A Breakdown of Hip-Hop

Introduction

 

Apart from a few artists, the genre of Hip Hop is known for its disrespect of women, its homophobia, and its criminal content. It seems that if in this genre, the more you add those three things into your music, the more hits you get. Because of that, artists forget their original agenda as a up -and-coming rapper and just fall to the norm in order to make the most money possible. When there are actually artists that are trying to make a change in the world or in their city, they are quickly passed up because people just want to listen to the popular type of rap. We have gotten to the point that it does not even matter what you say in your songs, just as long as you have rhythm and you have a good voice. For example, Atlanta-based rap star, Future, has made his fortune with a style of rap that is very popular right now which is called “Trap.” Trap is similar to rap but the only thing is that “good music” is not expected or it is not recommended. Many artists just make noises and sounds to go along with the beat and don’t forget them throwing in a few misogynistic and homophobic phrases in there. This is the form of Hip-Hop we love these days.

Although rap is thought to only be listened by a specific crowd, it is worth fixing because many teenagers and young adults listen to it, therefore, Hip Hop can shape the way we move on as a generation on this planet. If the message, that is given through Hip Hop is one that imposes homophobia, or “thug” life, than no change can be accomplished with it. I will be looking at one specific song that was very popular back in 2008, “A Milli” and I will be breaking down the song by Race, Gender, Age, and Class. Although this is only one song, the same themes can be observed in an identical way throughout the whole genre.

Gender

“It’s an art form dominated by young men, in competition to prove their manhood.” That was quote by Complex Magazine when talking about the disrespect of women in Hip Hop and why it is such a big part of it. Most young rappers that are relevant nowadays are nowhere near past the age of 30. A lot of them are 21-26 and are eager to prove that they have grown up. In American culture, the way to show that you finally have become a man or have grown up, is to show your authority over women. Hip Hop glorifies or justifies the objectification of women. A lot of this comes from the fact that Hip Hop artists are trying to assert their manhood, but misogyny also seems that in order to get hits and make popular music, misogyny is the way to go. On Wikipedia, it says, “Common misogynistic themes include the use of derogatory names such as “bitch” and “ho”, sexual objectification of women, legitimation of violence against women, distrust of women, and the glorification of prostitution and pimping.”

In the song, “A Milli” by Lil Wayne, gender comes up a whole lot. One of the few lines in that song says, “Never answer when it’s private, damn I hate a shy bitch. Don’t you hate a shy bitch? Yeah I ate a shy bitch. She ain’t shy no more, she changed her name to my bitch, hahahaha, yeah, nigga that’s my bitch.” Lines like this are used a lot in Hip Hop. The objectification of women is very prominent. Lil Wayne raps about a woman that is really shy but after having sex with him, she’s not shy any more. He also goes on and says that she is his property. In a lot of Hip Hop songs, woman are seen like they need men in order to improve something about themselves or just to be happy. Lil Wayne fixed this girl by not making her shy anymore, and because of this he is her owner and she is only going to feel the best when she is with him. He is the most important thing in her life and she cannot survive without them. He then goes on to say, “It ain’t trickin’ if you got it.” That is a commonly used line used in Hip Hop and it basically means that men do not have to pay for sex when they are as rich as Lil Wayne. Women just have sex without without him even asking because he is like a God to them and he is the one they need. This message also gets across to the other side. Women often feel like when they are in the Hip Hop “game” they have to fall under the stereotypes that male rappers put on them. Why should keep the same message of gender in Hip Hop and pass it along to the younger generations?

Age

Hip Hop is by far the genre of music that most teens listen to and look up to. Hip Hop has a huge influence on the views of many of our teens and an impact on how our generation is going to evolve throughout the years. Hip Hop’s influence to teens has caused many problems. One of them is that with Hip Hop, black teen girls are not respected at all. They are taught that from a young age that they are worthless and shouldn’t expect any respect from anyone. Messages like this are encoded into teenagers’ minds and since Hip Hop is mostly aiming at the teens, it does the most effect. This genre codes messages for teens telling them how to be a “man” and in order for them to grow up they have to follow a certain structure of life. From what I wrote in my Age essay, “ The media has a huge influence in shaping the way teenagers see and should see themselves and shapes a lot of the actions they take.” In this case, however, replace “the media” with Hip Hop and it can fit right in. I often find myself trying to look like many of the rappers just by how they dress, how they talk, etc. In the excerpts of Daniel Chandler’s Semiotics for Beginners, he says, “mass media codes offer their readers social identities which some may adopt as their own.” This is also true with Hip Hop because this genre offers personalities like any other form of media that young adults can take as their own. The problem is that these personalities in Hip Hop are usually very similar and often include things we should not look forward to in the future. Going back to the song, A Milli, Lil Wayne says, “ And I’m OK but my watch sick, yeah my drop sick, yeah my glock sick and my knot thick, I’m It! Motherfucker I’m Ill!” This part of the song is important to point out because he is literally telling his younger audience what it means to be “it” or to be like him. He mentions that having a gun, a car, and many other things as the way to be considered “cool.”

Race

When you look at many pictures of rappers on Google, many of them look exactly the same. Most of the time they all have chains, watches, rings, etc. They also have tattoos everywhere printed on their body. These rappers set the image that we think about when we say the word, “rappers.” I know that many people think of rappers as African Americans because the originators of Hip Hop were indeed African American, but there are certain stereotypes that come with this. What these rappers are setting is not only a music genre, they are showing a whole lifestyle which we call “cool pose.” Like with many other things, when one black person, or rapper in this case, does something or dresses a type of way, the whole race falls under that category. Because of that, when a young black male dresses like these rappers, they may hear things like, “why you dress so black or ghetto? or Why do you sound so black? Because of these rappers, the rest of the race falls under specific categories.

When Hip Hop was started, it mostly encouraged social activism. Ice Cube’s early songs talked about white racism, Ice-T sang about a cop killer, and Public Enemy told listeners to “fight the power.” That is not the case anymore. Rap now encourages gang violence between blacks and does not challenge governmental authority.

Like I said before, Hip Hop has become a lifestyle in the past decade. White artists like Vanilla Ice, have taken those stereotypes and used them in their music and in their music videos. Pursuing that lifestyle of “cool pose”. White rappers like Vanilla Ice have taken what it means to look black and embodied it. He has tattoos everywhere, chains, watches, cars, and women. This lifestyle just feeds into the stereotypes of black people that have been established by Hip Hop artists.

Going back to the song, “A Milli”, there are many examples of race. One of the line says, “I open the Lamborghini hopin’ them crackers see me. Like look at that bastard weezy. He’s a beast, he’s a dog, he’s a motherfucking problem.” This line is problematic because saying that when the “crackers” or the police see him, they think he is dangerous. Lil Wayne falls right under the stereotype of what a rapper may look like. That means that he is carrying the stereotypes that fall under his race with him. When a person from another race hears this line, and they see someone that looks like him, they automatically think that person are dangerous. Minorities don’t have the privilege of not having their whole be represented by what they do.

Social Class

In order to be a successful rapper or credible artist in the Hip Hop game, you need to embody a poor urban image. The most successful rappers come from low income parts of the world and you may be seen as “fake” if you don’t fit into this category. That might be due to the fact that Hip Hop was started as the oppressed speaking out on their struggles and it is one of the things that has been kept from when Hip Hop first started. For example, Toronto rapper, Drake is an example of this. He is seen as fake because he does not fit the stereotypical rapper that comes from the “hood.” Social class is extremely important in the Hip Hop game.

I also came to the realization that the whole song itself is about Social Class. The song is called “A Milli” meaning a million dollars. He says lines like, “A million here, a million there,” and “A millionaire, I’m a young money millionaire.” This lines point out how important it is that you once you “make it” in Hip Hop, it is very important to show your wealth and your social class. Since there was not much about social class in the song, “A Milli,” I decided to include a lyric from another Lil Wayne song called, “Mr. Carter” featuring JAY Z. The line says, “I know, I ride slow and when I pass, They say “What up killa man?” Stop bringin’ up my past.” This line just how important it actually is for rappers to rap about their upbringing. In that line Lil Wayne says that he wants people to stop bringing up his past, but he is still bringing it up in his song which is something he needs to do in order to be successful or be “real.” This past has to include poverty, criminal actions and things like that.

Conclusion

All the different sections that we have studied in this media studies class are lenses we can look at anything with, especially Hip Hop. These sections are things that are very visible in Hip Hop; they are not hidden so is easy to change. It is important that we change the way Hip Hop is because it is so popular amongst the young adults so therefore it will have a huge impact on the way our generation continues to thrive forward if is changed. Hip Hop is also growing in popularity and we want the best available Hip Hop when that time comes. Changing Hip Hop may have a huge impact on changing the world and its inequalities.

 

-Jeffrey Figuereo