insulted each other and spoke poorly of women because all that record
companies wanted to hear were these homophobic battles between MC’s.
This probably made record companies a lot of money and divided the hip
hop community from straight rappers attacking each other to excluding
gay rappers from any contribution to the genre.
“Homo Thuggin’ It”
“Unlike
lyrical outings or gay rapper witch hunts,” homothugs are queer men who
identify with the hyper masculine complex of hip-hop culture. The term
“thug” implies violence and drugs, none of which a homothug must
participate in to gain the title of a thug. A homothug receives his name
just by physically looking like a stereotypical “thug” i.e. wearing
“baggy jeans, doo-rags, throwback basketball jerseys, gaudy jewelry, and
other such indices of hip hop authenticity.” (Hill, 393) The only thing
separating a homothug from a heterosexual hip-hopper is his attraction
to the same sex. By giving a queer rapper or hip-hopper a name to
identify under, this further isolates queerness from hip-hop. It says
that one can’t be part of hip-hop culture and happen to be gay, but if
they’re going to be a queer hip-hopper then they must be a homothug. The
name in itself is a form of “outing,” as if a person’s sexual
preference is the only way they can define themselves. It can be argued
that the term “homothug” is just a nicer way to say “faggot,” although
“faggot” implies effeminate qualities whereas homothug implies masculine
qualities. The term homothug was “coined by antigay former Hot 97 shock
jock DJ Star” as an initial joke, because the term homo and thug were
so contradictory to one another that it was laughable and something to
be mocked. Either way, both terms are rooted from a place of judgment
and disapproval, as a way to group together selective members and
outcast them as the Other.
Homothug
and being on the down-low quickly became synonymous with one another.
Being on the DL meant participating in “any secret activity”, but its
definition warped from being inclusive to implying only homosexual acts
among heterosexual men.
Through the definition of being on the DL, homothugs were further classified into two types of people: the trickster and the psychopath.
Firstly, the trickster uses psychological mind games to lure men and
women into his bedroom. The trickster seems to have bisexual tendencies,
which is viewed as deviant and greedy behavior instead of a personal
sexual preference. Tricksters are viewed as insatiable since they have
sex with more than one gender. Secondly, the psychopath hides under the
guise of a homothug, instead of making a concrete decision about his
sexuality. The psychopath is in denial about oneself, which “ultimately
places his partners in emotional and physical peril.” In reality,
heteronormative society is unable to deal with the concept of sexuality
as being fluid and ever changing. Therefore it creates certain names for
those who choose to not fit in society’s rigid and small box of
possible sexual identities.
Although
this video doesn’t relate to homothugs or gay bashing, it represents a
new era in hip hop. The entire message of the video is pro equality and
gay marriage. It’s a far step from rappers trying to out each other in
rap battles and emasculating one another. Othering Your Own Community Masculinity
in hip hop thrives off the mindset that to be masculine, you must make
other men less than you, which more often than not means comparing them
demeaningly to a woman (bitch, pussy, sissy) or a queer person (faggot,
punk). This system sets straight, black men as the official voice of
hip hop, while simultaneously degrading, dehumanizing, and quite often
perpetuating violence against these more intersectionally oppressed
members of the black community. The
interesting thing about the intense othering of women and queer folk in
hip-hop culture is that it is entirely counterintuitive to any genuine
subculture because it denies the active roles women and queer folk have
occupied and continue to occupy in hip-hop. Black queer people
participate, consume, and contribute to all the aspects of hip-hop
culture, be it DJing, emceeing, graffiti or b-boying. Since
homosexuality has been co-opted and is majorly represented as this white
middle-class lifestyle, it is assumed by straight black men that their
identity as a queer person is intrinsically tied to that lifestyle, not
acknowledging or understanding ways that identities like “queer”,
“black”, and “woman” can all intersect in very complex ways.
Hip hop
culture, while meant as something to give a voice to the oppressed,
still very much works through a hierarchy. Homophobia and sexism are
very prominent in hip hop because homophobia and sexism are very
prominent in society at large. Hip hop does not exist within a bubble,
so while prominent male rappers can have very insightful commentary
about race, most won’t speak up on issues of misogyny or heterosexism.
As trite as it is to lead into a
post with a quote from the dictionary, please humor us for a moment. The
Webster’s dictionary defines “gangsta rap” as: “Rap music with lyrics
explicitly portraying the violence and drug use of urban gang life and
typically expressing hostility toward whites, women, and civil authority.” Though
the definition touches on elements of
gangsta rap, it completely misses the point. Gangsta rap isn’t a mindless barrage
of swear words and decadence without meaning, it arose from a distinct cultural
frustrations with black neighborhoods and their treatment by the dominating hegemony.
Gangsta rap
emerged in the wake of skyrocketing unemployment rates for black youth, and
neighborhoods that had been in continuously decline since the white flight of
the 60’s and 70’s. In 1982, 45% of black youth were unemployed and black
neighborhoods were plagued by media perceptions of gang violence (Kelly 192). This
fear led to intense policing of black youth—many who did not have jobs or safe
spaces to occupy their time in. LAPD’s “Operation Hammer” was an
unprecedentedly perverse attempt at curbing the “youth menace.” Operation
Hammer took profiling to a whole new level through picking up half of LA’s
youth, labeling them as “thugs,” and entering into their gang database—often
without any charge. Rappers like Easy E, Ice Cube, ICE-T and Dr. Dre responded critically
to this suppression through their own styles of rap and rhyme.
What emerged was “a window into, a
critique of, the criminalization of black youth”: Gangsta Rap (Kelley 185). Gangsta
rap is a challenge—a fuck you— to authority. It’s a “look at me and what I can
do.” It’s a “if you mess with me, I’m fighting back.” What gangsta rap fights
against is blacks’ own repression and criminalization by the media, police, and
neo-liberal governing practices. Albums like NWA’s Straight Outta Compton
challenged the hegemony like no other:
“No
one else, they claimed, was speaking for the brother on the corner but them—loudly,
defiantly and unapologetically. So Straight Outta Compton also marked the beginning of hip-hop’s
obsession with “THE REAL.” From now on, rappers had to represent—to scream for
the unheard and other wise speak the unspeakable. Life on the hair-trigger margin—with all of its unpredictability,
contradiction, instability, menace, tragedy and irony, with its daily death and
resistance—needed to be described in its passionate complexity, painted in bold
strokes, framed in wide angels, targeted with laser precision, A generation
needed to assisted its demons" (Chang 328).
But this fight wasn’t
one of Black Nationalism or empowerment. This was about the strength and anger
of the community. On the difference, Dr Dre states:
I wanted to make people go: ‘oh shit, I can’t
believe he’s saying that shit.’ I wanted to go all the way left. Everybody
trying to do this Black power and shit, so I was like, let’s give em an alternative.
Nigger niggerniggerniggernigger fuck this fuck that bitch bitch bitch bitch
suck my dick, all this kind of shit, you know what I’m saying (Chang 318).
Gangsta rap is full of references to cop killing, lack of public space, and the poor portrayal of blacks by popular culture. Rather than challenge those with ideas of black nationalism, gangsta rap co-opts its own image of hyper violence and hyper masculinity and disperses it amongst the public. But violence is not necessarily to be taken literally. By speaking through different narrators, gangsta rappers can challenge opponents or society through linguistically violent means rather than physically violent. This idea was most widespread in Easy E's "Boyz-N-The Hood"--arguably the first gangsta rap hit. In "Boyz-N-The Hood," Easy participates in, amongst other things, early morning drinking, grand theft auto, murder, and misogyny. Almost over night, "'Boyz-N-The Hood' became an anthem for the fatherless, brotherless, state-assaulted, heavily armed West Coast urban youth..." (Chang 306).
Does this style of gangster rap exist today? How has it changed? How are these images of violence supposed to be viewed? By whites? Critics? Urban Youth?
Misogyny is
another aspect of gangsta rap that is critiqued and examined. Rappers often see
women as objects, not what they have to offer to them, but yet what they can
get out of them. In lyrics, gangstas obtain power over women by beating them
and calling them names—making a women feel less than what their worth. By
positioning women belong them, it assures the gangsta that he will have them
under control.
As mentioned in
“'Pimping Ain't Easy,' Women in the Male Gangsta Imagination,” men see women as
someone who is a whore, “always riding on a nigger's dick”. They are seen as
sex toys that are their just to give them pleasure and once their done they just,
“take the bitch out on the highway and drag her until she's damn near deaf.
Then take your pistol and shoot her right through her motherfuckin head.” The
woman isn't worth anything anymore or good for anything since she is all used
up by her pimp.
Women are
mistreated, disrespected by men because men do not want to understand them,
deals with their demands or have to do anything with them that isn't sex. Gangstas
want to keep control by making sure that the women is in need. Lyrics often
utilize manipulation of women to have sexual intercourse with them in exchange
of what they need. Men see all women the same as “bitches”, “whores”, “sluts”,
and “gold diggers”, as they think that they are superior to women since they
are considered the “pimps” and the ones who bring the income. Men are not
superior as they think they are without abusing women, manipulating them or
lower their self-esteem women can on with their life with need a man to be
there as a provider. If only women were treated or given the same rights as men
women would not look toward men to sustain themselves. Over all, in the reading
women are treated like animals that do not deserve any respect from their
“masters”.
How does misogyny play out in gangsta rap? What are some of the reasons that Kelley gives us?
BIG L- 95 FREESTYLE
Big L portrays
or represents what it means to be gangsta’ or criminal.He does so in such a devilish, crude, and
evil way in his tracks.Big L takes
explicit to a whole new level, but he does so in such an appealing way.In one of his songs tilted “Clinic,” he
states that is going to “kill a bitch” because this girl or “bitch” gave him
gonorrhea.Big L’s 1995 freestyle
represents Gangsta’ Rap more than any other song that I know of or at least “gangsta’
rap’s” definition in the Merriam Webster’s online dictionary.Most, if not all of Big L’s tracks have
something to do with the dictionary definition of Gangsta Rap.When it comes down to it, Big L ultimately
portrays gangsta’ rap in the most extreme and demonic ways.
A
whole bunch of crazy ass shit goes through growing teenagers minds.Especially when it comes to male
teenagers.Whether it comes from
videogames, music, or just thinking about stuff while lying in bed trying to go
to sleep at night, ideas are always running through these kid’s minds.I think that no matter what ethnicity one is,
everyone has “fucked up” thoughts.I
believe this is why gangsta rap has become so popular.It proves to the listeners that they are not
alone.Although in most cases nobody,
even a lot of times the artists rapping the lines, aren’t doing the violent
etc. things that they speak of in their songs.It can be therapeutic for the anyone with similar thoughts to listen to
these type of gangsta songs.
Why is it that white kids love gangsta rap so much? Would it be as possible without the suburban white audience?
