2013/01/12

LADIES FIRST: The Rise of Black & White Female Rappers

Move over Jay-Z, Eminem, Snoop Dog, female rappers are taking over! These artists are proving that hip-hop isn’t a boys’ club anymore!!

The way i see it is that black feminism started in 1989 when Queen Latifah came out with a song called "Ladies First" , and opened the music video for this powerful track with fierce black women who impacted history and became feminist icons. Harriet Tubman, Angela Davis, were some of the few that brought an intense amount of appreciation to what female rappers can do. Hip Hop culture- which includes not just rap but also graffiti, spoken word, urban fiction and humor is defined largely by a black male sensibility. However, these artists are diverse, live in different parts of the world, come from different backgrounds, and shockingly to most, include women who have shaped hip-hop history from its inception.

Think about it! Women were not just eye candy and sex objects they were part of the scene back in the 70's and made their impact as Dj's and emcees. The most significant was the work that Sylivia Robinson achieved. She became the co-founder of Sugar Hill Records, and had its first commerical hit, "Rappers Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang.



THE FEMALE BADMAN-THE BAD-WOMAN: The role of the badman in black folk culture descended from slavery, has been widely embraced in hip hop identity. The badman has become the bad-woman in hip hop culture.
The women in Hip-Hop  don’t try to be the men, they don’t take on the masculine persona, the female rapper is still feminine because she is a woman. Even-though she speaks the same vulgar, and extremely "unladylike like"  language, her presence still screams "femininity" and her anthem is stronger than ever because she dosn't need a man to help her express herself.  


Hip-hop is no longer male -dominated. With superstars like Nicki Minaj blowing up in hip-hop, it’s inevitable that other female MC’s will start getting their due. These five artists prove that girls run the hip-hop world.

1. Azealia Banks
The Harlem rapper has created quite a buzz on the music scene. Her first single “212” is a fun and risqué single that has been viewed 17 million times on YouTube.


2. Santigold
Santigold isn’t a traditional hip-hop artist, but her music is definitely inspired by the genre. Her songs, “ Unstoppable’’ and “ Shove It’’ ,  have been sampled by Drake and Jay-Z.  Santigold’s first album was critically acclaimed and her recently released album, Master of My Make Believe mixes hip-hop with reggae,

3. Rye Rye
This Baltimore rapper is the protégé of M.I.A., but is finally stepping out on her own.  Rye Rye’s debut album Go! Pop! Bang! captures her energy and is a great “Baltimore club record’’, as she described the album.
4. Brianna Perry
Brianna Perry is a new rapper on the scene, but already has famous fans like the Queen of Pop, Beyonce, and megastar Flo Rida.  Perry’s breakout single, “Marilyn Monroe’’, is not only influenced by the legendary actress.  Her flow may remind listeners of her hip-hop idol, Missy Elliott, with bouncing beats and playful bragging about her style.



5. Nyemiah Supreme
This Queens rapper doesn’t need to wear colorful wigs or show cleavage to get attention- her rhymes alone should do the job.  Nyemiah Supreme recalls the no-nonsense female rappers of the 90’s and 2000’s like Eve or MC Lyte.





link to these artists and more information: http://www.bcouleur.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=671:ladies-first-the-rise-of-the-black-female-rapper&catid=73:music&Itemid=414


2013/01/05

Color Blind Ideology and the Cultural Appropriation of Hip Hop


“The pattern of separating the art from the people leads to an appropriation of aesthetic innovation that not only ‘exploits’ Black cultural forms, commercially and otherwise, but also nullifies the cultural meaning those forms provide for African Americans” (p. 32). Thus, colorblind ideology is consequential for popular culture because it provides those with more racial power the discursive resources to decontextualize cultural objects from the histories and experiences from whence they came. At the same time, popular culture provides a venue in which color-blind ideology is itself produced and reproduced.

According to the color-blind ideology, it asserts that everyone in society is the same regardless of their race, culture, or social standing. In an article I’ve read called Color-Blind Ideology and the Cultural Appropriation of Hip Hop, Jason Rodriguez talks about how some of the concertgoers he interviewed use the color-blind ideology to appropriate hip hop and to justify their presence in the hip hop scene even though the participants, themselves, recognizes the importance that race play into people’s lives. I question this belief on colorblindness because by turning a racially coded style of music into a “color-blind” one, aren’t you then denying the part of it that makes it hip hop? How can it be color-blind when one is acknowledging the differences between races in the music??

An example that relates to Colorblindness: In 2010, Jeremy Lin was carrying Harvard University to a league title, and was poised to become one of the first Asian American players in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Jeremy went undrafted for awhile after graduating from college, but found his home with the New York Knicks. This caused an explo sion within the basketball scene, Lin became a basketball star. Knicks fans serenade him during games and teamates and coaches priase and acknowledge how proud they are of him .
Jeremy’s success actually follows a similar breakthrough moment for Asian Americans last year, as the hip-hop group Far East Movement became the first all-Asian American musical group to hit number one on the music charts with their single “Like a G6.”  The cultural emergence of Jeremy Lin and the Far East Movement, demonstrate that Asian Americans are increasingly rising within the mainstream media and popular culture. So one could say that its no longer a "big deal" when we see Asian American faces in the media.
Society no longer considers it “strange” or “unusual” to see Asian Americans in the media or in other prominent positions in U.S. social institutions.
Sounds familiar? its called- colorblindness.
In other words, part of being colorblind is having — an ideal situation in which everyone in U.S. society is considered equal and when social, political, and economic distinctions based on race or ethnicity are no longer important or carry any sort of advantage or disadvantage. So in many respects, Jeremy Lin’s success gives us hope that, as a society, we are moving a little closer to the ideals of colorblindness.

2013/01/02

The Dilemma of White People in Hip Hop


When you put the question of race in hip hop it suddenly becomes politicized (resistance, representation of inner city life). But its also art because your expressing your voice.
TODAY'S TOPIC: race, and race relations in hip hop culture

Those involved with Black music history are often struck by the egregious turns of public relations whereby Paul Whiteman got crowned the king of swing in the 1920’s, Benny Goodman (he became the king when black jazz musicians were not allowed to play for the white audience) anointed the king of jazz in the 1930’s, Elvis Presley popped up as the king of rock and roll in 50’s, and Eric Clapton awarded the tile of the worlds greatest guitar players in 60’s. 

Everything But the Burden: What White People Are Taking From Black Culture (New York: Broadway Books, 2003) was the base of our lecture this week. The collection of essays are written by Greg Tate, who has garnered a reputation-and eventually was dubbed by The Source magazine – as a “Godfather of hip-hop journalism.” Much of his most-popular writings were published during his stint as a staff writer with New York City’s Village Voice between 1987 and 2003.

 Everything but the Burden incorporates voices from music, popular culture, the literary world, and the media speaking about how from Brooklyn to the Badlands white people are co-opting black styles of music, dance, dress, and slang. In this collection, the essayists examine how whites seem to be taking on, as editor Greg Tate’s mother used to tell him, “everything but the burden”–from fetishizing black athletes to spinning the ghetto lifestyle into a glamorous commodity.

"White kids from the ’burbs are throwing up gang signs. The 2001 Grammy winner for best rap artist was as white as rice. And blond-haired sorority sisters are sporting FUBU gear. What is going on in American culture that’s giving our nation a racial-identity crisis?" -Book Review by Kobobooks.com