Thursday, November 6, 2008

Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes

Although I have already written a paper on this documentary, I want to insert a little extra commentary on something I had covered in my paper that will help me hone in on what I plan to do for my Research paper.
In the documentary, my main reason for disconnect was that Hurt places females in a liminal space within the Hypermasculine identity of Rap/Hip-Hop. He merely focuses on how male rappers develop a context of women as objects rather than beings. Though this idea is an important aspect to study within the genre of Hip-Hop, Hurt seems to diminish the range of female rappers who have subverted this "Hypermasculine" identity and created a female version of it.
By "creating a female version", I specifically mean they use their sexuality in the same way that the men do--to gain and emphasize their power--but they also demonstrate an awareness of how they can be considered "playing into" the objectified position they are forced to exist within. I would like to focus on how they combine both their gender with sexuality to create a new version of the "hypermasculinity" for which I would like to create a term.

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