Post-Reading Questions Week Twelve

I believe that Lupe Fiasco’s “Bitch Bad” does show a good example of hip-hop that attempts to be more critically conscious, but at the same time it also supports the reasons why women would think that feminism necessary. The song “Bitch Bad” tells a story about the lives of a young girl and boy and how they use and view the word bitch. In the first act, the boy is in the car with his mother listening to her sing along to the lyrics and calling herself a “bad bitch”. In the second act, three young girls are watching a typical rap music video on a laptop and then one of the girl’s starts dancing and mimicking the moves of the video vixen. The two then grow up to have different views on the word “bitch”. The boy associates the word with his mother’s strong role as an independent woman, while the girl relates the word to her sexual appeals.

In the song Lupe says that he’s not “usin “bitch” as a lesson, but as a psychological weapon to set in your mind and really mess with your conceptions, directions, reflections, it’s clever misdirection.” In my opinion, Lupe does a great job of making us think whether the boy or the girl has the right meaning on the word “bitch”. Nowadays the word “bitch” can be misunderstood because it can be used negatively or positively. I believe that the boy has a better understanding on the word than the girl because he was taught by his mom rather than learning from rap music video. The boy was taught that a “bad bitch” was like his mom, strong and independent. The girl grew up copying the dancers from the music videos and coming to an understanding that a “bad bitch” is someone who has sex appeal.

While showing a good example of conscious hip-hop, at the same time Lupe also demonstrates that women should be set in a hierarchy when he says, “Bitch bad, women good, lady better”. After watching the music video I now understand why feminist activist would be against this song. The song makes it seem like Lupe’s understanding of the term “bitch” is exactly like the other rappers; females dressed in skin tight revealing outfits and shaking their asses. People would think this because he says a bitch is bad and also in the music video the girl calls her self a “bad bitch” while dressed in low cut “booty” shorts and looking provocative.

The word “bitch” can be used in many different ways causing confusion of whether or not Lupe Fiasco is using it in a conscious way. I believe that he is not using it in a way where female are being misrepresented, but instead he using word play to make us think under the surface.

Words: 471

Pre-Reading Questions Week Twelve

        I believe that hip hop can be used to further social justice up to a certain extent. Hip hop started out as an “artistic expression of, and a way to survive, on-going poverty and social disenfranchisement”, but now it’s more than that. Nowadays all rappers talk about in their lyrics is money, getting girls, and more money; you don’t really hear about the struggles that had to deal with before all the wealth. I believe that hip hop is now seen as more of a tool for critique than social justice because of the music videos and the violence in the lyrics. Everyone watches music videos, whether if it is their favorite song or if it is just a good editing for the video. The audience normally judges the artist in the video because they are dressed weird sometimes, for example Nikki Minaj or Flavor Flav.

I think that hip hop could be used as a powerful tool for activism because of the large fan base, but I do not think it is more useful than other music genres because all types of music have its own meaning and its own crowd of listeners. For example, Ac/Dc is an older well known rock band that also has a large fan base, but their lyrics are about doing drugs and having sex. Regardless of how provocative the lyrics can be, there will always be fans and followers.

Common is one of the many hip hop artists that I listen to. There is more to his songs than just beats, but there is deep meaning and it delivers a powerful message as well. For example, the song “The People” talks about the people of Common’s hometown and how he can affect people’s lives by his music. If you look at the lyrics, there is neither cussing nor does he talks about killing or doing drugs and yet this is one of his most heard songs. Rap can still be expressed in a conscious matter and still get the message across without violence and drugs.

Pre-Reading Questions Week Eleven

I believe that hip hop as a lot to do with race, class, and social justice. Hip hop was not created by the rich, but it was created in the Bronx of New York. It has come along way since then. When I first started listening to hip hop the rappers would talk about their constant struggles through life in their lyrics, but nowadays some of the lyrics doesn’t even make any sense; as long as it has a good beat, it’s a hit. 2 Chainz is a perfect example of this. His song No Lie is one of the most out played song on the radio, but if people have not noticed his lyrics doesn’t make any sense. “I am smoking on that gas, life should be on Cinemax Movie…” the ridiculousness goes on, but you get my point. I don’t think that hip hop is aimed at any particular race. Although the majority of the rappers are black, their fans are diverse. I believe that people see hip hop as problematic not because of the lyrics, but because of the rappers themselves and their reputation. For example Tupac and Biggie Smalls, people say they are two of the greatest rappers of all time, regardless of how many times they have been in and out of jail and of their deaths due to gang relations. I do believe that it is really up to the listener, people should really listen to the lyrics of the rapper and understand the hardships they had to go through to get to where they are at.

After watching that clip from Chris Rock, I agree with what he says, “in the old days it was easy to defend rap music, it was easy to defend it on an intellectual level, you can break it down intellectually…Houdini was art, Grand Master Flex was art…I love all the rappers today, but its hard to defend this shit, its hard to defend “I got hoes in different area codes”.”  Chris Rock also mentions that the government hates rap. “if they can find Sadam Hussein in a hole, and they cant find out who shot Tupac?” I find this is very true; Tupac’s murder case till this day is still unsolved. This could be all one’s opinion, but if you look at it from their point of view, race does play a huge role in the hip hop culture. 

Words: 405