Pushed Aside or Pushed Ahead?

As I was thinking about and prepping to begin my paper, I realized one of the major ideas that I have to make sure to question in my paper is that of how much agency do female rap artists exert when they are in a "crew". Are they merely seen as an equal member of the crew or are they seen as lesser and in need of a "crew" to make it? In Rose's article, she says that crews are a way for the artist to actually gain some sort of acceptance within their space so, in a way, they are exerting agency. But, I still believe that these artists do no gain as much power as if they were to strike out on their own. Eve had to begin in the Ruff Ryders Crew to gain some notoriety and then break off into her own name. The problem was her notoriety fell as she started to move more and more away from the Ruff Ryders crew (this falling could also be in relation to the breaking of the group and the lesser amount of DMX records).

I think this may be the final type of "female rap artist" that exists. So, to recap, we have the solo female genderless rap artist, the solo female hypermasculinized rap artist, and the "crew" female rap artist. Is this the only break down? I doubt it. The best break down? Probably not. But it works for now.

Subversions?

As my previous post had explained, there are usually two presentations of the female rapper.  Interestingly enough, I decided to watch an older video by Lil Kim called "Lighters Up".  While watching this video, I realized a major detail that one would almost not catch unless paying close attention to the singer rather than the whole video: she changes her outfit multiple times.  The song is meant to create a unifying idea among anyone who is on the bottom-end of society and partially her clothing reflects this idea, but, simultaneously, she also varies her clothing between that which is more "masculinized" and that which is more "feminized".  It's almost as if she subverts the idea that she has to rap under a specific image and can don whatever clothing and still be seen as a rapper.  So, that leaves to question, is this the solution? Does a female rapper need to have constant changing, constant appearance modification to subvert the two identities that exist? 

The Binary of the Female in Hip-Hop

As I've read through more and more articles, I have came to the conclusion that there are only two presentations of females that exist within Rap.  This presentation, though, focuses on performers and not background dancers or girls in male rappers' videos.  

The first presentation of the female is that of the almost genderless rapper.  Exemplified by artists such as Queen Latifah and Missy Elliot are meant to be seen as more masculine.  Although they do retain aspects of femininity, they rarely are seen (in music videos) in feminine clothing.  

The second presentation of the female--and the most dominant one--is that of the extremely sexualized female rapper.  The problem that arises with the extremely sexualized female rapper is that she exists only within the liminal space of being female and having to use her body as a tool.  

I have not decided if these two presentations are on equal footing or if one exerts less agency than the other.  Which one (I would like to to define eventually) actually gives the woman more power? Are the latter type of female rappers merely subjugating themselves to what men want or are they claiming their "gendered" identity?  

Female Rockers and Female Rappers

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/callaloo/v029/29.3carpenter02.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdpJh_zc6k8

As I read this interview with hip-hop journalist Joan Morgan, I began to wonder if we exceptionalize female rappers versus female rockers.  By this statement, I mean, do we try to frame female rappers as having to struggle more against a hypermasculine culture versus female rockers?  

I decided I would explore this question through  Bif Naked--real name, Beth Torbert.  In the video, "I Love Myself Today", Torbert uses the same type of dress as does Trina in the video from two posts ago.  She emphasizes (at 3:10ish) "I'm gonna get my way, uh huh" as she points towards her chest emphasizes her body.  Through her action and lyrics, she utilizes the same ideas that Trina did within "One Minute Man"--that is the use of the body as a controlling force.  Thus, after drawing on some of these similarities, I did start to notice a bit of exceptionality towards female rappers.  Maybe the focus should not be on female singers of a specific genre but how female singers in general (unless pop stars) usually need male backups or male identities to buttress their appeal and their spread.  

Presentations of Female Sexuality

After reading the article on female sexuality, I decided to watch a video that has two female rappers with distinctly different presentations of the body.  One is Missy Elliot who dons typical rap artist clothing (larger clothes, big chains, vague gender appearance (for women)) and Trina who wears much more "femininely gendered" clothes (tops that emphasize breasts, dress overall that shows more skin and emphasize the aspects of the female body).  When I watched this video, I realized quickly how the two rappers not only in clothes but also in imaged presentation show themselves. 

Missy (at :50) physically removes her head from her body and through this action does two symbolic things with her sexual identity.  One is she plays on the idea of sexual desire as essential and two the idea of female sexuality as having to be emotional (the head).  Removing her head, Missy removes the emotional attachment she would have towards the man and physicalizes herself.  She rubs her body and uses her body as what identifies her sexual desire versus her head as the emotional want of having sex. 

Trina, conversely, (at 3:03) actually invokes an image of sexual actions and uses her femininity to demonstrate her acknowledgment of knowing she is desired by men.  The way she subverts this desiring of men is by firstly her lyrics and secondly her positioning of men in the video.  Her lyrics emphasize the idea that she must be pleased by the man and if this pleasure doesn't occur she will not deem the man "man enough".  Through her lyrics, she emphasizes the fact that she is the one who decides if a man is masculine versus the man using her body to demonstrate that he is a man.  Her positioning of men on the walls and locked up also reflects her identity of control of the bed.  She is the one that rolls around on the bed while the men are prevented from enjoyment.  Standing in front of them, she invokes the idea that she has control not only of her sexuality but of the male sexuality also.  

The Power of TLC

http://www.jstor.org/stable/2717669?seq=2&Search=yes&term=Rappers&term=Female&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DFemale%2BRappers%2B%26x%3D0%26y%3D0%26wc%3Don&item=6&ttl=271&returnArticleService=showArticle&resultsServiceName=doBasicResultsFromArticle

"The apparent message was that the projection of a more masculine image leads to success and that, in fact, success as a rapper could come only after sacrificing femininity." 

After reading this article by Goodall, I kept turning over this quote in my head.  I wondered why Goodall left out contemporary female rappers such as Lil Kim, Trina, Eve, etc. who all exerted or emphasized their femininity.  I read the year that this article was published, though, and realized it was 1994.  Therefore, it gave me a little leeway on how to place T.L.C. (the article's "focus band") into a relationship with contemporary female artists.  The article talks about T.L.C. being the first female band members to talk bluntly about sexual desire as inconsequential.  Realizing this, one can see how a band such as T.L.C. helped pave the way for rappers such as the aforementioned. 

"The Aesthetics of Rap"

http://www.jstor.org/stable/3042309?&Search=yes&term=Rapper&term=Female&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DFemale%2BRapper%26gw%3Djtx%26prq%3DHip-Hop%26Search%3DSearch%26hp%3D25%26wc%3Don&item=13&ttl=205&returnArticleService=showArticle

Finally, an article in which they actually talk about rap and its identity.  Every article thus far has had to contextualize rap as almost a "social phenomenon" rather than as a musical entity.  Although I will be doing the same thing, I needed an article that has a bit of argument towards what rap is and then I can utilize bits and pieces to construct what rap is for female rappers in a social context.