Feminism in Hip Hop

Feminism in Hip Hop.
For decades, hip-hop has been viewed as a genre where women have been commodified and objectified. Although women have also been part of the hip-hop music scene from as early as the 1970s, their contribution has been seen as minimal. It thus became necessary to change the opinion of artists and audiences alike regarding how women are viewed in the hip-hop. No one was ever going to effect this change except for the females themselves. Women would not be the passive sex that everybody was used to (Radner and Stringer 110). According to Pough, women held themselves and their peers responsible for not only effecting the necessary change but for encouraging people to identify complicity (Pough 82). The following essay shall look at the role that black females have in hood movies that revolve around being agents of change.
The role of women as catalysts and agents of change has been depicted in films such as Set it off and Straight outta Compton. The former film manages to do this more than the latter. This is mainly because all the lead characters in Set it off is females. In this movie, it is clear that the women want better lives and to escape from the projects. They take up janitorial work to try to make an honest living but what they receive is not enough to take care of them and their families. The women come off as aggressive and have an “all it takes” kind of attitude. Such is epitomized by the women’s desire to recover their money from Luther after he had stolen it.

They track him down to a motel, and when he threatens one of them with a gun, he is shot. They even go as far as intimidating a witness to the crime and having a shootout with the police. Unlike before where women took a back seat and waited for men to dictate their lives, these women were determined to make it on their own. It was a reversal of roles. They even wore clothes that seemed more masculine than feminine with baggy shirts and oversize jeans. There is a suggestion that Cleo is a lesbian in one scene when a half-naked woman is seen dancing on top of her after their first robbery. This was a huge departure from male heterosexual masculinity where females were relegated to being “bitches and hos” (Campbell and Theresa 96).
Straight outta Compton was different in its depiction of women as agents of change. While females are the lead characters in set it off, they appear with minimal introduction and disappear with sudden abruptness in the film above. They are relegated to a supporting role and change does not come directly from them. Instead, they motivate and inspire the lead characters to be good at what they do and make the most of the opportunities that come their way. In the film, for instance, Dr. Dre’s mother confronts him after missing a job interview (Bradley and Martinelli n.p). He says that he wants to focus on music, but his mother will have none of it. She believes that education is the only weapon that can rescue both her and her son. In the end, although Dr. Dre succeeds in the music industry, he is thankful to his mother for pushing him to be better and for standing by him through the tough times.
In conclusion, women have been objectified and commodified in the hip-hop genre for a long time. A woman was never just a woman. If she was not a “bitch,” then she was a “ho.” For this reason, women decided that they wished to change the perception of the genre by becoming agents of change. This change would directly come from them, or they would push male artists to depict women differently. This change also slipped into hood movies where women took matters by the scruff of the neck in films such as set it off or inspired change through others in straight outta Compton.
Works Cited
BIBLIOGRAPHY Bradley, Laura and Marissa Martinelli. Who Are the Women of Straight Outta Compton? Here’s What the NWA Biopic Leaves Out. . 19 August 2015. Website. 10 October 2016.
Campbell, Jane and Carilli Theresa. Women and the Media: Diverse Perspectives. New York: University Press of America, 2005. Print.
Pough, Gwendolyn D. “What It Do, Shorty?” Black Women, Gender and Families (2007): 78-99. Document.
Radner, Hilary and Rebecca Stringer. Feminism at the Movies: Understanding Gender in Contemporary Popular Cinema. Washington: Routledge, 2012. Print.