Buckstine_AB Midterm
Hannah Buckstine
Jessica Pabón
WOM324
3/12/18
Annotated Bibliography for Hip Hop Feminism Wikipedia Page
Balaji, Murali. “Vixen Resistin’: Redefining Black Womanhood in Hip-Hop MusicVideos.” Journal of Black Studies, vol. 41, no. 1, 2010. pp. 5-20. JSTOR. Web. 10 Mar. 2018.
Through the analysis of Melyssa Ford’s career as a “video vixen,” Balaji explores the ways in which female models in hip hop music videos utilize a sense of agency in order to negotiate their roles within hip hop culture. The author argues that Black women in music videos have the ability to harness their sexuality as a form of political resistance to the very hegemonic structures that seek to oppress them, namely, capitalistic industries headed by straight, cis, white, males. As Balaji indicates, historically, the music industry has played a significant role in the othering of Black women by reducing them to no more than fragmented body parts that are the presumed property of the male hip hop artist starring in the music video. In turn, Balaji highlights the necessity that the resistance employed by music video models must take place within the context of today’s hierarchical system of social domination, and therefore may be unsuccessful in presenting a liberated self if not executed correctly. However, through the careful calculation of self-presentation in music videos and in the music industry at large, it is possible for music video models to subvert objectification and benefit from their own commodification.
Belle, Crystal. “From Jay-Z to Dead Prez: Examining Representations of Black Masculinity in Mainstream Versus Underground Hip-Hop Music.” Journal of Black Studies, vol. 45, no. 4, 2014. pp. 287-300. JSTOR. Web. 10 Mar. 2018.
Belle conveys how diverse representations of Black men in hip hop culture work to both uphold and subvert white hetero-patriarchal meanings surrounding Black masculinity. The author utilizes the ideological framework of Imani Perry, which casts hip hop culture as an opportunity for open discourse, in order to explore the ways in which hip hop allows for the simultaneous perpetuation and destruction of certain gendered and racialized stereotypes. Belle’s argument is exemplified through rappers Jay-Z and Dead Prez by noting the differences between these two portrayals of Black masculinity. While Jay-Z’s performance of masculinity serves to satisfy white hetero-patriarchal definitions, Dead-Prez’s presentation offers an overt challenge to the very same expectations. Belle identifies this discrepancy as the source of Jay-Z’s mainstream success, and in comparison, Dead Prez’s underground success. For popular hip hop artists, such as Jay-Z, the adherence to damaging expectations of race, class, and gender allows for the accumulation of profit and status. In the case of Dead Prez and similar underground hip hop artists, subversion of the white gaze results in exclusion from the dominant sphere. Although these underground artists may not profit monetarily to the extent that those in mainstream hip hop do, they benefit from the destabilization of hip hop as a dominantly white supremacist, capitalist space.
Cosimini, Seth. “’I’m a Motherfuckin Monster!’: Play, Perversity, and Performance of Nicki Minaj.” Feminist Formations, vol. 29, no. 2, 2017. pp. 47-68. JHU. Web. 10 Mar. 2018.
Cosimini deconstructs the performative play of Nicki Minaj in order to reveal how Minaj, as a Woman of Color in the hip hop industry, utilizes prescribed subjectivities of Black femininity in order to construct her own identity within the industry. Drawing on hegemonic hermeneutics, the author argues that Minaj’s performance of socially constructed definitions, specifically, the hyper-heterosexuality and monstrosity of Black women, allow her to destabilize expectations of Black women in hip hop. As Cosimini explains, Nicki Minaj takes on multiple identities as part of her self-presentation. She uses an identification with Barbie in order to perform characteristics of idealized femininity. In turn, her alternate self-presentation as monstrous results in a contradiction of self-presentation. In continuity with her monstrosity, Minaj’s claim to bisexuality presents a challenge to Minaj’s heterosexualization, thus queering her position in structures of hegemonic power. Cosimini details how Minaj’s contradictory presentations as “a monstrous queer Barbie” are acted out in her music videos through lyrical and visual performance, as well as in interviews and interactions with the public sphere. As a result, Cosimini reveals how Nicki Minaj gives herself the power to attack dominant notions of acceptable Black female subjectivity.
Utley, Ebony and Menzies, Alisha. “Show Some Love: Youth Responses to ‘Kiss Me Thru The Phone.’” Women & Language, vol. 32, no. 2, 2009. pp. 68-77. EBSCO. Web. 10 Mar. 2018.
Utley and Menzies draw connections between hip hop culture and definitions of love by exploring how youth of color interpret messages in Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em’s music video, “Kiss Me Thru the Phone.” The authors first note how common representations of love in hip hop culture are problematic because they create a “love ethic of exchange” when portraying heterosexual relationships. This exchange ethic is constructed through a sense of femiphobia felt and enacted by men in hip hop as a response to damaging images of women as gold-diggers who will trade sex for monetary and social gain. In order to expand on hip hop’s potential to construct alternate social definitions, Utley and Menzies conduct surveys with ninety-five people of color between the ages of fourteen and twenty-five. The findings of their research reveal that despite the aforementioned music video’s portrayal of some stereotypical aspects of heteronormative gender, the overall reaction of survey participants suggests that positive representations of love are achievable within the context of hip hop culture. Participants’ definitions of love draw on popular culture as well as their own lived experiences, and the authors therefore emphasize how love is constructed within the specific social conditions of youth of color. It is because of this that Utley and Menzies recognize hip hop’s role in providing lasting representations for the youth generation.
Summary
When considering the representation of historically marginalized identities in hip hop culture, scholars have recognized the potential for hip hop to provide a space of empowerment, while at the same time, reproducing oppressive stereotypes of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Through the analysis of work by Crystal Belle, Murali Balaji, Seth Cosimini, and Ebony Utley and Alisha Menzies, it can be posited that media representation and self-presentation of identity exist within a space of constantly fluctuating conflict; a space in which the right to definition is negotiated between industry actors who seek liberation, profit, and societal status.
As conveyed by the authors, who controls the images being presented in hip hop culture plays a key role in determining the content’s potential for liberation and oppression. Belle addresses this issue when noting how the mainstream hip hop industry draws on white patriarchal constructions of masculinity in order to profit from the artistic expression of Black men. A telling aspect of Belle’s argument lies in her description of Jay-Z’s movement from subcultural hip hop to the mainstream. Belle places emphasis on the fact that the political content of Jay-Z’s music shifted as he gained popularity. While he may still include nuanced allusions to the social oppression of people of color, Jay-Z’s lyrics have been watered down in a sense in order to remain appealing to dominant culture. This fact leads to the question of who has had a hand in the production of Jay-Z’s more recent music. Because the music industry, like most industrial producers of popular culture, is dominated by cis, white, straight men, it can be suggested that the voices of artists occupying marginal social locations are being silenced, and recreated in the image of their own oppression.
A similar concern is expressed by Balaji when he explores how Black women are represented in hip hop music videos. Certainly, it can be suggested that the overt objectification of women’s bodies in the hip hop industry is a response to dominant audiences’ identifications as heterosexual males. With heterosexual men also dominating spheres of production in hip hop, a sort of “by us for us” scenario is created through the presentation and commodification of women’s bodies. However, Balaji presents an alternative viewpoint in reference to Melyssa Ford’s performance in music videos. The author’s analysis of Ford’s self-presentation within the hip hop industry suggests that the music video model has taken an active role in controlling her own media representation. Despite fulfilling several aspects of the heterosexual male fantasy, Ford uses her sexuality in music videos as a source of political agency and self-definition. Ford’s careful navigation between heteronormative expectations and empowering representations of Black femininity suggest that women of color in hip hop must satisfy certain oppressive social norms in order to maintain their agency and right to self-definition. Ford’s utilization of this strategy has allowed her a highly successful career as a music video model. Not only has she benefitted monetarily from structures that attempt (and fail) to seek propriety over her body, but she has subverted such structures, thus creating a space of political resistance for women of color in hip hop culture.
In order to understand Ford’s negotiation of her own representation, it is important to recognize the specific social conditions under which she constructs a hip hop identity. Cosimini’s analysis of Nicki Minaj provides insight to this topic. As Cosimini notes, there are set sexual subjectivities available to women of color when existing within the sphere of dominant, and therefore white supremacist, culture. By occupying the identities that have been historically ascribed to her body, but doing so by way of deliberate perversity, Minaj is able to exercise a degree of power over how she is represented in media. Her deconstruction of such identities presents a challenge to cisheteropatriarchy, and allows for the redefinition of stereotypical notions of Black womanhood. Similarly to the performances of both Jay-Z and Melyssa Ford, Nicki Minaj observes her position within the larger context of hegemonic oppression, and uses this consciousness as a form of social capital, thus allowing her to barter with systems of cultural production.
The reason this social bartering matters is because in today’s society, hip hop culture is no longer pushed to the margins. It is in fact a producer of dominant culture. As Utley and Menzies prove, meanings presented through hip hop are internalized and reproduced by those who engage with hip hop culture. The participants in Utley and Menzies’ study revealed that they actively drew upon hip hop culture’s representations of love in order to describe what love meant to them. As youth of color, and therefore, an underrepresented group in popular culture, these participants rely on spaces where people of color are represented in order to make meaning of themselves and society. It is because of this that it is vital for hip hop culture to recognize its own power in constructing knowledge. If the historically marginalized identities presented in hip hop culture were to subvert oppressive stereotypes, it could be possible for the eradication of these definitions all together. In order to achieve this, it is crucial that both mainstream and underground producers of hip hop culture continue to challenge the hegemonic structures that seek to control their representations. In doing so, new meanings may be created, and the social landscape of popular culture may look dramatically different.