Representation Hmwrk

I have chosen to talk about women in hip hop and the dismantling of social norms in the music industry...

 The women of hip hop:

Cardi B's new song invasion of privacy seems to be one of the most influential songs written by a women rap artist in this era, but this is all because of the enormous and massive legacy passed on to her by past women hip hop rappers that gave a very big job of living up to. The first time we saw and heard about women rapping and getting involved with the hip hop culture was back in the '80s when hip hop was still very much in the shadows and in the underground. In these eras, the women were often referred to as B-girls or female breakdancers. This lead to eventually allowing B-girls to pick up the mic in a crew, as well as the introduction of crews this also brought in the introduction of rivalry between crews meaning you had to be the best to get any cred. A big name early on for women in hip hop was Roxanne Shante` who was known to say what was on her mind and didn't apologize for it. She would end up challenging whole crews saying what she needed to say. As a battle MC, she believed she could step up to the plate and battle anyone any time anywhere without the fact of fearing anyone and would diss whole crews, she just said whatever was on her mind. Other noticeable MC's were Sha-rock and MC-LYTE which also pushed the boundaries for women in hip hop. Rah Digga said, "you really had to rhyme like the guys to even be taken seriously". Over time, however, the overuse of the female battle rap that had once been popular just became overused and out of date, until eventually, Queen Latifa came into the picture to change that up. As the '90s rolled around female hip hop artists became a sort after thing, with record labels all after them to introduce something new. During this era, we saw big names like Missy Elliot, Lauryn Hill, and Foxy Brown, and many more, but biggest of all Lil Kim adding a new look for the women and bringing in some of the most explicit lyrics yet to be heard from females. This actually played a massive role in how cardi b raps today as this is where she decided to take her inspiration from. Although battle rap had become less popular than it once was, Lil Kim and Foxy Brown brought this back causing big disputes eventually even ending in violence. After the '90s tho there was actually a decline in the number of female rappers until the surfacing of Nicki Minaj which came with the same style, lyrical prowess, and hypersexuality that Lil Kim came with. 

Dismantling gender roles in Hip-hop:

The idea of hyper-masculinity and the idea that you have to be hard' has been one of the most common and biggest staples of hip-hop ever since it started up. Back in 1990 when "Your struggling" by boogie down productions was released, it attacked black men who displayed feminine qualities and used homophobic terms and slang to bring them down, it often comes through in a lot of our most favorites including Tupac, Migos, biggie smalls, Ice cube/ N.W.A, etc...etc... This has forced a change in rap with people rapping almost how they view gender in a more gender-fluid light, making their lyrics more to what feels right rather than the sometimes harsh stereotypical views and ideas. You see this with a lot more vulnerability in some newer rappers' lyrics, for example, Kendrick Lamar, Tyler the Creator, and Frank ocean.

Here are some articles on the change women have brought to hip hop and how they have created their own style and image:

1.) An article on how women are being accepted in the hip hop genre:

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/is-rap-finally-ready-to-embrace-its-women

2.) Life and Hip-Hop: How women’s role in the industry allows for empowerment, breaking norms:

https://dailybruin.com/2020/11/12/life-and-hip-hop-how-womens-role-in-the-industry-allows-for-empowerment-breaking-norms

These articles talk about how women have had a massive role in the new change of direction that hip hop is taking and how the norms of men being the dominant figures in the hip hop genre are slowly being dismantled and allowing for Women, such as Cardi B, Nicki Minaj, Kehlani, etc... have started to come to the forefront of Rap and Hip Hop and allowing for more female artists to show what they can really do and men aren't the only people who can make a splash in the music industry, especially Hip hop.

3 Women Hip Hop artists from 3 different genres:

The 3 artists I have chosen are Roxxane Shante`, Missy Elliot, and Cardi B. These 3 Women were 3 different artists from the 3 eras of the '80s, '90s, and now present 2000s. They have all changed and influenced each generation to come in different ways and have brought in what they have wanted to change in the Genre of Hip-Hop. 

Roxanne Shante`:

Roxanne Shante` was well known for the way she started the craze of battle rap among women, with some of her most famous music being songs where she is talking smack to other artists, even going as far as to challenge men in these battle raps who she would start, and would almost win all of because of intense and great skill, not being afraid to tell her mind and let others know what she wanted them to know. 

In this music video, we can see her showing her mind and not really holding back as she doesn't mind what others think. We can also see how her music videos are very simple and chilled out without lots of things going on and lots of backup dancers or intense lighting etc... it is simply just her rapping to the beat with cuts of narrative but a mostly performance-based music video.

Missy Elliot:

Missy Elliot was also a well-known woman Hip-Hop artist from the '90s known for her change in the hip-hop genre for women in a massive way, known for her crude and crass lyrics in which she was often challenged on and ridiculed as well as often not being accepted by the media for this change although she was very popular with the public and adding her own spin to the genre and making it into her own. 

One of her more known and popular songs, 'Work it', was a hit as well as changing the whole aspect to music videos with technological advancements allowing her to add to her style with elaborate and different styles. She pioneered the way for new animation to her music videos as well as choreographed dance routines and a different style overall to her music which eventually became the new normal for a music video for women and even men in the genre of Hip-Hop, Rap, and even R&B. 

Cardi B: 

One of the most influential women in Hip-Hop, not just in the music industry but also outside of it adding to fashion aspects and social aspects and being a topic of discussion for many media outlets, as well as her being a massive public figure that many teenage girls and even young girls to look up to showing them they can just be themselves and not bow down to social systems that confine them to not allow them to express themselves in the way they want. 

Cardi B's new song, 'Up', just newly released was one of the many massive hits she has produced. This Music video, however, also not being the only one, is shown in a classic Cardi B image with the whole very revealing clothing and crass and crude lyrics, this may be her trying to represent that society shouldn't confine women to a certain set of rules for their clothing and how to speak. This was also brought forth by her interest in Missy Elliot from a young age, with her saying she was a big influence on her now style and image, and how she wanted to present herself in her music and style choice. Along with this, she is also often depicted in her videos with a lot of men and women dancing as well as a lot of risque dancing and moves to give off a very sexual vibe and again changing the whole idea and image of women in Hip-Hop now in this generation.