We have learned a lot about gender and sexuality this past week in class but one topic that stood out to me was the discussion of how it plays out within women rappers. For example, this past class we analyzed Cardi B and her language within her song “Get Up 10”. We discussed all the components to her song and how she uses both femininity and masculinity within the song itself. I found it interesting how in the song Cardi uses sirens and high volume bass in the background of the song to create a dangerous effect. I found this interesting because of how usually sirens and high volume bass is displayed in a male rappers song because to the public eye the dangers of police sirens can only be associated with a individual who is male because of how women are categorized as good and innocent. The other part that was interesting to me was how she used a aggressive bass in the background as she rapped, which is again associated with male rappers because of how much aggression is increased when adding that aspect to the song. It seems to be that Cardi would have to provide these particular aspects to the song in order for those influenced by the rap world to take her serious instead of just seeing her as her gender and thinking low of her. At the same time Cardi still rapped about her being a women and her sexuality as she came from using her body to make money to using her words and personality. It also reminded me about how in “The Real Hip Hop” where Morgan wrote about Medusa did that same. “Medusa is an MC who uses sexual references that maintain focus on herself as a lyricist rather than a sexual object”. Within her song, Cardi did the same as she rapped about what she has been through in her life while still using sexual references to get her point across.

I heard this song before but never thought about the contexts of it this thoroughly. I’m glad I got to look at one of my favorite artist and hope to analyze sexuality within other songs I listen to. 🙂