...Jennifer McLune proposes that hip-hop has betrayed black women by promoting sexism and dehumanizing black women, in her essay “Hip-Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women.” The essay begins with a lengthy quote from Kevin Powell, in which he uses socioeconomic reasoning to account for the sexist language of hip-hop. McLune suggests Powell’s ideas are merely a way to hush feminists and promote the current hip-hop conditions. She also explains in her essay, how hip-hop has made it big by way of women-hating and that some of the most famous artists notoriously spat out sexist lyrics. Even artists who are seen to be less misogynistic, continuously praise and defend their brothers who fuel this fire. McLune cites The Roots, Talib Kweli, and Common as artists...
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...Rhetorical Analysis The title of this article is “Hip hop’s betrayal of Black Women” which first appeared in 2006, and was written by Jennifer McLune a librarian, activist, and writer living in Washington D.C. Although, the author makes valid points in her response she does not demonstrate enough knowledge on the subject of hip hop culture. The author argues black women in today’s hip hop culture are unfairly made out to be inferior to their male counterparts. The article can be broken down into five divisions. The author writes in response to the “socioeconomic” (297) reasoning given for the current state of affairs. The author disagrees with Powell’s response calling it a way to silence feminist critiques of the culture. The author argues that hip hop owes its success to the ideology to women-hating and that poverty is argued to be an excuse of it. The author addresses a range of issues from contemporary artists being too inconsistent, to female artists not being as united when it comes to standing up for a change. For this reason “Hip hop’s betrayal of Black Women” should not be considered by PopMatters and the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) for the top prize for persuasiveness due the author’s use of rhetorical analysis and logical fallacy in addressing opposing viewpoints In “Hip-Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women” the author uses three kinds of rhetorical techniques in the article logos, pathos, and ethos. Logos is used to show facts, reasons, and statistics...
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...Hip-Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women Analytical Summary In Hip-Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women published in Z Communications online magazine July 1, 2006, Jennifer Mclune responds to Kevin Powell’s Notes of a Hip Hop Head by vividly expressing to feminist and African American women that “Hip Hop owes its success to the ideology of woman hating. It creates, perpetuates, and reaps the rewards of objectification.” In Powell’s quote he begins to defend male artists by blaming their behavior on socioeconomic conditions, and by comparing their lyrics to that of how black men were looked at during the 1960’s. Mclune feels as though Powell is merely using his “socio-economic explanation for the sexism in hip hop” (Mclune 1) as a way to silence feminist critiques of the culture. Mclune feels as though Powell is turning a blind eye to the fact that women are also raised in poor and violent environments as well as men. Women “…have yet to produce the same negative and hateful representation of black men that male rappers are capable of making against against women” states Mclune (Mclune 1). As you get deeper into the article you find that not only does Mclune feel that there is a war between African American men in hip hop versus women, but also there is a war between the White man in hip hop versus the African American woman. “Yet we all know that wealthy white boys can create the same hateful and violent music as poor black boys” Mclune argues (Mclune...
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...Eboney Patterson English 102-Z2 Professor Lila Joy 1 September 2015 In the article “Hip-Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women” the author, Jennifer McLune responds to Kevin Powell’s article “Notes of Hip Hop Head.” McLune voices her opinion toward hip- hop male singers who disrespect black women in today’s society. The author states those who chose not to sing about ideology of women work harder. McLune then talks about how majority of hip-hop singers are sexist, materialistic, and speak negatively between the sexes. She provides examples on how lyrics are being expressed and how hip-hop artists do not seem to be concerned. They are apologetic for the words they say, but show no remorse. For example, she presented a lyric written by Jay-Z, a famous hip –hop artist which states, “I pump hard on a trick, look F*** if your leg is broke b****, hop up on your good leg.” Even women singers have turned to these ways of singing to keep themselves from being targeted and some even encourage this type of ignorant behavior. For the ones who stand up for themselves risk being disrespected. McLune states hip-hop will fail, as long as sexism is involved. Although, Kevin Powell excuses sexism because poverty, she feels any man, wealthy or flat broke, can be sexist toward a women. The author makes it very clear, by letting theses hip-hop artists continuously degrade and humiliated our black women, society is accepting this type of behavior to exist and to grow strong. Title: The title gives the...
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...September 25, 2013 Rough Draft After reading “Hip-Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women”, by Jennifer Mclune, an individual associated with some things stated would really think twice after reading. Jennifer gave her knowledge on how hip hop will fail if what is going on continues. The women grew up negative environments, and they don’t tear down the quality of men as they do to them.bbrown During the article, Mclune gives the audience multiple reasons why hip-hop has become so negative over the years. Also explained is how some women do not make the terrible situation any better to the culture in some cases. A ‘socio-economic” explanation is given y Kevin Powell, author of “Notes of a Hip-Hop Head.” Within a few statements, the article begins to give very descriptive issues. Hip-Hop has progressed overtime by using hatred towards women as a way of entertainment. Occasionally, women will show that there must not be any caring about the hatred. Jennifer Mclune provides and example saying “Hip-Hop owes it success to the ideology of women hating.”(Mclune 5) by saying that , she is letting the audience know that the only reason Hip-Hop has made it so far is because of their women hating lyrics. How does one top such a problem? Hip-Hop has came a long way from the way it was first begun. You would think that these “so-called conscious artists” would care about their acceptance into the music industry enough to not be so crucial. The women artists aren’t the ones abusing the qualities of...
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...Portrayal of Women in Rap and Music Videos :: 4 Works Cited Length: 1724 words (4.9 double-spaced pages) Rating: Blue Price: $24.95 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Misogyny and degradation of women is present in almost every genre of music, yet the one genre that completely revolves around demeaning women is rap. Over the years rap and rap music videos have continually become more sexual and degrading towards women. Rap has been criticized numerous times for this reason, and that is because rap is one of the most popular genres of music for the younger generations. It is more than a genre of music, it is a complete industry filled with clothing and other merchandise. The reason this constant demeaning of women exists is because rap as a genre that rewards the objectification of women. The excuses used to justify the misogyny in rap are incomplete and lack accurate support. The most effective way for this continuous cycle ends, is if the fight and protest comes from the women themselves. Men are the problem in the objectification of women but in order for it to stop, women need to step up and take control of the situation. Women need to act sooner rather than later because in recent years the rap industry has become more and more sexual. Ra... ... middle of paper ... ...Society 113 (2000): 255-69. JSTOR. 29 November 2009 . McLune, Jennifer. "Hip-Hop's Betrayal of Black Women." Perspective on Contemporary Issues. 5th...
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