The essay involves the analysis of various spectrums of cultural, gender and sexuality evaluations through using the examples of famous hip-hop artists such as Janelle Monae and Nicki Minaj. The ‘Make Me Feel’ and ‘Pynk’ videos of Janelle Monae and ‘Chun Li’ video of Nicki Minaj are in focus within the essay. Criticisms in the videos of the two artists act as sources for this essay. Despite the two artists being in different genres of hip hop music, they have been able to become renowned influencers to their fans. Both hip-hop artists are in strong support for the elevation of women status in the society. The essay discusses how various videos of the two hip-hop artists influence the hip hop movement, especially in light of the #metoo movement. A brief history of the trend of hypermasculinity within the hip-hop association also enables lay out a framework for the understanding of cultural, gender and sexuality issues within the hip hop culture.
Hypermasculinity in the Hip Hop Movement
Patton et al. (54) explains that hip-hop as a music genre developed in the ghetto environments of South Bronx, where majority of the population in the region consisted of African Americans and poor Latinos. Due to the hardships of living in the environment as characterized by poverty and violence, the birth of hip-hop became a response to violence in the community. Hip-hop represented the cultures of black men being imprisoned, gun crimes and gang formations in the community. As such, hip-hop naturally became a hypermasculinity movement that many young African American men embraced regardless of their class in the society. Patton et al. (56) describes the nature of hypermasculinity in hip-hop among African American males as a forced environment in which these young men found themselves.
Every young man growing in the hip-hop culture era had to appear powerful as characterized by taking on a hypermasculinity posture with your body so as to display to the society that you are worthy of being respected. Further, the stereotypes of hypermasculinity in hip-hop culture included misogyny tendencies. According to Hurt (22), the hypermasculinity nature of hip-hop put men in a box where they had to be strong, have lots of women and have domination over them and other men. The East Coast hip-hop rappers in the 1990s act as prominent examples of artists who existed during the hypermasculinity era of hip-hop, such as Nas and Notorious B.I.G (Patton et al. 58).
Evolvement of Hip-Hop Culture
The hip-hop culture has undergone massive change since 2000. In 2016, for example, Young Thug, a prominent hip-hop rapper, posed in a feminine position as a show of support for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people in the society (Odyssey.com). Similarly, Pharell Williams turned away from wearing seemingly masculine apparel in favor of pink outfits and fur (Odyssey.com). Kanye West depicted his support for the LGBT community through wearing a kilt on stage in a show of defiance against the unwritten rules for masculinity in the hip-hop culture (Odyssey.com).
Women have also been embraced in the hip-hop culture by the wider global audience, an aspect that has allowed female hip-hop artists such as Janelle Monae and Nicki Minaj to thrive and lead in the industry. In 2018, Janelle Monae has successful released hit songs such as ‘Make Me Feel’ and ‘Pink’, which have inspired many females globally. Though appearing sexual, the hit songs elevate women in the society through communicating that women can dominate the world despite having sensitive personalities. The song Pynk, as a fan named Astra comments on the video, “How did one person manage to write a song that is simultaneously about sexuality, women rights, poc rights…” is about female sexuality, women rights and LGBT rights (Janelle, “Pynk”). The ‘Make Me Feel’ song, on the other hand, is about gender fluidity and sexual fluidity. The song is in support of all people to have the freedom of choosing their sexuality and not to fell socially burdened to have to classify their sexuality and gender.
The Case of Male Dominance
Despite the change that has occurred to the hip-hop culture leading to hip-hop artists embracing modernity and change, where men do not have to display hypermasculinity tendencies in order to identify with the hip-hop culture, the hip-hop audience has still not embraced changes in the culture. The fact that the #metoo movement has to still occur means that men are still taking advantage of women, an act that is in support of misogyny tendencies in the society.
The audience to hip-hop songs do not yet believe in accrediting female hip-hop artists with the same appreciation and respect accorded to their male counterparts. In the song ‘Make Me Feel’, a critic comments that he feels ‘Prince Vibes all over this”, referring to the song (Janelle, “Make Me Feel”). Other members of the audience continue to support that Janelle Monae does not deserve to receive the credit for the ‘Make Me Feel’ song because she was mentored by Diva Tavares Prince before he died, and so the song should be largely accredited to him (Janelle, “Make Me Feel”). Valerie Rimoldi, another critic, also insists that the song was also influenced by Robert Palmer (Janelle, “Make Me Feel”). Fans who attempted to support Monae as the person who should receive credit for the songs were accused of feminism. Similarly, critics to the ‘Pynk’ song by Monae also insist that Aerosmith must have contributed to the song, making Pynk a cover of the original by Aerosmith (Janelle, “Pynk”). The critics insist on associating the song to other renowned male artists in an attempt of making sure that Monae is viewed as being inferior to the male artists.
The issue of white appropriation, which is used as a demeaning term for the Pynk song by Janelle, also comes up in criticizing the song. In the critic remarks to the song, Roni Thacker uses the white appropriation hashtag to pass across his point that “… they need to stop acting like they have a pink labia,” (Janelle, “Pynk”) referring to the Janelle Monae and her dancers, who are all black. The critic was insisting that the pink color representation of the song was erroneous since the artist was trying to use the characteristic of pink in white ladies as a characteristic that can also apply to black girls.
In the ‘Chun Li’ song, a critic accuses Nicki Minaj of cultural appropriation because she uses Chinese attire in her song (Nicki, “Chun Li”). However, it is evident that in light of the cultural appropriation issue globally, Nicki Minaj chooses to focus on the use of Chinese culture to communicate the power that women can amass if they accepted their sexuality and ensured they were strong amidst a disapproving society of female social power. Nicki Minaj has also been key in embracing herself as a sexual being, similar to Janelle Monae, and does not have apologies for that aspect of her life. In a tweet for her Chun Li song in May, 2018, Nicki Minaj insist that women should realize that they are queens and should not let any man break them (Clark, “Chun_Li”). Consequently, it is evident that Nicki Minaj, as a representation of female artists in the hip-hop industry, is in support of the #metoo movement. She acknowledges that she does not support male dominance in the society, where men are allowed to mistreat and take advantage of women just because they are in a position of power.
Conclusion
The #metoo movement has had a lot of positive impact globally due to the social media trend of people using the hashtag to expose sexual offenders, especially in the workplace. The effects of the hashtag movement has also hugely impacted the hip-hop music industry, and more musical artists such as Nicki Minaj and Janelle Monae are in support of the crusade. Further, issues of gender and sexual fluidity, as well as appropriation have had a lot of influence on the culture of hip-hop. While Janelle Monae and Nicki Minaj use different approaches to encouraging female independence and power in a male-dominated society, they achieve the same results of ensuring that women are comfortable and proud of themselves and do not have to rely on a man for survival. It is also clear that despite hip-hop artists making efforts to ending the culture of hypermasculinity in the industry, they need to work towards changing the mentality of their audience, who still believe that a woman has to rely on a man in order to succeed in life.
Works Cited
Clark, Victoria. “Nicki Minaj opens up about her relationships and fixes yours.” Vulture, 26 May 2018, www.vulture.com/2018/05/nicki-minaj-opens-up-about-her-relationships-and- fixes-yours.html. Accessed 24 June 2018.
Hurt, Byron. Hip-hop: Beyond beats and rhymes. Media Education Foundation, 2008.
Janelle, Monae. “Pynk.” YouTube, 10 April 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaYvlVR_BEc. Accessed 24 June 2018.
Janelle, Monae. “Make Me Feel.” YouTube, 22 February 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGRzz0oqgUE. Accessed 24 June 2018.
Nicki Minaj. “Chun Li.” YouTube, 4 May 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpm07- BGJnE. Accessed 24 June 2018.
Odyssey. “Hypermasculinity and Hiphop.” Web, //www.theodysseyonline.com/hypermasculinity-and-hiphop. Accessed 24 June 2018.
Patton, Desmond Upton, Robert D. Eschmann, and Dirk A. Butler. "Internet banging: New trends in social media, gang violence, masculinity and hip hop." Computers in Human Behavior 29.5 (2013): 54-59.
