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WHO(SE) AM I? The Identity and Image of Women in Hip-Hop

◆ Imani Perry

his is an argument for media literacy with regards to gender politics Tin contemporary hip-hop. Specifically, it is concerned with the inter- play of the visual and linguistic texts, the image and words. I begin by ana- lyzing the recent trend of objectifying and subjugating black women in hip-hop music videos, and their potentially damaging social impact. Next, I consider how feminist recording artists respond to this dynamic. I argue that although we find some clearly gender liberatory images and argu- ments we also find abundant examples in which the feminist message in certain songs is neutralized by an objectifying visual image of the artists singing those songs. This image is often consistent with or supportive of the larger sexist trend in music videos. I compare two versions of the song “Lady Marmalade” to demonstrate how contemporary women recording artists are objectified, and how contemporary musical texts derive some of their meaning from the visual images of the singers. Next, I argue that the tensions between feminism and female subjugation often reflect the ten- sions between artistic creation and record company image making and the artist as creator versus the artist as commodity. In concluding the chapter, I contemplate manners in which artists might use their property in their words to subvert the power of the image. I also encourage critical media literacy among viewers and listeners as a means of understanding the oper- ation of race and gender in this complex landscape.

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◆ Black Women’s Bodies in to them. Or they look at the camera, eyes fixed in seductive invitation, mouth slightly Hip-Hop Videos open. Extremely rare are any signs of thought, humor, irony, intelligence, anger, In the last few years of the 20th century, the or any other emotion. visual image of black women in hip-hop Even the manner in which the women rapidly deteriorated into one of widespread dance is a signal of cultural destruction. sexual objectification and degradation. For Black American dance is “discursive” (in years before, hip-hop had been accused of that sexuality is usually combined with misogyny—critics often citing the refer- humor and the body is used to converse ences to women as bitches and “hoes.” But with other moving bodies). The women it is also true that hip-hop was often scape- who appear in these videos are usually goated, being no more misogynistic than dancing in a two-dimensional fashion, a American popular culture in general derivative but unintellectual version of although perhaps peppered with less polite black dance, more reminiscent of symbols language. But in the late years of the 20th of pornographic male sexual fantasy than century, hip-hop took a particularly perni- of the ritual, conversational, and sexual tra- cious turn, which is not only full of sexist ditions of black dance. Despite all the gyra- assertions but threatens patriarchal impact. tions of the video models, their uninterested It seemed to happen suddenly. Every wet-lipped languor stands in sharp contrast time you turned on BET or MTV there was to (for example) the highly sexualized a disturbing music video. Black men rapped “boodie dancing” of the Deep South surrounded by dozens of black and Latina (which features polyrhythmic rear end women dressed in swimsuits, or scantily movement, innuendo, and sexual bravado). clad in some other fashion. Video after This use of black women in the music video was the same, each one more objecti- videos of male hip-hop artists often makes fying than the next. Some were in strip very clear reference to the culture of strip clubs, some at the pool, beach, hotel rooms, clubs and pornography. Women dance but the recurrent theme was dozens of half- around poles; porn actresses and exotic naked women. dancers are often featured in the videos and This was a complex kind of sexist mes- they bring the movement-based symbols of sage as well. Its attack on black female their trades with them. The introduction of identity was multifaceted. First, and most porn symbols into music videos is consis- obviously, the women are commodified. tent with a larger movement that began in They appear in the videos quite explicitly as the late 1990s, in which pornographic property, not unlike the luxury cars, Rolex imagery, discourses, and themes began to watches, and platinum and diamond enter American popular culture. Powerful medallions that were also featured. The examples may be found in the Howard male stars of the videos do not get these Stern Show, E! Entertainment television, legions of women because of charisma or and daytime talk shows. Stars of porno- sexual prowess. Rather, they are able to graphic films attain mainstream celebrity, buy them because they are wealthy. The exotic dancers are routine talk show guests, message is not, “I am a Don Juan,” but and the public face of lesbianism becomes instead, “I am rich and these are my not a matter of the sexual preference of spoils.” Not only are the women commo- women, but the sexual consumption and dified, but so is sex as a whole. fantasy life of men. The videos are an Moreover, the women are often pre- appropriate companion piece to this wider sented as vacuous, doing nothing but sway- trend. Although the music videos are male ing around seductively. Their eyes are centered in that they assume a heterosexual averted from the camera, thereby allowing male viewer who will appreciate the images the viewer to have a voyeuristic relationship of sexually available young women, it is Dines14.qxd 7/26/02 10:06 AM Page 138

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clear that young women watch them as aligned with class and women are well. The messages such videos send to “created” (i.e., through weaves, pale young women are instructions on how to makeup, and camera filters) and valued by be sexy and how to look in order to capture how many fantasy elements have been the attention of men with wealth and pieced together in their bodies. charisma. Magazines geared toward young women have given such instructions on how women should participate in their own The Impact of the Image ◆ objectification for decades. However, never before has a genre completely centralized black women in this process.1 Although one might argue that the celebra- The beauty ideal for black women pre- tion of the rotund behind signals an appre- sented in these videos is as impossible to ciation of black women’s bodies, the image achieve as the waif-thin models in Vogue taken as a whole indicates how difficult a magazine are for white women. There beauty ideal this is to attain for anyone. is a preference for lighter-complexioned A small percentage of women, even women of color, with long and straight or black women, have such “Jessica Rabbit” loosely curled hair. Hair that hangs slick (the voluptuous cartoon character from against the head when wet as the model the 1990s film Who Framed Roger emerges out of a swimming pool (a com- Rabbit?) proportions. As journalist Tomika mon video image) is at a premium too. Anderson wrote for Essence magazine, “In Neither natural tightly curled hair nor most movies, rap songs and on television, we’re coarse relaxed hair becomes slick, shining, told that the attractive, desirable and sexy and smooth when wet. It is a beauty ideal ladies are the ones with ‘junk in their that contrasts sharply to the real hair of trunks.’ And even though this might seem most black women. When brown-skinned ridiculous, some of us actually listen to (and or dark-skinned women appear in the care about) these obviously misogynistic videos, they always have hair that falls well subliminal messages—just as we are below shoulder length, despite the fact that affected by racialized issues like hair texture the average length of black women’s nat- and skin tone.”3 ural hair in the United States today is 4 to Americans have reacted with surprise to 6 inches, according to renowned black hair- abundant social scientific data that show stylist John Atchison. that black girls are the social group who The types of bodies that the camera score highest on self-esteem assessments shots linger on are specific. The videos have and tend to have much better body images assimilated the African American ideal of than white girls. Although these differences a large rotund behind, but the video ideal in esteem and body image are to a large also features a very small waist, large extent attributable to cultural differences, breasts, and slim shapely legs and arms. with black girls having been socialized Often while the camera features the faces of to see beauty in strong personality charac- lighter-complexioned women it will linger teristics and grooming rather than in parti- on the behinds of darker women, implying cular body types, I believe the media play a the same thing as the early 1990s refrain role as well. White girls are inundated with from Sir Mix a Lot’s “Baby Got Back” that images of beauty that are impossible for lauded the face of a woman from Los most to attain: sheets of blond hair, waif- Angeles and the behind of a woman from thin bodies, large breasts, no cellulite, small Oakland. That is, the ideal is a high-status but round features, high cheekbones. Over face combined with a highly sexualized the years, black women have been relatively body (which is often coded as the body of a absent from public images of beauty, an poor or working-class woman).2 Color is exclusion that may have saved black girls Dines14.qxd 7/26/02 10:06 AM Page 139

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from aspiring to impossible ideals. But with and stylish image but never is presented the recent explosion of objectified and in an objectifying manner. She uses highly idealized images of black women in bizarreness to entice rather than being a music videos, it is quite possible that the sexpot (appearing in one video in an outfit body images and even self-esteem of black that resembled a silver balloon before a fun- girls will begin to drop, particularly as they house mirror). Although Missy Elliot may move into adolescence and their bodies not be distinctive for brilliant rhyming, she come under scrutiny. Many of the music has a noteworthy acumen for making hit videos feature neighborhood scenes, which songs as a producer and rapper, and she include children. In them, little black girls consistently maintains her personal dignity. are beautiful. They laugh, smile, play Alicia Keys, one of the crop of new Double Dutch, and more. They are full of singer songwriters who fit into the hip-hop personality, and they are a cultural celebra- nation, also presents an image that con- tion. Their hair is plaited, twisted or curled, trasts sharply with the video models. The and adorned with colorful ribbons that classically trained pianist, who has claimed match their outfits in characteristic black Biggie Smalls and Jay Z among her music girl grooming style. And yet the adult influences, appeared in her first music video women are generally two dimensional and for the song “Fallin” in a manner that was robbed of personality. Is this what puberty stylish and sexy but decidedly not self- is supposed to hold for these girls? exploiting. Her hair in cornrows, wearing a leather jacket and fedora, she sings with visible bluesy emotion. She describes ◆ A Feminist Response? repeatedly falling in love with a man who is not good for her. In the music video, Keys travels by bus to visit the man in prison. In such troubling moments, we should all This element is an important signifier of look for a gender critical voice, in the hip-hop sensibilities, as it is the one art form world, in ourselves. Where do we find a that consistently engages with the crisis of response to this phenomenon that will black imprisonment and considers impris- compellingly argue against such characteri- oned people as part of its community. As zations of black women, a hip-hop femi- she rides in the bus, she gazes at women nism? There has been a feminist presence in prisoners working in a field outside the hip-hop since the 1980s. From Salt n Pepa window. They sing the refrain to the song, to Queen Latifah to MC Lyte and others, “I keep on fallin’ in and out, of love with there is a feminist legacy in hip-hop and you. I never loved someone the way I love hip-hop feminism continues to exist despite you.”4 The women on the bus riding to visit the widespread objectification of black men in prison mirror the women outside of female bodies. We can find numerous exam- the bus, who are prison laborers. This ples of feminist and antisexist songs in hip- visual duality is a commentary on the prob- hop and hip-hop soul. Mary J. Blige, lem of black female imprisonment, a prob- Lauryn Hill, Destiny’s Child, Missy Elliot, lem that is often overlooked in discussions Erykah Badu, and others all have their indi- about the rise of American imprisonment vidual manners of representing black and black imprisonment in particular. It female identity and self-definition. makes reference both to the fact that many Missy transgresses gender categories black women are the mates of men who are with her man-tailored suits and her fre- imprisoned and to the reality that many quent presence as narrator of the action in black women wind up in prison because of the music videos of male hip-hop artists, an being unwittingly or naively involved with extremely rare location for a woman. Missy men who participate in illegal activities.5 is a large woman who presents a glamorous These social ills are poignantly alluded to in Dines14.qxd 7/26/02 10:06 AM Page 140

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the video by a close-up of a stone-faced Arie’s definition of hip-hop as honest woman in prison clothing with a single tear self-expression is true to the ideology that rolling down her cheek. was at the heart of hip-hop at its beginnings Another critical example of a black fem- and that continues to be a concept pro- inist space in the hip-hop world is found in fessed to by multitudes of hip-hop artists. singer songwriter India.Arie. A young However, that element of hip-hop is in ten- brown-skinned and dreadlocked woman, sion with the process of celebrity creation. she burst upon the music scene with her The “honest” words in hip-hop exist in a song and companion music video “Video,” swamp of image making. It is not enough to which is a critique of the image of women examine the clear and simple feminist pres- in videos. In the refrain, Arie tells listeners ences in hip-hop; we must consider the that she’s not the type of woman who murkier ones as well. When it comes to appears in music videos, that her body type feminist messages, often the words and lan- is not that of a supermodel but nevertheless guage of a hip-hop song may have feminist she loves herself without hesitation. content but the visual image may be impli- Similar lyrics assert that value is found in cated in the subjugation of black women. intelligence and integrity rather than expen- Unlike the individualistic and expressive sive clothes, liquor, and firearms. The video visuals we have of Arie, Keys, or Elliot, celebrates Arie, who smiles and dances and other artists are often marketed in a manner pokes fun at the process of selecting girls that is quite similar to the way in which for music videos. She rides her bicycle into objectified video models are presented. the sunshine with her guitar strapped across her shoulder. Arie refuses to condemn artists who present a sexy image but has stated that Tensions Between Texts ◆ she will not wear a skirt above calf length on stage and that she will do nothing that will embarrass her family. Musically, although Women hip-hop artists who are self- her sound is folksy soul, she does under- consciously “sexy” in their appearance, stand her work as being related to hip-hop. style, and words have a much more difficult “I’m trying to blend acoustic and hip-hop road in carving out a feminist space in elements,” India explains. “I used the most hip-hop than performers such as Elliot, acoustic-sounding drum samples, to have Keys, and Arie. This is because the lan- something loud enough to compete with guage of sexiness is also the language of other records, but to keep the realistic, sexism in American popular culture in gen- softer feel.”6 eral, and in hip-hop videos in particular. More than the compositional elements, In the first edition of this book, I pub- Arie understands her work as inflected with lished a chapter titled “It’s My Thang and hip-hop sensibilities. She says: I’ll Swing It the Way That I Feel! Sexuality and Black Women Rappers.” In it I argued I don’t define hip-hop the way a record that a feminist space existed in hip-hop company would. The thread that runs where women articulated sexual subjecti- though both my music and hip-hop is vity and desire. I do still believe this is pos- that it’s a very precise expression of my sible. However, when the women who way of life. It’s like blues; it’s very real articulate subjectivity are increasingly pre- and honest output of emotion into a sented in visual media as objects rather than song. Because of that legacy, my genera- subjects, as they are now, then their state- tion now has an opportunity to candidly ment to the world is ambiguous at best, and state our opinions. That’s what my at worst the feminist message of their work album is about. I just wanna be me.7 is undermined. Dines14.qxd 7/26/02 10:06 AM Page 141

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The space a musical artist occupies in and seductive with blond hair and blue eyes. popular culture is multitextual. Lyrics, To be a doll is to be perfect, and as many interviews, music, and videos together cre- times she is replicated, that many male fan- ate a collage, often finely planned, out of tasies will be satisfied. Over several years, which we are supposed to form impres- Kim has become defined more by her par- sions. But the texts may be in conflict with ticipation in codes of pornographic descrip- one another. Lil Kim, the much discussed, tions of woman than by her challenge of critiqued, and condemned nasty-talking concepts of respectability or her explicit bad girl of hip-hop, is a master of shock sexuality. appeal. Her outfits often expose her It is a delicate balance, but it is important breasts, her nipples covered by sequined to distinguish between sexual explicitness pasties that are color coordinated with the and internalized sexism. Although many rest of her attire. Despite Kim’s visual and who have debated the image of female lyrical vulgarity, many of her critics admit sexuality have put “explicit” and “self- to finding her endearing. She is known by objectifying” on one side, and “respectable” her interviewers to be sweet-natured and and “covered-up” on the other, that is a generous. But Lil Kim is a contradiction flawed means of categorization. The nature because although she interviews as vulner- of sexual explicitness is important to con- able and sweet, she raps with a hardness sider, and will be increasingly important as adored by her fans. She has an impressive more nuanced images will present them- aggressive sexual presence, and she has selves. There is a creative possibility for often articulated through words a sexual explicitness to be liberatory because it may subjectivity along with an in-your-face expand the confines of what women are camera presence. However, as Kim has allowed to say and do. We just need to refer developed as an entertainer it is clear that to the history of blues music, which is full of her image is complicit in the oppressive lan- raunchy, irreverent, and transgressive guage of American cinematography with women artists, for examples. However, the regards to women’s sexuality. She has overwhelming prevalence of the Madonna/ adopted a “Pamela Anderson in brown whore dichotomy in American culture skin” aesthetic, calling on pornographic means that any woman who uses explicit tropes, but losing the subversiveness that language or images in her creative expres- was sometimes apparent in her early career. sion is in danger of being symbolically cast Andre Leon Talley of Vogue magazine into the role of whore regardless of what noted her transformation from an “around- liberatory intentions she may have, particu- the-way girl” with a flat chest, big behind, larly if she doesn’t have complete control and jet black (or green, or blue) hair weave, over her image. to the celebrity Kim who shows off breast Let us turn to other examples to further implants and shakes her long blond hair. In explore the tensions between text and her videos, the camera angles exploit her visual image in women’s hip-hop. Eve is sexuality. In the video for the song “How one of the strongest feminist voices in hip- Many Licks,” she appears as a Barbie-type hop today. She rhymes against domestic doll, her body parts welded together in a violence and for women’s self-definition factory. The video is an apt metaphor for and self-reliance. She encourages women her self-commodification and use of white to hold men in their lives accountable female beauty ideals. The video closes off for behavior that is disrespectful or less its own possibilities. The doll factory image than loving. Yet the politics of Eve’s might have operated as a tongue-in-cheek image are conflicted. She has appeared in criticism of image making or white female music videos for songs on which she has beauty standards, but instead it is a serious collaborated with male hip-hop artists. vehicle for Kim to be constructed as beautiful Those videos are filled with the stock Dines14.qxd 7/26/02 10:06 AM Page 142

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legions of objectified video models. Eve is lyricism, has a complicated image. As a dressed provocatively and therefore vali- member of the Fugees, she was often dates the idea of attractiveness exemplified dressed casually, in baggy yet interesting by the models. But she is distinguished from clothes, thoroughly rooted in hip-hop style. these women because she is the star. She is It seems to be no accident that Lauryn Hill dignified and expressive while they are not. became a celebrity, gracing the covers of Her distinction from the other women sup- British GQ, Harper’s Bazaar, and numer- ports their objectification. She is the excep- ous other magazines, only when her sartor- tion that makes the rule, and it is her ial presentation changed. Her skirts got exceptionalism that allows her to have a shorter and tighter, her cleavage more pro- voice. Similar dynamics have appeared in nounced, and her dreadlocks longer. When videos in which hip-hop singer Lil’ Mo has she began to sport an alternative style that been featured. In fact, a number of women nevertheless had mainstream acceptability, hip-hop artists, who claim to be the only she was courted by high-end designers such woman in their crews, to be the one who as Armani. As Lauryn’s image became can hang with the fellas, are making argu- more easily absorbable into the language of ments through their exceptionalization that American beauty culture, her celebrity justify the subjugation of other women, grew. She even appeared on the cover of even the majority of women. Sophisticates Black Hair Styles and Care Moreover, both Eve and Lil Kim often Guide, a black beauty magazine in which speak of the sexual power they have as natural hair is at best relegated to a couple being derived from their physical attractive- of small pictures of women with curly afros ness to men. It is therefore a power granted or afro weaves, while the vast majority of by male desire, rather than a statement of photos are of women with long straight the power of female sexual desire. Although weaves and relaxers. She was certainly neither artist has completely abandoned the one of the few Sophisticates cover models language of empowering female subjectivity ever to have natural hair and the only in her music, any emphasis on power with locks. (Interestingly, the silhouette of granted through being attractive in conven- the locks was molded into the shape of tional ways in this media language limits shoulder-length relaxed hair.) In the issue the feminist potential of their music. In one of British GQ that featured Lauryn as a of the songs in which Eve most explicitly cover model, journalist Sanjiv writes, “She expresses desire, “Gotta Man,” it is a desire could be every woman in a way Chaka for a man that is rooted in his ability to be Khan could only sing about—the decade’s dominant. She describes him as “the only biggest new soul arrival with the looks of a thug in the hood who is wild enough to supermodel and Hollywood knocking at tame me”8 and therefore she is “The her door.”9 Shrew,” willingly stripped of her defiant In September 1999, Lauryn appeared on power by a sexual union. Instead of using the cover of Harper’s Bazaar. The article her aggressive tongue to challenge prevail- inside discussed her community service ing sexist sexual paradigms, she affirms projects, and the cover celebrated her them by saying that she simply needs a man model-like beauty. There was of course who is stronger than most, stronger than something subversive about the cover. she is, to bring everything back to normal. Dark-skinned and kinky-haired Lauryn Hill The tensions present in hip-hop through was beautiful, and the image was ironic. the interplay of the visual and the linguistic, Her locks were styled into the shape of a and the intertextuality of each medium, are Farrah Fawcett flip, a tongue-in-cheek various. Even Lauryn Hill, often seen as hybridization that at once referenced the the redeemer of hip-hop due to her digni- 1970s heyday of unprocessed afro hair and fied, intellectually challenging, and spiritual that era’s symbol of white female beauty, Dines14.qxd 7/26/02 10:06 AM Page 143

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Farrah Fawcett. The hybrid cover is analogous kinds of tensions that might exist between a to the diverse elements used in the creation feminist content in hip-hop lyrics and the of the new in hip-hop. Nevertheless, it is visual image of that artist. To further illus- important to note that Lauryn became trate this point, let us now turn to a com- widely attractive when her silhouette, thin parison that offers a dramatic example of body and big hair, matched that of main- the relationship between visual images and stream beauty. So even as Lauryn has been the message of musical texts. treated as the symbol of black women’s dig- nity and intelligence in hip-hop (and right- ◆ fully so given her brilliant lyricism), she too Comparative Readings of was pulled into the sexist world of image the Creole Prostitute making. Although she has made some pub- lic appearances since cutting off her long hair, getting rid of the make-up, and return- In 2001, a remake of the 1975 LaBelle ing to baggy clothes, publicity about her classic “Lady Marmalade” hit the airwaves. has noticeably dropped.10 Twenty-six years after it was first recorded, In contrast to the image making it once again became a hit. The 2001 ver- of Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu has been sion was performed by a quartet of success- unapologetically committed to the drama of ful young female artists, pop sensation her neo-Afrocentric stylings and therefore Christina Aguilera, R&B singers Pink and has been able to achieve only limited main- Mya, and rapper Lil Kim. Recorded for the stream beauty acceptance. After she shaved soundtrack of the movie Moulin Rouge, a her head and doffed her enormous head postmodern rendering of the famous wrap, and wore a dress that was shaped like Parisian cabaret circa 1899, the song served a ballgown (although in reality it was a as a fantastic commercial for the film. And deconstructed, rough textured “warrior with all those popular songstresses, it was a princess,” as she referred to it, work of art), surefire moneymaker. The cultural impact Joan Rivers named her the best dressed at of the most recent version of “Lady the 2000 Grammys. However she also said, Marmalade,” however, was quite distinct and I paraphrase, that this was the best from that of the original. Badu had ever looked and that Erykah Badu The original version of the song was was such a beautiful woman (rather than sung by a trio of young black women who complimenting the dress or her style). It had recently shed their super sweet name seemed then to be an insinuation that she “The Bluebells,” a fourth member, their was getting the recognition for coming bouffant hairdos, and their chiffon gowns closer to looking “as beautiful as she really for a more radical image as LaBelle. Patti is,” not for truly being the best dressed. In a LaBelle sang the lead on the song penned by 2001 Vogue magazine, Badu was discussed Kenny Nolan and produced by Allen Tous- in an article about how ugliness could be saint. She told a fable about a Creole pros- beautiful and the fine line between the two, titute in New Orleans, Lady Marmalade. making reference to her unusual attire, again Through the rhythm of her voice, Patti was a sign of how disturbing the beauty industry able to transmit Lady Marmalade’s strut finds her unwillingness to fit into standard and attitude. Marmalade turned her con- paradigms of female presentation, even as servative john’s world upside down, and her large hazel eyes and high cheekbones are thereby robbed her exploiter of some of his undeniably appealing to individuals in that power. The song, with the racy lyrics indus try. Voulez vous couchez avec moi, ce soir?” I used the examples of Lil Kim, Eve, was provocative and yet melancholy. And Lauryn Hill, and Erykah Badu, all very despite the fact that LaBelle’s members distinct artists, to draw attention to the purportedly didn’t know the meaning of the Dines14.qxd 7/26/02 10:06 AM Page 144

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French lyrics when they recorded the song, singer, and Lil Kim, the brown-skinned the song had a feminist sensibility about it. rapper with the blond wig and blue contact This was due to Patti’s vocal interpretation lenses. Their hybridity is used for no more and the visual presentation of all of LaBelle. interesting purpose than the reification of They were telling a story of the past in the well-worn and generations-old image of which a woman found a little subversive the whore at the racial crossroads, the las- power, but the storytellers themselves were civious and tragic mulatto who is defined contemporary women, futuristic even. by her sexuality. Lil Kim is the one of Bizarrely adorned, wearing “silver lame the group who ultimately reveals that space suits and studded breastplates” they these women are embodiments of Lady signaled “the death of the traditional three Marmalade. She raps the story in the first girl three gown group.”11 LaBelle were rock person rather than the third. She tells glam stars and they stood outside of stan- listeners that she and her “sisters” are dard paradigms of female sexuality and about the business of using their sexualities objectification. They were somehow in exchange for material goods from men. women’s movement women, black power The racial and gender politics of the video women, and transgressive women at once. are supportive of historic racist imagery of Patti brought the listener of the song to a women of color. Moulin Rouge is filled with corner in Storyville, the historic sex district white stars, yet “Lady Marmalade,” the in New Orleans. She told the story of a song that introduces the movie, is racialized sister there, and made that listener feel the as black, being a hip-hop and R&B cre- energy and melancholy of the Creole pros- ation. The song advertises the film but its titute, sympathize with her, recognize her blackness is not central to the film’s imagi- power. Yet Patti escaped being cast into nation. While the singers reflect the status Marmalade’s position herself. In 2001, the of the movie’s star as a courtesan, dancer, singers of the song “Lady Marmalade” did and singer, the politics of race and sex not tell Marmalade’s legendary story— automatically locate them in a lower- rather, they became her. That process of status position than that of the star of the embodying the Creole prostitute occurred film. The degradation of black female space largely through the visual representation of simultaneously with the use of black dis- the song in the music video, which received courses to define mainstream sexuality is a huge amount of airplay on MTV and nothing new in American culture. The film BET, and one live performance. is not alone in playing that game. But that In the video, the four women are attired this version hearkens so closely to the fate in vintage style elaborate lingerie and dance of the Creole woman in relationship to about in rooms that look like the images of white women in Louisiana history, socially bordello boudoirs we have seen in film defined as prostitute rather than lady, before. This embodiment had no subversive through everything from antimiscegenation elements but instead was a glamorization of laws and quadroon balls to cultures of con- a turn-of-the-century image of prostitution. cubinage, is particularly troubling. It claims to Moreover, the diversity and hybridity of the be, and symbolically is, 1899 all over again. artists are exploited for the sake of the sex- Ironically, the earlier version of the song ual fantasy. There is Christina, blond and was produced by a man, and the later blue eyed, Latina and Irish, who sings version was produced by a black woman, with the trills and moans of black gospel hip-hop phenom Missy Elliot, discussed tradition. There is Mya, whose café au lait earlier. Despite her own feminist presenta- skin and long curling hair remind us of the tion, she participates in this subjugating song’s description of Lady Marmalade’s image, in a manner analogous to the way in appearance. There is Pink, a white woman which Eve participates in the subjugation with the whiskey voice of a black blues of other women in music videos in which Dines14.qxd 7/26/02 10:06 AM Page 145

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she appears. Elliot’s image in the video as entertainment and normalizes its narrator/madam in the video is free from hegemony with the term “convention,” objectification, but supports the objectifica- that is to say the cinematic practices—of tion of her fellow artists. Moreover, Elliot’s editing, particular uses of narrative own arguably feminist presence is trumped structure, the development of genres, the by the subjugated presence of the others. language of spatial relationships, parti- cular performatory styles of acting—are called conventions because they are rep- ◆ resented somehow to be transcendent or The Colonizer universal, when in fact these practices and Colonized are based on a history of imperialism and violence.13

Novelist and cultural critic Toni Cade Bambara is speaking specifically of movies, Bambara had great insight into the race and but her observation about the normalization gender politics of American media. She and universalization of conventions that reminded us in her essay “Language and guide interpretation and that are part of the Writer” that sexist and racist hegemonic structures is applicable to this discussion. Often, lan- the creative imagination has been colo- guage, even aggressive liberatory language, nized. The global screen has been colo- becomes nearly powerless in the face of the nized. And the audience—readers and powerful discourse of the visual within the viewers—is in bondage to an industry. texts of music videos. It has the money, the will, the muscle, So then we ask, How should we read and the propaganda machine oiled up to these artists who have feminist voices and keep us all locked up in a delusional sexist images? If they are linguistic propo- system—as to even what America is.12 nents of women’s power, subjectivity, and black feminism, why do they participate Musical artists are cultural actors, but in creating such conflicting visual textual those backed by record labels are hardly representations? First, it is important to independent actors. In music videos and acknowledge that in a society with such photo layouts they exist within what Bam- strong hegemonies of race, class, gender, bara has described as colonized space, par- and sexuality, virtually all of us, regardless ticularly around race and gender. In a of how committed we are to social justice context in which a short tight dress, and a and critical thinking, are conflicted beings. camera rolling up the body, lingering on We want to be considered attractive even behinds and breasts, has particular very though we understand how attractiveness is charged meanings with regard to gender and racialized, gendered, and classed in our personal value, we must ask, How powerful society, and how the designation often are words that intend to contradict such affirms structures of power and domina- objectification? How subversive are revolu- tion. Separating out healthy desires to be tionary words in a colonized visual world deemed attractive from those desires for full of traditional gender messages? attractiveness that are complicit in our In the same essay, Bambara directs us to oppression is challenging. Similarly, we want consider the use of metaphors, themes, and to be successful, but success is often tied to other ritualized structures to create mean- race, class, gender, and body politics that ing in American film. She writes: implicitly affirm the oppression of others. We support the status quo in order to There is the conventional cinema that succeed within it, despite our better masks its ideological imperatives as judgment. Dines14.qxd 7/26/02 10:06 AM Page 146

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These tensions exist within the artist as without corporate involvement. They are much as within the average citizen, and we cultural workers and artists in the organic should therefore be cautious in our judgment sense, and proprietors of their own images. of the artists. However, even if we were Analogous to independent filmmakers, insensitive to these internal conflicts as they local underground artists are a good source might exist in famous hip-hop artists, the when we seek feminist and other politically artists still should not be considered solely progressive messages in hip-hop. However, responsible for the tensions between their most of the contemporary hip-hop audience words and image. The reality is that the “real- has little access to underground artists. It is ness” in popular hip-hop and R&B stars is as now overwhelmingly, albeit not exclu- much an illusion as it is real. Their public sively, a recorded art form. Therefore, as images are constructed by teams more often cultural readers we should consider what than by themselves. The conflicted images the scope of power is for artists who are we see from some “feminist talking, sexpot signed to record labels. walking” hip-hop artists may be as much a One clear location of authorial power sign of a conflict between their agendas and exists in their ownership of their copy- those of the record companies, stylists, righted lyrics. The owned lyrics are an video directors, and so forth, as a sign of asserted property right that competes with internal conflict. Each artist is a corporate the concept that the artist herself is a creation—pun intended.14 “property.”15 For women artists who have written and copyrighted their own lyrics, ◆ the lyrics might be one of their only areas of Property and control, and it may be where we can best Subversive Potential find their intended political messages. Looking to the distinction between the copyrighted material owned by artists and As a college student, I met the black woman the music videos owned by the record com- filmmaker Julie Dash. I had recently seen panies, we have some indication of what her short film Illusions and her landmark particular political tensions face a given feature Daughters of the Dust. Excited by artist. her work and thrilled to meet her, I gushed about how I wanted to “do what she did.” ◆ She warned me that if I wrote a screenplay Conclusion: I’d better direct the movie myself if I Possibilities for Dissent wanted the substance to be intact once it was completed. In giving me this warning she was testifying as to the degrees of own- We know that the politics of the artist are ership of art, the interaction between words often neutralized by the image made by the and image, and the importance of black record company. Although a famous per- female self-articulation in a colonized son has a legally cognizable property inter- media. est in his or her public image as a whole, Despite the powerful hand of corporate when she consents to making a music interests in hip-hop, it is a music that has video, she grants the record company the sustained a revolutionary current with use of her image. She allows for the creation respect to consumer culture, albeit one that of a product that features her as a product is increasingly fragile. This revolutionary and that in turn encourages the sale of her current exists in the underground commu- words and music. Perhaps there is a clue nities of unsigned artists (rappers, or MCs, in that web to how artists might regain sub- as well as poets or “spoken word” artists) versive power through language. If their who push forward creative development words were not simply liberatory and Dines14.qxd 8/6/02 1:16 PM Page 147

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progressive but also critically engaged, 2. There are a many hip-hop lyrics that mocked, or challenged the very images that identify the voluptuous body with women who made the artist into a celebrity, the words live in housing projects or from the ’hood. As well, of the artist might not be dwarfed by the the assumption of lighter-complexioned black image. Instead they might latch onto the women being of higher socioeconomic status or image, shift its meaning, and bring it closer greater sexual desirability is a longstanding aspect to being owned by the artist. Imagine an of black American culture. Although this cultural artist looking lustily into the camera while phenomenon was challenged in the late civil rights critiquing the gaze she is giving you, or dis- era, it flourishes in the images that appear in many cussing the sexism implicit in the sexy dress television shows, movies, and books and in the she is wearing. Although this strategy might tendency of black male movie stars musicians and simply give rise to further conflicted images, athletes to choose very light complexioned spouses there is the possibility that it would force if they marry black women. the listener to critically read the image. Cer- 3. Tomika Anderson, “Nothing Butt the tainly, in earlier periods of hip-hop groups Truth” Essence, November 2001, 116. such as a Tribe Called Quest and De La 4. Words and music by Alicia Keys.  2001 Soul often embedded in their music EMI April Music Inc. and Lellow Productions. strong critiques of the music industry to All rights controlled and administered by EMI which they understood themselves to be April Music Inc. All rights reserved. International “enslaved” as commodities. Such critiques copyright secured. Used by permission. played a role in their success at being popu- 5. President Clinton pardoned Kendra lar, political, and authentic groups, and they Smith, the most famous representative of this provide a useful model for a feminist voice population, who spent years in prison as a result in hip-hop. of the crimes of her boyfriend. There are surely a number of other 6. India.Arie interview, http://www.mtv.com. strategies as well that might be employed by 7. India.Arie interview, http://www.mtv.com. women hip-hop artists who seek innovative 8. Eve, “Gotta Man,” Ruffryders Inter- modes of feminist articulation and self- scope Records (2000). definition in an arena dominated by corpo- 9. Sanjiv, “Queen of the Hill: Lauryn Fugee rate interests and sexism. Hip-hop is an art Finds Her Voice,” British GQ, October 1998, form that has consistently been engaged in 188. innovation, improvisation, and reinterpre- 10. At the time of the publication of this tation. It is therefore neither unreasonable chapter, I have found no interviews or articles nor naive to anticipate a new generation of that address the reason for Lauryn Hill’s feminist voices in hip-hop that will respond second transformation but it will be interesting in increasingly sophisticated and complex to see if she understands it as a rejection of the ways to a sexist and racist society. way in which she was styled in order to be palat- able to a widespread audience. 11. “The Music Portfolio,” Vanity Fair, ◆ Notes November 2001, 299. 12. Toni Cade Bambara. “Language and the Writer,” Deep Sightings and Rescue Missions: 1. The most prominent black women’s Fiction, Essays and Conversations, ed. by Toni magazines, Essence and Honey, as well as Girl, Morrison (New York: Pantheon, 1996), 140. which is geared toward a multicultural audience 13. Toni Cade Bambara. “Language and the of adolescent girls, all have an explicitly feminist Writer,” in Deep Sightings and Rescue Missions: agenda. Readers of these magazines are not Fiction, Essays and Conversations ed. By Toni offered articles about how to seduce men or Morrison. (New York: Pantheon, 1996) 140. appear sexy, which frequently appear in publica- 14. Although there are some artists who are tions such as Cosmopolitan, YM, and Glamour. able to maintain a good deal of creative control Dines14.qxd 8/6/02 1:16 PM Page 148

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(often those labeled “alternative”), record 15. The description of recording artists as companies are even aware of the extent to which “products” in the music industry articulates the there is a consumer market for the “alternative” sense in which they (as public images) are seen as and “iconoclast” so they will allow for that a kind of property to be purchased by consumers. space to exist to some extent within the bound- aries of their control.