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.  

An Article on the Female Rapper

http://www.jstor.org/stable/542102?&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=4&ttl=205&returnArticleService=showArticle

I came across this article and it has some information on we read the Female Rapper and how we place race and gender into the context of rap.  The one thing that I was glad it pointed out was how female rappers have been there since the beginning.  I think I may trace which were the most popular ones from the 90's up (I have to have at least a little control over my paper) and see who made it and explore why they did.  I want to find the tropes that the female rappers who make it utilize and see how these tropes have become the "female rapper identity". 

Hip Hop as High Art?

http://www.jstor.org/stable/4134516?&Search=yes&term=Hip-Hop&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DHip-Hop%2B%26x%3D0%26y%3D0%26wc%3Don&item=4&ttl=1855&returnArticleService=showArticle

As I was doing some searching on JSTOR, I came across this article and I think it will have some helpful information to use in my research paper.  Although I haven't had chance to completely read it, (my plan is to have all my articles read and commented on by the end of the Break) I do think that the idea of the Rapper as a High Artist is going to be a valuable tool to question the identity of rap.  I think also that if we look at Rap as a High Art and then place the female Rapper into this context . . . we will wonder what high artistic representation of the Female the female rapper has.  

Jamaican Rap

http://www.jamaicans.com/music/articles_reggae/when-did-reggae-become-ra.shtml

I purposely used this title to frame this article.  The journalist argues that Rap actually traces its roots to Reggae rather than Reggae being now "claimed as Rap".  The interesting idea that comes to fruition in this article is that Rap and Reggae and any other music can't really trace their "roots" to a specific time and/or place.  It all has developed from others and has influenced others.  I neither say that Rap is the beginning nor reggae is the beginning but rather both of them are just terms that we place onto the music to identify it rather than the music as a representation of what people like.  I wonder how much people would listen to "other" music if we didn't have labels on the genres and we didn't push specific sections in the CD store (which I think was more influential on doing a "labeling" than iTunes.  But, if we hadn't had these sections and we had to sift through everything and listen to everything on any station, would music become one big conglomeration or would it still have distinct features that connected certain songs/artists? I wonder how good this would have been. . . 

Gangsta Rap

http://rap.about.com/od/genresstyles/p/GangstaRap.htm

Another article that I came by while doing research.  This article was one that I actually had thought about when I was watching the Byron Hurt documentary and realized that he based his definition of "rap" under the heading of "gangsta rap".  In his documentary he identified the idea that all rappers are under the hypermasculine ideas of sexuality.  Because of this, I know that my paper will be revolving around "Gangsta Rap" females because they are the ones who predominate.  The reason for their predominance is that industry knows gangsta rap sells and, thus, they have someone who can sell from that perspective.  Yet, the female rapper also has her body as a sheet to construct an identity upon.  Her sexuality becomes a buttress to the "gangsta" image.  She, from supposedly living in the city and having a rough life, has learned to use her "body" in ways that females who weren't impoverished hadn't.  I don't agree with this idea per se but I think that it is the way that Industry ties into selling the female gangsta Rapper.  

Worlding of Rap

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/reviews/2004-12-09-where-youre-at_x.htm

I was doing a little searching on Rap and Hip-Hop and came across this review of a travelogue about one man who went to various countries and studied how rap has been used by many of the impoverished or underprivileged as an outlet.  Although other music has been used in such a way, I did find it interesting that the first line states how "Americans take hip-hop for granted" or, more specifically, that we assume Hip-Hop is uniquely American.  After I got to thinking about this (something I have thought about before), I realized that I have had that same impression of Hip-Hop but I think now I am starting to see it as a larger genre than an "american" one.  

For example, in my Representing Islam course, we listened to a rap group from Lebanon who utilized rap as a social awareness outlet.  Which, of course, Rappers used to do.  I think this use of rap in such a context is showing the roots of what rap is supposed to be and how the industry has utilized and constructed what it is now for money making.  Many artists used to focus on the social issues of the time and now it is almost unheard of for an artist to--and, if they do, it becomes an abnormality in the genre.  I think this is something that we need to reconstruct and incorporate back into rap music. 

A little on my ideas of Rap

I figure an important aspect of defining the term "Rap" is to actually contextualize what I think rap is.  The reason that this defining becomes important is because, although I am researching the genre, my definition will still cause me to filter out certain artists and certain songs. 

Rap is, to me: 

1. Lyrics that have some type of connected meaning.  Although the rapper may not necessarily intend a specific, deeper meaning, all the lyrics usually flow from one to the next logically. 

2. The beat is usually very "bass" and it usually has more momentum.  Rap, I believe, is a genre meant to not only listen to but to dance and actually enjoy and thus the bass and rhythm become extremely important. 

3. I'll admit that I put rap more in the context of African-Americans rather than other races/ethnicities.  I don't do this purposely but I think that the dominant purveyors of the genre have been African Americans. 

4.  Pretty much anything can be touched on in Rap.  It has a context that allows more than just one specific idea to come forth. 

What is Rap?

The first major question that I need to identify and term that I need to define is "Rap" (which, in this case, also incorporates the term "Hip-Hop").  Where exactly does the term come from? 

Rap, denotatively, means: a quick blow, the sound produced by such a blow, a talk or discussion 

Although these are merely a few of the multiple meanings of the term, I definitely had one idea that I thought correlated between this definition and the actual music itself. 

If you think in terms of rap as a quick blow and use this "blow" as a metaphorical idea of singing into a microphone.  Then, "the sound" produced almost becomes not the actual lyrics but the beat behind the blow.  When many rappers are actually creating a song, they utilize the beat's rhythm and make sure that it is in time with their lyrics.  Then the production of a "blow" and its "sound" is produced.  

Rap, under the denotative meaning, also reinforces the idea that it is lyrical fighting.  Although this fighting has occurred physically at some points, it still is a type of lyrical fighting.  Thus, the definition of the term reflects somewhat the connotations of the term.  (Which starts to question which is first connotations or denotations. . . but that is for another time)

A bit more planning

After thinking about my paper, reading the comments on my review, and planning out what I want to study, I have finally arrived at a bit more conclusive ideas about where I am going with my end result: 

I. Rap as a genre

What does being a rapper mean?

What makes a "rap song"? 

What is the identity surrounding the rapper? 

II.  Rap as a context

If a rapper has a specific identity then who are those that can destruct this identity and still be argued to be a rapper? 

III.  Women within the context of Rap

What are the tropes of being a female rapper? 

Do female rappers have the same identity as male rappers or do they have to present themselves in a different way? 

IV. Actual Female Rappers

Each of the questions about female rappers and the tropes of being a female rapper will be identified and exemplified through actual female rappers

V. Concluding evidence of the difference between the "rapper" and the "female rapper"/Overall argument to identify that female rappers, although using the same contextual identity as the male rapper, still have other aspects to their identity that create a new identity to the term 

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.

Covach's Musical Worlding

As I read through Covach's article, the one term that stood out to me was the idea of "musical worlding." Although Covach focuses on Rock, since I am focusing my research on mainstream Hip-Hop/Rap I thought of "musical worlding" in relation to the genre. Before I actually relate his information to my genre, I would like to emphasize that I am focusing on mainstream rap because for me it has been the easiest to get to. I know many people would argue that it does not represent the rap artist's true ability but, in all honesty, I have little desire to search and search for unknown songs when I have a multitude of ones readily available. With that said: When one listens to the lyrics in rap, one quickly realizes the amount of "referential" material that the artist uses. Specifically in lyrics (although many times in beats), the rap artist builds upon their ideas by alluding to previously released songs by other artists or themselves. One of the prime examples is Trina's "Pull Over" that came out a few years ago. In her song, she uses the line "Sisqo make that song when he see me in a thong . . .". Her reference is to Sisqo's Thong song that had came out before her song. Because of his song's popularity, Trina's lyrics develop in a "world" for the listener. One hears the line then immediately (or in moments) realizes her reference. The allusion adds an almost comical tone to her song while emphasizing a specific idea. Another song that creates this "world" is "Candy Shop" by 50 Cent. In the song, he states "I got the magic stick, I'll be your love doctor". His allusion is a self-referential one. A song that was released from the same album was called magic stick that implied a very sexual connotation. Thus, when he uses this phrase in his later released song, he builds a world for his music. It adds both to his identity as an artist (demonstrating that he knows he had a popular hit with magic stick) while adding a multiple layer to his lyrics (emphasizing his sexual prowess without saying more than a phrase).


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A Few Resources

Tricia Rose, “Voices from the Margins: Rap Music and Contemporary Cultural Production”
Mavis Bayton, “Women Making Music: Some Material Constraints”
Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes. Dir. Byron Hurt. PPS/Independent Lens, 2007.
Popular Music in Theory
Chapter 6: Geographies
Chapter 4: Identities
Brothers Gonna Work It Out: Sexual Politics in the Golden Age of Rap, Cheney
Catching a Wave: Reclaiming Feminism for the 21st Century, Dicker
Check it while I wreck it : Black womanhood, hip-hop culture, and the public sphere, Pough
That’s the joint! : the hip-hop studies reader, Forman
Fly-Girls, Bitches, and Hoes: Notes of a Hip-Hop Feminist, by Joan Morgan
"Where My Girls At?": Negotiating Black Womanhood in Music Videos, by Rana A. Emerson
Craig Watkins, Todd Boyd, Michael Eric Dyson, and Mark Anthony Neal
Rose, Tricia: Black Noise