ch 5 eric stewart

In Chapter Five of Hip Hop Wars Tricia Rose addresses some of the arguments about demeaning women. She explains that there are two arguments: (a) people who say that sexism in hip-hop perceives black deviance and inferiority and (b) those who support and appreciate hip hop music but work on behalf of black people, music, and culture. Those who argue option (a) rarely address the problem and don’t prevent discrimination against black people. Those who argue option (b) challenge sexism and misogyny and that the influence of mainstream hip-hop and its images might affect black community.
She also talks about how the mainstream hip-hop reflects the power of men and displays that women are inferior. The media, also in popular hip-hop, portrays that men should be in control of women. She says that she is happy to see ministers who are joining groups to speak out against and fight sexism in the world. Another problem she addresses are the female hip-hop artists who feel like they have to use sexuality as the basis for their image to sell records. Lil Kim admitted that she uses her identity as Lil Kim to sell records. Women artists feel like they have to embody forms of femininity empowered by masculinity, the very thing that should be avoided and solved, to express their power.
People who are speaking out against misogyny are getting discouraged because their views seem to get lost from the public and their discussion. I thought it was interesting that when Tricia Rose talked about how women who listened to early hip hop now feel betrayed with today’s hip hop. I also liked to point that she made about some people are questioning individual rappers to why they degrade women when they claim to represent black youth. I thought of this idea since the beginning of our discussions. Why is it that people blame hip hop when it doesn’t have to do with hip hop, it has to do with what the artist sings about and talks about and how she or he lives their life. They just chose hip-hop music. It isn’t hip hops fault of misogyny or sexism it is those who have chosen hip hop as their music and degrade women in their lyrics.
The end of the chapter sums up three points on how to solve some of the problems with degrading women: 1. To Develop and promote a serious, progressive attack on sexism in hip-hop without patriarchal, conservative religious or anti-black youth politics as its guide. 2. To encourage, promote and support those young black women and men who are embedded and invested in hip hop music but who also want to fundamentally challenge the sexism that defies the music. 3. To educate all youth, both boys and girls- especially those with the least access to ideas about gender equality- about sexism: how it works, why it works, and how to “keep it real” without it.