Hip Hop Feminism in a State of Flux
If someone is involved in hip hop and wants to be part of hip hop activism and the hip hop culture as it relates to both women and men, he or she can justifiably claim to be a hip hop feminist. People who are passionate about improving the situations of the hip hop communities can call themselves hip hop feminists. Those who perpetuate racism and sexism do not have the right to claim hip hop feminism. Male rappers, like Nelly, who actively degrade women of color through their lyrics and music videos, cannot claim to be hip hop feminists in any way. I agree with Pough; it is more than just living the hip hop life, but being involved in the hip hop life and culture and what is happening in one’s community. Other more privileged men and women who only seek to take away agency from true hip hop feminists cannot be hip hop feminists either. Such people are encouraged to be allies, but cannot take the voice away from the marginalized who have finally found a space to speak in as hip hop feminists. However, as Kimala Price writes, “the term ‘hip-hop feminist’ is in a state of flux� (391), it is continually changing and evolving to encompass other definitions. At some point in the future, we may need to erase and “re-draw� the lines that we are currently drawing to define who can and who cannot be a hip hop feminist.
Comments
Excellent response. Very good of the readings, very passionate defense and extension of the debate!! But we still have to be concerned about get into authenticity debates, who determines what "real hip hop feminist." Perhaps that is also contingent upon space, politics, and different communities of struggle.
Posted by: Zenzele | February 11, 2009 3:43 PM
Excellent response. Very good of the readings, very passionate defense and extension of the debate!! But we still have to be concerned about get into authenticity debates, who determines what "real hip hop feminist." Perhaps that is also contingent upon space, politics, and different communities of struggle.
Posted by: Zenzele | February 11, 2009 3:43 PM
I completely agree.
I think that to be a hip hop activist you have to do more than just listen to the music because, as we have learned, hip hop is more than just a musical genre, it is a culture in itself. The reason it is necessary to draw these lines between who is or isn’t a hip hop feminist is because, like you brought up with the Nelly example, not all people within the hip hop culture even exemplify the core values necessary to call themselves a hip hop feminist. Hip hop feminism is not only about gender and identity politics, but takes on all issues that relate to power struggle in general, all of those intersecting inequalities that we discussed in class on Thursday.
Another reason that it is so important to draw the line between someone who just listens to hip hop and someone who views hip hop as a way of life, is as Gwen Pough said herself, “These people�, (the ones who condemn hip hop for its glorification of drugs or refer to the young hip hop generation as a “lost generation�), “These people have no clue that Hip-Hop is not rap, while rap is definitely a part of Hip-Hop. They probably don’t know that rap is the music and Hip-Hop is the culture.� (“That’s the Joint� pg 283) Unless you live the culture and use hip hop asthetics to help raise consciousness of the issues and intersecting forms of oppression that affect the hip hop generation, than you probably are not, and should not, be considered a hip hop feminist.
Posted by: Caitlin | February 12, 2009 2:39 AM