Hip Hop The Root Of Black Culture - 1877 Words

Hip-hop is the root of black culture. Hip-hop is the insight to black communities and was created in the ghetto (unprivileged black communities in North America). It was a will response to systematic violence in the community. To better understand hip-hop and the issue of gender one must question â€Å"at what point did violence, sexism, and homophobia become primary components of a subculture that once was founded on refusal of gang violence and the harmful side of street life and when did black women become the enemy of black male rappers and the hip-hop generation (Guy-Sheftall pg. 191). Hip hop culture is constantly growing, the commercialization and the changing image of hip-hop resulted in the the sexual objectification of women in the†¦show more content†¦It’s important to understand that rap music falls in line with masculinity and while all rap music is not misogynist, a selection of just a few song titles emphasizes it preoccupation with sex, violent overto nes, and the denigration of women (Guy-Sheftall pg.183). Within hip-hop culture there are two competing messages being delivered: one of exploitation and the other of empowerment (Henry, Jackson, West. Pg. 244). Hip-hop is centered on obtaining the black men’s masculinity. In the documentary Beyond the Beats and Rhymes it gets the men to take a look at themselves. It shows how black males are in a box and are essential two people, one being who they really are and the thug they are trying to portray. In Guy-sheftall and Coles Gender talk: Gender politics and hip-hop they imply, argue and analyze that hip hop sexually objectify women and it is important for one to recognize and understand the damage it does within our communities and around the world. One of the points in Gender Talk is that hip hop music participates in the historical construction of dehumanizing labels that are attached to black women, since the days of slavery. The burden of black women having the brand of worthless, subhuman, promiscuous , predatory, and hypersexual has been more present in hip-hop music than any other genre (Guy-Sheftall pg. 188). And hip hops part in this oppression is complicit with the stereotypical and damaging depictions of black girls and women and is