Rap/hip-hop: WAR of words & VIsuals with damage
Over the years, Rap Music and Hip-Hop's lyrical and video content have been faced with massive opposition from a wide variety of people: women, parents, politicians, and religious figures.
From the 1990s to today, many social issues in the United States have been the topic of discussion such as: rates of violence among minorities, drug use and distribution rates, police brutality, racial profiling, and so on. Within the Rap genre, many including N.W.A, Public Enemy, KRS-One, 2Pac, and Immortal Technique have repeatedly addressed their opposition towards regulations, government policies, law enforcement, and media actions through their music content. N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton, Tupac's Don Killuminati: The 7-Day Theory, and Immortal Technique's Revolutionary Album Series are just a few of many rap albums addressing these social issues in U.S society that aren't given enough attention in the eyes of residents in the streets.
|
Throughout the history of hip-hop, many artists have made explicit sexual content, used feminist terms such as "bitch","hoe", or "trick", or incorporated misogyny into their lyrics. As time went on, the music industry went towards increasing sex appeal for videos with the inclusion of strippers, women wearing shorter clothing, and the change in dance. Although people on the opposite end of such music have made critique the genre's missteps, some artists have made their own voices known. The early 1990s rap duo B.W.P (Bytches With Problems) had released their album, The Bytches, opposing hip hop's male boasting of sexual prowess and its power over women's cultural views. Fast-fowarding to 2003, the music video for Nelly's "Tip Drill" caused serious controversy due to its "degrading visuals" and "severe exploitation of females and their bodies" according to Samuel Craig Watkins, in his book Hip Hop Matters. The video was prevented from being played on European music video programs; and major uproar was made by female students at Spelman College due the video. The campus had revoked a request from Nelly's Fundraiser for Leukemia, asking if the benefit program to be conducted on the campus during 2004.
|