I decided to write my blog post on the overpowering roles of gender and sexuality are displayed in today’s music. If you turn to a channel such as MTVU that actually plays music video’s you’ll see how our culture is absorbed into over sexualizing ourselves and the roles that society believes that genders ought to take. This is very prevalent in rap and hip-hop music videos where the male rapper is displayed in such a way that he’s desired by so many women. The male rapper appears to have such an abundance of women that he pretends that he doesn’t even care for them.
I began to notice this trend in a lot or early hip-hop songs mainly featuring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, 2pac and Nate Dogg. These songs referred to women in derogatory terms such as “bitch” or “hoe”, showing disrespect for the women that apparently desire them. These rappers continue to rap about their ventures with these women yet show them absolutely no respect. This is ironic because a lot of these rappers actually have wives and children yet rap about all the women they have relations with. Snoop Dogg is often quoted in his early songs saying “we don’t love you hoes”, meaning that he has an abundance of women who he has no desire for other than to use them in a demeaning way. They often talk about how if they actually treat their women properly that they won’t have any money for their drugs and alcohol. This puts treating women properly as one of their last priorities.
Today’s rap music values really aren’t as different from the ones in the 90’s by Snoop Dogg and rappers. The rappers are still shown rapping in their music videos with dozens of half-naked women grinding up on them. The women walk around these music videos pouring champagne or doing whatever the rappers want them to do. The roles of men and women would never be reversed if the rapper was female. A music video wouldn’t show a woman rapping with men all around her doing whatever she wants. It’s just the way that gender is portrayed in rap music videos.
I really like the way how you presented this topic. I agree with you 100%. Music videos and rap songs tend to be about sex, women, or drugs, instead of something more rightful. The way they use women in their songs is definitely very offensive and can be very disturbing to many. Also, I like how you stated that some of the rappers have wives and children but still rap about sex and getting with women. I don't understand why this is, especially since they want to be role models for their children. However, it is all about the consumer these days, especially in the music industry.
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