Hip Hop & Patriarchy: My Struggle with Mobb Deep

by Guest Contributor M.Dot

It’s challenging to criticize hip hop publicly.

My rationale is that Hip Hop gets hammered by the popular media, so why should I contribute further to it?

When given more thought, I see this as a poor reason to avoid criticizing anything. As an athlete I know criticism is feedback and nothing is improved without feedback. Professor evaluations are feedback. Customer service evaluations are feedback. Feedback is in many ways the oil that greases the improvement machine.

However, my reluctance to criticize may also be related to the tendency within the African American community to avoid airing our dirty laundry. On balance, I also know that dysfunction

flourishes when concealed out of sight.

As a teenager and full-fledged hip hop head, I never listened to Miles because I learned that he beat Cicley Tyson and was unapologetic about it after reading Pearl Cleage’s “Mad at Miles.” I bumped Coltrane, Roach and Blakey, but no Miles. One day, a few years ago, a film Professor and jazz lover who I respected, asked me how could I avoid Miles and listen to so much hip hop?

It was then that I began to see that I would have some reconciling to do regarding gender and hip hop.

bell hooks provides a context to understand gangsta rap in the essay Gangsta Culture when she writes,

“The sexist, patriarchal ways of thinking and behaving that are glorified in gangsta rap are a reflection of the prevailing values in our society, values created and sustained by white supremacist capitalistic patriarchy. As the crudest and most brutal expression of sexism, misogynistic attitudes tend to be portrayed by the dominant culture as always an expression of male deviance.”

I was further challenged to write about hip hop critically when I read Matthew Birkhold’s essay on Hip Hop Dogmatisim. The essay reminded me that our desire to avoid criticizing hip hop because Bill O’Reilly and Bill Cosby do so frequently isn’t a reason for us avoid critiquing it. He goes on to say that if we avoid it, then we are similar to the white folks, and I would argue all folks, who refuse to acknowledge the existence of racism and for that matter classism that exists in American culture.

Birkhold wrote,

“Perhaps we are intent to hold on to a culture that has internalized the worst aspects of a racist, sexist, capitalist society because, as a generation, our identity is deeply rooted in hip-hop. This unfortunately means that a critique of the way hip-hop has internalized patriarchy must lead to a painful examination of the ways we have internalized patriarchy.

Despite the soreness this may cause, reflection and self-critique is necessary. In many ways, refusing to engage in this reflection mirrors the refusal of many whites to admit to collaborating with racism or acknowledging that America itself is a racist nation.”

I knew then that I had to say something about gender and hip hop even if it made me uncomfortable, even if there were some parts where I didn’t have clarity on all of the issues. I knew that there were some areas where I did have clarity and it is how women are perceived in hip hop and pop culture.

The majority of rap videos make it clear that hip hop is one dimensional in how it perceives, portrays and represents women. Turn on BET now and the evidence is there staring you in the face. Video Vixens, both aspiring and official are dancing and posing as the rappers talk about spinning rims, murder and cash. Pop culture is also one dimensional with how it perceives and represents women. The coverage of Britney Spears, Amy Winehouse and now Miley Cyrus is indicative of this. Furthermore, in Hollywood, the shelf life of actresses is a short one – the ideal is approximately 18-30 years of age. While there are exceptions to the rule, the general notion is that if you are too old to play Brad Pitt’s or Will Smith’s girlfriend, then you are irrelevant.

This brings me to the uncomfortable gray area. I see kids rapping “bitch this” and “ho that” on the bus and on the train and I know they must be terrified to be coming of age in a society that is indifferent to their existence. The evidence of this indifference is that there have been 20 school aged children killed in Chicago since September 2007.

This is astounding.

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