THE RAP MUSIC VIDEO: STORYTELLING BY MEANS

OF GENDER EXPLOITATION

Kristina Lee Diaz

University of Florida

The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 1

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the formulaic gender themes found in rap music videos as it relates to the gender stereotypical ways it portrays women. The focus on this specific genre of music stems from the considerable social impact it has had on youth culture in recent years. Using content analysis on a purposive sample of ten songs found on a Billboard.com’s

2009 year end countdown, five gender-related themes were generated and it was found that most of the songs contained either misogynistic or gender-role messages. In addition, this study addressed questions relating to how repetitive themes may impact youth, particularly young women and how society may best mediate the effects of the messages being put out by music video media outlets.

Introduction

Yeah, just know my condo is the crack spot Every single show she out there reppin' like a mascot Get it from the back and make your fucking bra strap pop All up in yo slot until the nigga hit the jackpot “Best I Ever Had”—Drake on So Far Gone

Featured on his mixtape CD So Far Gone, Drake’s song “Best I Ever Had” peaked at number one in Billboard.com’s Best of 2009 for Hot Rap Songs while topping many other charts in the process. A staple at most club scenes, “Best I Ever Had” has been in heavy rotation on many DJ’s playlists; it seemed that no one could get enough of the song’s danceable beats and catchy lyrics. However, much like most rap, the song’s accompanying music video told a story using women, or more specifically women’s bodies, as the foundation around which the rest of the song’s story was told.

A communications research study by Nancy Signorielli revealed that the six types of media primarily used by teenage girls—television, commercials, films, music videos, magazines, The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 2 and advertisements—present very similar and consistent messages and images concerning gender roles (USA Today). Of focus in this particular study is the rap music video. The focus on this specific genre of music stems from the considerable social impact it has had on youth culture since its early beginnings in the late 1970s (Emerson, 2002, p. 115). Rap as a genre, became highly influential on young people’s attitudes with the advent of the music video in 1981 (Kistler

& Lee, 2000, p.68). In addition, its corresponding hip-hop culture has “affected the arenas of film, fashion, television, art, literature and journalism” (Emerson, 2002, p. 115).

Rap and hip-hop have mostly been seen as located within Black youth culture, however,

Music Television, better known as MTV, changed that: “Viacom, the company that owns MTV, claims to reach 320 million households on five continents 24 hours a day” (Kistler & Lee, 2000, p. 69). One can only assume that with the expansion and improvement of technology in the past decade, this number has almost certainly increased.

It has become apparent that MTV can “make” or “break” a recording act: today’s music artists’ success depends heavily on the success of their aired music videos. Appealing to global audiences, MTV, and consequently the music video, has come to define youth culture. Rap videos then, are a large part of this impact: it is “consumed by youth from all racial and ethnic groups. Such images have real-world effects insofar as they contribute to gendered socialization and perpetuate gender inequality” (Weitzer & Kubrin, 2009, p. 6). The important question to be examined is whether or not this impact on youth culture is a positive one. Because these videos are intended for consumption, positive messages may be compromised for profit.

Many studies thus far have revealed that the rap video depicts women as sexual objects and men as sexual aggressors while legitimizing the subordination of women to men (Sullivan &

McHugh, 2009, p. 745). To be a “man” in these videos requires male artists to reduce women to The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 3 their bodies, thereby objectifying them for use as mere video “props” (Sullivan & McHugh,

2009, p. 745). This study seeks to expand previous research by first identifying how the music videos reproduce stereotypical notions of gender and misogynism. The prevalent themes found within the songs will be analyzed; and lastly, there will be a discussion on how these may in fact impact young women and what can be done in the face of such impacts.

Literature Review

Scholars have studied MTV since its inception in the early 1980s and agree that the content of music videos is replete with images containing sexual imagery and gender stereotypes.

Particularly for young women, the mass media (including and especially the music video) are one of the most powerful transmitters of cultural ideals including those of beauty (Tiggeman &

Slater, 2004, p. 48). MTV programs target audiences between the ages of 12 and 34, with a median age of 23 (Tiggeman & Slater, 2004, p. 49). This translates into relatively young women serving as the main consumers of these messages. In some studies, it has been found that adolescents prefer rap and hip-hop (an offshoot genre of rap, and also a lifestyle associated with this music) over any other genre, a preference that is shared across many different ethnicities

(Kistler & Lee, 2000, p. 68).

In music videos the physical appearance of women is emphasized: they are usually barely clothed and are involved in sexual or subservient behavior (Sullivan & McHugh, 2009, p. 745).

Several recent studies analyzing the content of rap videos have found them to contain more descriptions and depictions of sexuality, eroticism, and inappropriate touching compared with other forms of music videos such as rock and country (Peterson, Wingwood, DiClemente,

Harrington, & Davies, 2007, p. 1158). The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 4

The arising concern then is to what extent do rap videos, as containing more profanity than other music genres, affect young women, particularly those of color and minority origin?

Consider studies which reported that “teenagers rank entertainment media as a key source of information about sexuality and sexual health” (Kistler and Lee, 2000, p. 68). Also consider that many studies seem to point to the fact that the misogynistic and violent themes found in these videos can prime related responses and behaviors in adolescents (Dixon, Zhang, & Conrad,

2009, p. 347). Before beginning to analyze the effects of rap music videos, it is important to understand the roots of the musical genre and how it evolved to its current form.

Today’s rap artists do not live in a vacuum; their songs are influenced by three major social forces: larger gender relations, the music industry, and local neighborhood conditions

(Weitzer & Kubrin, 2009, p. 5). The most prevalent influence is the larger gender order which stresses the cultural value of a certain type of masculinity and femininity. Rap artists receive pressure from music industry elites to maximize sales by recording “provocative, edgy lyrics”

(Weitzer & Kubrin, 2009, p. 6). Producers encourage artists to become “hardcore” and marginalize artists who wish to do otherwise (Weitzer & Kubrin, 2009, p. 6). As a result, rappers receive a dose of the reality of the music business: they leave behind their dreams of promoting social messages and come to focus on sex, money, violence, and drugs. This kind of music is what ends up receiving the greatest air play on radio stations.

The origins of rap music however, are much less dark. Many scholars have argued that rap music is a form of expression rooted in African American oral traditions (Dixon et al., 2009, p. 347). More than any other genre, rap is a “localized form of cultural expression” (Weitzer &

Kubrin, 2009, p. 8) which developed out of the lived experiences of youth in poor communities of color as a means to combat their oppressive status in the United States (Dixon et al., 2009, p. The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 5

347). It has also historically served as a medium that provided Black men with another (non- violent) means to assert their masculinity, an area in which they have typically faced obstacles and denied access to opportunity (Weitzer & Kubrin, 2009, p. 10). As Weitzer and Kubrin

(2009) explain, this kind of assertion of masculinity can be linked to the conditions found in disadvantaged neighborhoods (p. 8). The forces that shape rap music and its videos are an essential part in understanding the context within which its messages are best understood. With a number of social and business-oriented influences, a great portion today’s rap music has evolved to portray women as “hypersexual, materialistic, and amoral” (Peterson et al., 2007, p.

1158).

In an article discussing the commodification and selling of the “Black body” in a global marketplace, Patricia Hill Collins illustrates how “sexualized understandings of Black women’s and men’s bodies and culture become marketed and put up for sale” (Hill Collins, 2006, p. 313).

She also focuses on “how Black people become target audiences for their own degradation” (Hill

Collins, 2006, p. 313).

At the root of her discussion is the idea of “hip-hop capitalism”, which explains how the public’s consumption of Black culture is in fact akin to modern capitalism in which there is a reliance on stimulating consumer demand. Here, consumers include “whites and other cultural groups across the globe” (Hill Collins, 2006, p. 300). In an effort to expand markets, any and everything involving Black culture is up for commodification and sale; this is evident in what she calls the “contradictions of rap” (Hill Collins, 2006, p. 301).

As Collins (2006) aptly points out, the situation of Black youth is unique: “the sexualized images that they encounter are of themselves. In essence, their own bodies often serve as symbols of this sexualized culture, placing African American youth in the peculiar position of The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 6 claiming and rejecting themselves” (p. 306). As a result, African Americans, particularly the young women of this group, “encounter a set of representations that naturalizes and normalizes social relations” (Hill Collins, 2006, p. 310). The emerging controlling images (the Jezebel and others) paint a picture of the Black woman’s sexuality as being “primal” and “wild”.

In her analysis of communal dialogue on Essence magazine’s internet-based scribble boards, Reid-Brinkley (2008) analyzes the manner in which Black women resist controlling images and representations, while locating themselves around the performance of race, class, and gender (p. 236). The internet scribble boards under review were created out of Essence magazine’s attempt to engage Black women in the discussion of misogyny in rap music. Reid-

Brinkley engages in an analysis of the respondents’ discussion of the parameters for Black feminine performance while employing an intersectional analysis that uses Black feminist theory

(2008, p. 244).

Reid-Brinkley (2008) found that the Black women who engaged in the discussion on

Essence’s scribble boards created a dichotomous opposition between what kinds of women were deemed “good” and those that were deemed “bad”: the Black queen vs. the whore or Jezebel (p.

246). This dynamic was greatly dependent on the differentiation of economic class among Black women, where those of lower class and status came to be viewed as those that demean Black women. This highlights the importance of intersectionality whereby within the intersection of race and gender for Black women, there remains open divisions based on the lines of class and sexuality.

The creation of division amongst women of color over the discussion of the content of rap music videos is not unique. Division also exists on the actual music video set. Fitts (2008) qualitatively studied the music video production industry and the process of video making and The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 7 found that the rap music video was mechanically produced according to the “booty video” formula and that gendered hierarchies exist and create divisions among women working in various areas of the set (p. 211).

Conducting interviews on what she refers to as “culture industry laborers” or those who work in industries related to the production of rap, Fitts (2008) found that gendered hierarchies on the set of music videos placed the “video girls” at the bottom and subsequently discouraged women on set from supporting one another, “especially women who are not talent and who fear being mistaken for talent and the negative repercussions that come with that” (p. 230). Here, the negative repercussions those women hired as part of the crew feared was falling prey to the sexual advances of the men on set.

In a study conducted by Weitzer and Kubrin (2009), content analysis performed on a sample of 403 rap songs revealed several gender-related themes, all of which contained messages about men’s and women’s conduct and characteristics (p. 3). Each line of the songs’ lyrics was coded for misogynistic themes or themes that “encourage, condone, or glorify the objectification, exploitation or victimization of women” (Weitzer & Kubrin, 2009, p. 10). The themes found by

Weitzer and Kubrin (2008) include using derogatory language to refer to women; sexual objectification; and the legitimization of violence against women, amongst others (p. 11).

Taken as a whole, their research highlights that a considerable segment of rap naturalizes these inherently unequal and demeaning attitudes towards women. As per Patricia Hill Collins’s idea of controlling images, Weitzer and Kubrin found a variety of controlling images that go to

“great lengths to define strict gender roles, with women subordinate to men in several ways”

(Weitzer & Kubrin, 2009, p. 25). This study solely focused on analyzing rap songs’ lyrics, and thus could have gained more insight by viewing the songs’ music videos. The present study will The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 8 endeavor to attempt a more holistic study by analyzing both the songs’ lyrics and accompanying music video themes.

Comparatively, Emerson (2002) collected a purposive sample of 56 music videos that featured Black women performers, including singers, rappers, and musicians (p. 119). The study explored Black women’s representation in these music videos by coding the videos to identify emergent themes. The videos reflected the importance of intersectionality in its ability to constrain the autonomy and agency of Black women (Emerson, 2002, p. 120). There was also evidence of the women countering the controlling images in these videos by asserting their autonomy, expressing collaboration with other Black women, and identifying with their

“Blackness” or ideas of Black self-identity (Emerson, 2002, p. 119).

The study points to the contradiction within the negotiation of Black womanhood in these music videos. The display of strong, independent women in these music videos is ironic since it takes place within the context of a male’s gaze (Emerson, 2002, p. 122). Emerson’s study demonstrates the contradictory nature of women’s rap music videos whereby women simultaneously empower and oppress themselves. By coding a small sample of videos and not examining the surrounding landscape in which music videos exist: culture, popular reception etc., the study is limited in its scope and a more comprehensive investigation is needed.

A similar study conducted by Oware (2009) employed content analysis of 44 songs by female rappers. With a line by line coding of lyrics, several themes were found to overlap with those found in Emerson’s study. While the majority of the artists had themes of female empowerment, the artists also had songs that “self-objectified, self-exploited, and used derogatory lyrics when referring to other women” (Oware, 2009, p. 786). The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 9

Much like Emerson, Oware (2009) found that women made attempts to empower themselves and other women in their lyrics, but these positive messages become eroded when women demean and degrade other women. These female artists became what Oware calls a

“man’s woman” or a “woman who imitates and reinscribes a White supremacist, misogynist structure” (p. 798). This research exhibits similar limitations found in Emerson’s study but instead places more emphasis on the way in which women serve to disempower themselves.

So far, the previously discussed studies have neglected to examine the actual effects rap music videos have on the people who view them. It is important that researchers focus on the ways in which rap music videos are interpreted and consumed by viewers, particularly amongst women. Zhang, Dixon, and Conrad (2009) conducted a study to investigate the relationship between the exposure to thin images in rap music videos and young Black women’s body image concepts with emphasis on how this relationship may vary based on the participants’ strength of ethnic identity (p. 262) Rap music videos were chosen as the media viewed by the study’s participants since Black women are more likely to compare themselves to other Black women and thus they may be most affected by the images displayed in rap music videos (Zhang et al.,

2009, p. 265).

Zhang et al. (2009) put forth two hypotheses: first, that exposure to thin ideals in rap videos would be positively associated with body dissatisfaction; and second, that there would be an interaction effect between exposure to thin ideals and body dissatisfaction (p. 265). Strength of ethnic identity would be the mitigating variable that could potentially curb the effects of exposure to thin ideals in rap (Zhang et al., 2009, p. 265). Put simply, women with a weaker ethnic identity will be more vulnerable to the messages contained within rap music videos than women with stronger ethnic identity. The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 10

Contrary to previous assumptions about media’s influence on body image, Zhang et al.’s

(2009) first hypothesis was not supported: exposure to thin ideal rap videos was not related to young Black women’s body image perception (p. 270). On the other hand, the second hypothesis was supported: ethnic identity did in fact serve as a moderating factor in media effects (Zhang et al., 2009, p. 270). For Black women with weaker ethnic identity, media viewing was positively related to body image disturbance; the reverse was true for Black women with stronger ethnic identity.

The reasons behind the first hypothesis not being supported were uncertain, but potential reasons cited by the researchers include the participants viewing the thin Black women in music videos as allies rather than competitors and/or having an attraction to other aspects of the music video, rather than just the images of women’s bodies (Zhang et al., 2009, p. 271). The findings suggest that the impact of media exposure on Black women is shaped by their strength of ethnic identity.

Building off of previous work, Zhang conducted another study with co-authors Dixon and Conrad. This time, the researchers investigated the relationships between rap music videos and Black men and women’s collective self-esteem, attitudes towards women, and identification with rap video characters possessing strong Afrocentric features (Dixon et al., 2009, p. 345).

Dixon et al. (2009) hypothesized that there would be a positive relationship between rap music consumption and Black collective self-esteem (p. 349). Conversely, they thought there would be a negative relationship between rap music consumption and the belief that it degrades women, and between the perpetuation of Eurocentric features in rap music videos and participants’ identification with the video (Dixon et al., 2009, p. 350). The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 11

The analyses revealed that all three hypotheses were supported. The viewing of the videos significantly predicted collective self-esteem in that the more often participants viewed rap music videos, the higher their collective self-esteem (Dixon et al., 2009, p. 353). As for participants that viewed more misogynistic videos, there was a greater acceptance of the degradation of women (Dixon et al., 2009, p. 354). In other words, these participants were less likely to believe that the music degraded women. Lastly, for participants that had more

Afrocentric features, viewing videos with Afrocentric rather than Eurocentric standards of beauty is related to increased identification with the video (Dixon et al., 2009, p. 354).

This research builds on the idea of ethnic identification being used to identify rap content that can potentially empower Black youth. The findings remind researchers about the importance of considering the race of the rap music video consumers, and points to the idea that rap music may be related to more positive outcomes with African American viewers (Dixon et al., 2009, p.

357).

One of the first studies to analyze the actual health effects of rap music videos, Peterson et al. (2007) evaluated the effects of images of sexual stereotypes in rap videos on the health young Black female teens (p. 1161). They sought to determine whether these portrayals within rap were associated with adverse health outcomes and assessed their health outcome variables: binge drinking, marijuana use, sexual practices, and body image (Peterson et al., 2007, p. 1159).

The majority of the sample (95.4%, n=498) reported having a history of watching rap music videos (Peterson et. al, 2007, p. 1160).

The results demonstrated an association between the perception of sexual stereotypes in rap music videos and numerous adverse health outcomes: binge drinking, testing positive for marijuana, having multiple sexual partners, and having a negative body image (Peterson et. al, The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 12

2007, p. 1161). In discussing the implications of their findings, Peterson et al. (2007) reasoned that the perception of sexual stereotypes may “cultivate a norm among African American females regarding the desirability of certain physical characteristics and sexual behaviors” (p.

1162). These videos may also motivate young women to model the observed practices in music videos in their own lives, as they are glamorized by some of their favorite music talents.

Depictions of sex and drugs are depicted as normal, and girls may come to identify with the themes found in these videos, thus leading to their engagement in adverse health behaviors

(Peterson et. al, 2007, p. 1162).

There are several limitations to this study including: the sample of young teens was limited to those living in low socioeconomic neighborhoods with high rates of social and health related problems; this study did not employ a content analysis of the videos viewed by the teens, making it uncertain as to which sexual stereotypes these teens were exposed to; and lastly, this study did not use a longitudinal design to conclusively determine the relationship between viewing these videos and health outcomes (Peterson et. al, 2007, p. 1162-63). Also, unlike Zhang et al.’s study (2009), Peterson et al. did not take into account other mitigating factors such as ethnic identity. However, the findings do suggest that young Black teens’ perception of stereotypical images in rap music videos may contribute to some adverse health outcomes.

Kistler and Lee (2000) conducted similar research but instead assessed rap music video’s influence on college students’ sexual attitudes rather than health. They investigated the short- term effects of the exposure to hip hop music videos with varying degrees of sexual imagery on viewers’ acceptance of objectification of women, sexual permissiveness, gender attitudes, and rape myth acceptance (Kistler & Lee, 2000, p. 67). Four hypotheses were tested: male and female participants exposed to “highly sexual” videos will first, express greater acceptance of The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 13 sexual objectification of women; second, express more permissive sexual attitudes; third, express more traditional gender attitudes; and fourth, express more acceptance of rape myths than those participants exposed to the “low sexual” condition (Kistler & Lee, 2000, p. 72-73).

The first, third, and fourth hypotheses were supported for male participants, but not female participants; the men, unlike the women, exhibited a higher level of objectification of women, a higher level of traditional gender attitudes, and a higher level of rape acceptance

(Kistler & Lee, 2000, p. 80-81). The second hypothesis which dealt with sexual permissiveness was not supported for the men or women (Kistler & Lee, 2000, p. 80). The results indicate that the effects of sexual imagery in these videos were mainly detected among male participants. As for why the women were not affected in a similar manner, Kistler and Lee (2000) posited that perhaps women were aware about rap’s tendency to sexualize and objectify women (p. 82). The results are not highly generalizable since the majority of participants were White and came from middle to high income families.

The majority of the research discussed has pointed to one general finding: rap music videos influence and have an effect on their consumers. While there are no absolute conclusions, for the most part, rap music videos tended to have more negative than positive effects on those that watched them. What was lacking in the research were longitudinal studies that could better evaluate the long-term effects of rap music videos, and for those studies that conducted content analysis, there was an absence of viewing the actual music videos while coding the lyrics. In order to contribute to and further the research done via content analysis, this study evaluated the rap music video alongside its lyrics in order to determine whether the images displayed in rap music videos coincide with their lyrics, and if so, do these attempt to further reinforce stereotypical messages? The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 14

Method

This study employed the use of a purposive sample of 10 rap music videos featured on

Billboard.com’s Best of 2009 Hot Rap songs. No research has been published using the songs that were currently being played on the radio at the time of the study. As the current year (2010) is not yet over, this study wanted to acquire the most recent set of top songs for the past year of

2009. These year-end most popular rap songs are ranked by mainstream R&B/hip-hop and rhythmic radio airplay audience impressions as measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, which tracks monitored radio, television, and internet airplay of songs based on the number of spins and detections (Billboard.com). This guarantees that these 10 songs were in heavy rotation and were highly popular during 2009. This particular study was conducted based on the assumption that because the songs were the most popular of 2009, the accompanying music videos were probably just as popular if not more so, as music videos are artists’ means of marketing their songs.

The analysis of the music videos took place in two stages. Employing content analysis, I first listened to each song twice in its entirety, while reading the lyrics. I obtained the lyrics from

The Original Hip-Hop/Rap Lyrics Archive (http://www.ohhla.com/all.html). I then coded each line to identify the major themes. Rap music’s lyrics often contain metaphors and double entendre which may pose some uncertainty when trying to comprehend the lyrics. In such cases of uncertainty, I consulted the Rap Dictionary (http://www.rapdict.org), an online dictionary of commonly used rap terms.

Next, I viewed each video by means of a simple search on YouTube

(http://www.youtube.com), a video sharing site in which users can upload, share, and view videos. While watching the videos I made sure to keep track of emergent themes and patterns by The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 15 closely listening to the song’s lyrics and monitoring the visual narratives that were displayed as the song played. Watching the music videos, I paid special attention to the racial and ethnic background of the artists, all of whom were African American in origin with the exception of

Justin Timberlake who was featured on one song. I also viewed the artists’ gender (there were no women artists on the 2009 Hot Rap Songs charts, further demonstrating men’s domination in this genre of music). I made sure to monitor the women within the videos—their racial and ethnic background, the actions they were performing in the video, how they were dressed, and whether or not the men in the video were interacting with them; and, if so, were the women construed as objects or subjects?

The songs in this sample varied immensely in their subject matter. Seeming somewhat

“untypical” of rap songs in general, a few of the songs in the sample contained positive messages. Some spoke about inner-city violence while another mentioned the importance of being thankful for what one has been given in life. I conducted a close reading of each song’s lyrics and visual images to confirm, clarify and conceptualize the ways in which the songs and their music videos told a story.

Findings

In their content analysis of rap songs, Weitzer and Kubrin (2009) described misogyny in terms of lyrics that “encourage, condone, or glorify the objectification, exploitation or victimization of women” (p. 10). I applied this definition to both my textual and visual analysis of each song’s lyrics and music video. None of the 10 songs in this sample contained what can arguably be designated as derogatory language directed towards women (the terms “bitch” and

“ho” are terms that are not intended to be hurtful in today’s rap when considering the song’s The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 16 context). I thus coded conservatively by including only those lyrics and images that were unmistakably misogynistic.

From here, I divided the songs and their music videos into two broad categories: those exhibiting blatant misogynistic messages and visuals, and those exhibiting stereotypical gender themes (for the two did not always overlap). A key finding was that those songs with deliberate misogynistic messages either in their lyrics, music video, or both, also contained sexual stereotypes, gender hierarchies etc. The reverse, however, could not be said of those songs containing gender-related themes, as seen in the comparison between Tables 1 and 2 below:

TABLE 1: Occurrences of Misogynistic Themes in Lyrics & Music Videos

Title Artist Lyrics Music Video Best I Ever Had Drake   Dead and Gone T.I. featuring Justin Timberlake Live Your Life T.I. featuring Rihanna Heartless Kanye West   Every Girl Young Money   Kiss Me Thru the Phone Soulja Boy featuring  Sammie Whatever You Like T.I.  Run This Town Jay-Z featuring Rihanna  and Kanye West Throw It in the Bag Fabolous featuring The Dream Successful Drake featuring Trey  Songz and Lil Wayne

The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 17

TABLE 2: Occurrences of Gendered Themes in Lyrics & Music Videos

Title Artist Lyrics Music Video Best I Ever Had Drake   Dead and Gone T.I. featuring Justin Timberlake Live Your Life T.I. featuring Rihanna Heartless Kanye West   Every Girl Young Money   Kiss Me Thru the Phone Soulja Boy featuring  Sammie Whatever You Like T.I.   Run This Town Jay-Z featuring Rihanna  and Kanye West Throw It in the Bag Fabolous featuring The   Dream Successful Drake featuring Trey   Songz and Lil Wayne

Thus, the rap music in this sample which was designated as containing misogyny (7 out of the 10 songs) was also highly gendered, further reinforcing specific representations of women.

Furthermore, the song’s lyrics often coincided with what was on display during the music video.

My content analysis identified five themes that appeared with some frequency throughout the ten songs: (a) sexual objectification of women and men’s claims of sexual prowess; (b) women portrayed as “users” of men; (c) a focus on the female body; (d) portrayal of rigid gender roles whereby women yield less power than men; and (e) “nonconformist” in which the messages contained within the song did not emphasize sexual stereotypes or contain misogyny.

My findings identify the messages and themes within lyrics, and the ways in which the music video works to affirm the lyrics while visually adding to the song’s narrative.

The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 18

Sexual Objectification & Male Sexual Prowess

Weitzer and Kubrin (2009) define sexual objectification as the “idea that women are good only for sex” (p. 13). In this sense, women are simply used and discarded once men have gotten what they want out of women (usually intercourse or other sexual favors). Consider Lil’

Wayne’s opening verse on Young Money’s “Every Girl” which captures this theme:

Open up her legs then filet mignon that pussy! Ima get it in and on that pussy! If she let me in Ima own that pussy! ‘Gon throw it back and buss it open like you ‘posed to Girl I got that dope dick now come here let me dope you You ‘gon be a dope fiend your friends should call you dopey

Clearly, there is a large emphasis placed on women’s genitals, specifically her vagina, whereby

Lil’ Wayne addresses it as the “pussy” and claims ownership of it; he even goes so far as to expect that the woman wants his genitals or his “dope dick” too. Lil’ Wayne is exhibiting the type of content that many rappers include in their songs: sexual prowess and male hypersexuality. It’s a common practice in rap for men to “own” women sexually as a form of sexual empowerment, and then brag about the ways in which they dominate women during sex.

In another verse, Jae Millz, another member of Young Money raps:

I just wanna fuck every girl in the world Every model, every singer, every actress, every diva Every House of Diddy chick, every college girl, every skeezer Stripper and every Desperate Housewife that resemble Eva My role model is Will, so married man to M.I.L.F. It don’t matter who you is miss, you can get the business

There is a high value placed on having multiple sex partners because men win the respect of other men by having many sexual conquests (Weitzer & Kubrin, 2009, p. 14). Here, Jae Millz recites the types of women he wants to engage in intercourse with as if he were reading off a The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 19 laundry list of items. This further emphasizes the message that women are objects for men’s taking.

Lastly, it’s important to point out a portion of this song’s chorus:

I wish I could fuck every girl in the world I wish I could fuck every girl in the world I wish I could fuck every girl in the world

The chorus, which is comprised of this extremely distasteful language, repeats four times throughout the song; this makes for twelve instances in which the audience would hear this phrase repeated. The phrase, which in itself is offensive enough, is visually accompanied in the music video with an almost infinite amount of women streaming out of a Bentley car. Each time the chorus is said, women of all ethnic backgrounds pour out of the car: Black, Asian, Indian, and even racially mixed women, an example of which is a woman they termed “Blackanese”

(Black and Japanese). These women step out of the car while smiling seductively into the camera, whose focus is on these women’s legs, breasts, and lips as they dance and gyrate behind the men while wearing revealing clothing. This was the case in many videos where women were the “background props” and were not active as subjects within the music video.

The ways in which the lyrics and music video coincide furthers the male fantasy of

“fucking every girl in the world”. What can be said of the sexual objectification of women within videos like these is that it sends out the message that women can be treated as less-than-human, and are in fact objects of men’s sexual desire and pleasure. This kind of mentality is justified by the fact that men are rewarded for this kind of behavior.

Women Portrayed as “Users” of Men

Some of the songs found in my sample displayed a kind of distrust of women. Women were seen as giving men trouble and/or using them for some sort of gain. The songs that The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 20 contained these themes gave specific reasons to be suspicious of women: they either betray or exploit men. Kanye West describes his frustration with being romantically involved with these women in his aptly titled song Heartless as the chorus recites:

In the night I hear ‘em talk The coldest story ever told Somewhere far along this road He lost his soul To a woman so heartless How could you be so heartless? Oh, how could you be so heartless?

The idea behind these lyrics is clear: men should beware of women, especially those who use their beauty and sexuality to entrap men. Kanye West certainly paints a very dim picture of what happens when a man gets left by a woman, and all the entanglements that come with it, with his claim that he “lost his soul” to this heartless woman.

Being on the side of the romantic relationship where men are getting “left” and women are “doing the leaving” results in men feeling vulnerable and emasculated. Men who fall victim to women are often ridiculed by other men, and men may feel the need to re-establish their masculinity (Weitzer & Kubrin, 2009, p. 18) as Kanye West demonstrates:

How could you be so Cold as the winter wind when it breeze you Just remember that you talkin’ to me though You need to watch the way you talkin’ to me though

From these lyrics it’s apparent that men can’t be talked to in a certain way by women. It seems that this was Kanye West’s attempt to restore his masculinity and power within what little is left of the relationship. Also present in the song’s lyrics is blame directed towards the woman: “How could you be so Dr. Evil, you bringing out a side of me that I don’t know” (“Heartless”). Here, the woman is responsible for bringing out the man’s “bad side”, as if men can’t be seen as responsible for their own feelings and actions. The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 21

With each repetition of the chorus, the music video to this song (which was stylistically designed to be in cartoon format) flashes images of the “heartless” woman. Only Black women are displayed, and they are all equipped with full lips, large breasts and buttocks, and are shown smiling and dancing, to further reinforce that they are in fact indifferent to men’s suffering. In another song, Kanye West points out that women are only after his money, and should thus be reduced to serve his purposes:

What you think I rap for To push a fucking Rav 4? But I know that if I stay stunting All these girls only gonna want one thing I could spend my whole life good will hunting Only good gon’ come is as good when I’m cumming (“Run This Town”)

As he explains, West raps to make good money and buy nice things, but he knows that if he continues to earn lots of money (“stay stunting”), women are only going to want him for his wealth. So, he settles on the idea that women are only good for sex. This seems to be his counter- attack to being victimized by women, playing on the “defensive” so to speak.

Men’s fear of being exploited by women leaves audiences with a depiction of women as villainous and conniving. The backlash of these lyrics is that there are no other sources within rap that counter these hateful ideas, and thus audiences are left with a one-sided view of women.

A Focus on the Female Body

There is an unmistakable overrepresentation of women’s bodies in rap music videos. As

Patricia Hill Collins (2006) mentions, society has a sexualized understanding of Black women’s bodies and these become commodified and sold in the media (p. 313). Although Black women were overwhelmingly represented in the music videos, this does not strictly apply to Black women only however. Many other types of women of color were shown in the videos. Latinas and Asians especially, were exposed and displayed. The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 22

The dominant notions of attractiveness dictate what kinds of bodies are presented

(Emerson, 2002, p. 118). This is evident in lack of variety in body size and proportions and the choice of women’s clothing. Women usually had curvaceous figures including large breasts and/or buttocks; makeup was applied in ways that highlighted women’s eyes and lips; and often, women’s cleavage or the curvature of their buttocks was exposed by the choice of wardrobe.

Undoubtedly, they were made up to be objects of men’s fantasies.

Referring back to Young Money’s “Every Girl”, Gudda Gudda raps about his ideal type of woman: “I like ‘em caramel skin, long hair, thick ass.” This brings up the case in which the

Black women present in music videos tend to reflect this ideal. In Drake’s music video for “Best

I Ever Had”, the plotline surrounds Drake, here depicted as a women’s basketball coach, and his female players. The women in the video all have very large breasts, and one can assume that they were chosen for this video because of it. The very first scene of the video shows the women running onto the basketball court wearing “barely-there” uniforms that accentuate their

“bouncing” breasts. Where one may question how the music video’s plot matches at all with the song’s lyrics, therein lies the answer: the music video wasn’t meant to coincide with the song, but rather, sell it by selling women’s bodies.

The same holds true for both Soulja Boy’s and Jay-Z’s music videos. In Soulja Boy’s

“Kiss Me Thru the Phone”, the song’s lyrics actually contain no adverse messages in regards to women; however, the music video surely puts women’s bodies on display. Part of the song’s chorus mentions:

Girl you know I miss you, I just wanna kiss you But I can’t right now so baby kiss me through the phone Kiss me through the phone; I’ll see you later on (later on) Kiss me through the phone; kiss me through the phone The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 23

With each mention of “kiss” came images of women with full, glossy lips that gazed into the camera, blowing kisses. When the audience first comes across the woman of Soulja Boy’s interest in the video, she is first seen at an angle from above that emphasizes her breast’s cleavage. At times throughout the video she kisses her cell phone, but her identity is completely hidden save for her lips which the camera places focus on. In essence, she is broken down to her body parts, and not shown as a person.

In Jay-Z’s “Run This Town” the video’s setting takes place in an urban wasteland where a late-night revolt headed by Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Rihanna is about to take place. West raps about a woman’s buttocks: “She got an ass that’ll swallow up a g-string”, exhibiting his preference for women with large buttocks. Rihanna, on the other hand, is the only Black woman that garners the focus of the camera since there are mostly only male extras in this music video.

The men—Jay-Z and West—are wearing attire fitting for a revolt: head scarves, bandanas, and vests. Rihanna though, is seen wearing multiple versions of a leotard that at times reveals her cleavage and lower buttocks. Of course, totally impractical given the video’s setting, Rihanna as the “lead woman” of the video is scantily clothed. In specific, displaying women’s bodies in this fashion renders them sexually available to men.

Gender Roles & Power Hierarchies

Several songs in the sample highlighted the “essential” male and female characteristics whereby men and women are seen to have specific codes of conduct and roles in relation to one another (Weitzer & Kubrin, 2009, p. 3). In T.I.’s “Whatever You Like” he takes on the role of the man who rightly should provide for his woman:

Anytime you want to pick up the telephone you Know it ain’t nothing to drop a couple stacks on you Want it, you could get it my dear

The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 24

T.I. claims that dropping a “couple stacks” or a couple thousand dollars on his woman is “no sweat”. He further adds:

Ya need never ever gotta go to yo’ wallet Long as I got rubber band banks in my pocket

The woman need never worry about paying for things on her own, so long as he has money on him.

In “Throw It in the Bag”, Fabolous raps about having a role similar to that of T.I. He says, “You with the right man, you ain’t got a price scan (no)” and “You get it cause I got it, I got it so you get it.” The “right man” for a woman in this case is one who allows her buy things on a whim. Although this may appear chivalrous, it in fact places a woman’s dependence on the man, and may actually further contribute to the image of women as “gold diggers” or users of men for money. When it comes to what Fabolous thinks about buying his lady nice things he says, “That’s the way it supposed to be.” In other words, women are “supposed” to have a man to buy them things.

Lastly, in Drake’s “Best I Ever Had”, he employs metaphors to establish a comparison for what he believes to be the dynamic of his relationship with a particular woman. Consider the following metaphors: “… she a patient in my waiting room” (Drake is presumably the doctor) and “She call me the referee because I be so official” (while the woman is presumably the player or athlete). In both cases, the woman occupies a subordinate position to Drake, be it metaphorically.

While rap is a fairly new genre of music, its themes don’t reflect the more progressive times that it is situated in. The lyrics still emphasize the importance of a “man being a man” and a “woman being a woman”. This only creates and further reinforces the idea of men and women The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 25 maintaining strict gender hierarchies where the man holds the power over the woman. In the case of the songs cited above, this power is the man’s finances or money.

Non-conforming

There were a few songs whose lyrics, music video, or both, did not conform to the themes listed above. While this does not necessarily concern the main issue considered in this study, because the sample used was small and was featured on the Best of 2009 for Hot Rap

Songs on Billboard.com, attention needed to be brought to these songs due to their popularity.

T.I.’s “Dead and Gone” describes T.I.’s decision to change his past criminal ways due to the death of close friend, which he feels some guilt over. He recounts:

Maybe my homeboy still be around Had I not hit the nigga in the mouth that time I won that fight I lost that war I can still see my nigga walking out that door Who’da thought I’d never see Philant no more Got enough dead homies I don’t want no more

Songs like these may positively impact young people living in similar situations to change their lifestyles as well. In his other song “Live Your Life”, T.I. stresses being grateful for the life one has been given. What this finding does point to is the fact that not all of today’s rap music contains negative messages about women. Misogyny is much less pervasive than is commonly believed and does not characterize rap as a whole. There are a number of songs that do project positive messages.

Discussion & Conclusion

The current study sought to examine the rap music video in search of uncovering the messages contained within them. It was found that most videos in the sample contained either gender stereotypes, misogyny, or both. Due to the repetitive nature of certain ideas, five themes The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 26 emerged: (a) sexual objectification of women and men’s claims of sexual prowess; (b) women portrayed as “users” of men; (c) a focus on the female body; (d) portrayal of rigid gender roles whereby women yield less power than men; and (e) “nonconformist” in which the messages contained within the song did not emphasize sexual stereotypes or contain misogyny.

The media is a powerful agent in the socialization of young people, especially when dealing with the topics of sexuality and gender attitudes (Kistler & Lee, 2000, p. 84). The themes that were exposed in this study point to a need to evaluate what the exact effects of rap music are on the young women who view these images. Rap lyrics that uplift women by describing them as independent, strong, educated, and trustworthy are largely absent in today’s music (Weitzer &

Kubrin, 2009, p. 25). Many tend to view misogynistic themes as the sole source of problems for women in rap music; however, an absence of misogyny does not guarantee a positive view of view of women as was shown in the results in Table 2: song’s that weren’t misogynistic still contained gender stereotypes. What is damaging is that the public has access to a singular, distorted image of women.

It is reasonable to speculate that young women who comprise the primary target audiences of the television networks that broadcast these music videos may be adversely affected. Consistently viewing and hearing that it is natural and normal for men to treat women as sexual objects and to be told that your body is the only thing of value to men can leave a lasting impact on young women’s mentality and concepts of self. It can also lead to women engaging in risky behaviors in hopes of garnering men’s attention; after all, they and the men that surround them in their everyday lives are listening to the messages of rap: women should dress sexy, and please men sexually. As Peterson et al.’s (2007) notable research found, rap can impact young women’s health. The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 27

The role of record companies cannot be ignored in understanding the propagation of rap’s harmful messages. Economics come into play, and ultimately, the goal is for the label and the artists to make a profit. This usually requires artists to create music with marketable lyrics and danceable beats. Here, the old saying that “sex sells” is appropriate.

What can be done to curb the negative aspects of rap? Changing the content of the music requires changing the conditions in which it’s made; but given that the public’s demand remains so high for this type of music, change remains difficult at best. Encouraging media literacy in young women seems to be the best alternative where women, as well as men, should be encouraged to critically evaluate the messages implicit in these videos (Sullivan & McHugh,

2009, p.747).

This study demonstrates a need for further research on the effects of rap music videos in the long term on a variety of racially diverse populations. While this study contributed to the research in this area, it could be greatly expanded upon with a larger sample of rap music videos from the year 2009. In addition, there are many other social, cultural, and community factors that surround the rap music video and consequently shape the perception of women in society.

A popular icon and practically one of the most famous rap artists in the 1990s, TuPac

Shakur wrote a song about the treatment of women within rap music. He expressed his discontent in the treatment of women in rap music, and advocated for a better way in his song

“Keep Ya Head Up”:

And since we all came from a woman Got our name from a woman and our game from a woman I wonder why we take from our women Why we rape our women, do we hate our women? I think it's time to kill for our women Time to heal our women, be real to our women And if we don't, we'll have a race of babies That will hate the ladies, that make the babies The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 28

And since a man can't make one He has no right to tell a woman when and where to create one So will the real men get up I know you're fed up ladies, but keep your head up

It’s in songs like these that the rap music industry and its artists can slowly but surely begin to change the way in which they tell stories.

The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 29

APPENDIX: List of Videos Selected

Title Artist Album Billboard.com Ranking Best I Ever Had Drake So Far Gone 1

Dead and Gone T.I. featuring Justin Paper Trail 2 Timberlake

Live Your Life T.I. featuring Rihanna Paper Trail 3

Heartless Kanye West 808’s & 4 Heartbreak

Every Girl Young Money We are Young 5 Money

Kiss Me Thru the Phone Soulja Boy featuring SouljaBoyTellem 6 Sammie

Whatever You Like T.I. Paper Trail 7

Run This Town Jay-Z featuring Rihanna The Blueprint 3 8 and Kanye West

Throw It in the Bag Fabolous featuring The Loso’s Way 9 Dream

Successful Drake featuring Trey So Far Gone 10 Songz and Lil Wayne

The Music Video: Story Telling by Means of Gender Exploitation 30

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