Women In Rap Music
...participants involved in it to transcend the limitations imposed by gender/gender myths?
Gender Degradation of Rap and Hip-Hop Music
Dating back to the eras of the Beatles and the Rollingstones, music has always had an affect on the ways that people act, dress, and live their lives. With the arrival of rap and hip-hop music in the mid 1980's, new lyrics and cultural values began to spread throughout the radio frequencies of every household and car in society. Rap provided a new form of music - a music based upon fast and catchy rhythms that could launch an audience off of their seats, forcing them to dance in the isles of a concert or down the halls of their own home. Yet, with this form of entertainment gaining popularity so quickly, its affects gradually began to take a toll on the ways that individuals lived and perceived life. With lyrics promoting anger, violence, and substance abuse, society began to absorb what is sometimes called the "gangster lifestyle." Through lyrics, music videos, and radio airtime, rap and hip-hop music has been able to positively expose the realities of the urban lifestyle, while promoting the degradation of women in a male dominated industry; where female artists are scarce and are nearly forced to appeal lyrically and physically to males.
With the arrival of the music video, rap and hip-hop artists were given the opportunity to express their lyrics in a visual form. Instead of directly relating the videos to some of the lyrics, rap artists decided to film videos that degraded the social and physical status of females in society. In various music videos, it is common for a female to be dressed in merely a bra and panties, dancing around a male for his own entertainment. This nearly nude image, which seems to depict a sense of power among males over females, is highly evident in the music...
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