...Kim Phan 10/23/2015 Arts 152 Final Research Paper Capitalism and Women’s Role in Modern Hip Hop Music has always had a huge impact on society; it serves as a means of expression and as a way of communicating and connecting with others. While there are positive aspects to music as it uplifts society during times of hardship it also serves as a means of reinforcing gender norms as well as upholding capitalist ideals. Since its inception, hip hop has remained one of the most popular genres with today’s youth, but it is clear that women play a different role in the genre than men. Through a study of several hip hop and rap songs it becomes apparent that hip hop glamorizes brand names, “fast money”, and women. When women are objectified they are no longer encouraged to amass wealth, instead they are encouraged to simply be with men who have money. By reviewing popular song lyrics of famous hip hop such as Iggy Azalea’s, “I’m so Fancy” and Kanye’s “Mercy”, it is clear that there is a common theme of the obsession of wealth and beautiful women. Hip hop often dehumanizes women as they are perceived as plentiful and a luxury “item”. The modern woman, and women of the working class have no representation in hip hop. Women are further oppressed through hip hop as the average life style of those who cannot afford to spend lavishly are often left out and depicted as envious. Understanding how hip hop and capitalism is related is important to understanding why modern women are oppressed...
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...Misogyny Page1 In today’s view hip hop is blamed for the negative images of women in music videos. When it comes to degrading and sexist representations of women in music, it is often perceived as misogynistic. Misogyny in hip hop culture refers to lyrics, videos or other aspects of hip hop culture that justifies exploitation of women. Hip hop has influenced modern popular culture, saturating mass media through music videos, radio broadcasts, and a variety of others. Most of the lyrics and images you see today in the hip-hop industry portray women of all ethnicities as sexual objects and depicts the exploitation of women. The image of dozens of semi-naked women dancing provocatively around one famous rapper has become the usual in music videos. Hip hop has become a mess of unrealistic images of female sexuality. Some defend that the sexism in hip hop is a part of a hip hop artist life. If that’s the case then how did this image become the accepted standard of hip hop music video format? Many artists try to manipulate their fans in believing that this is their lifestyle, but the main reason behind that is sex sell and it draws people in. Some women have made careers of this lifestyle. If you pay attention to hip hop videos you may see some of the same faces in multiple videos. The more revealing they are the more casting calls and more money they will receive. To me I find it embarrassing that rappers degrade females in their music videos but still have the same ones in every...
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...Elmhorst 1 Nicole Elmhorst Dr. Stephen McCabe WBIS 188-024 Research Essay December 13th, 2013 How Women Are Portrayed in Music In today’s society, the genres of rap and R&B are one of the most popular forms of music. Conversely, the ideas and lyrics of many songs fall into these genres tend to be violent, offensive, vulgar and sexist. We can see that sexism in rap music is apparent through the negative portrayal of women found in both the lyrics and music videos. This is an important issue because rap is so popularized today that these negative depictions of women, especially African American women, is potentially giving its viewers the idea that it is acceptable to treat women in such demeaning ways. Most of the time, we do not comprehend the message that is being sent through songs we listen to. We as society need to become more conscious of the music we listen to. Over the years, rap and rap music videos have repetitively become more and more sexual and degrading towards women. Rap has been criticized various times for this reason. The excuses used to justify the misogyny in rap are inadequate and lack accurate support. The most effective way for this continuous cycle to end 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. Misogyny and degradation of women does exist in almost every genre of music, yet the Elmhorst...
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...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 ed. Boston: Wadsworth Cengag Learning, 2009. 247-51. Print. Thrash, Rodney. "Women Say Rap Videos Demean, Not Define." St. Petersburg Times 14 June 2005. 29 November 2009 . Williams, Dana. "Beyond Rap: Musical Misogyny." Teaching Tolerance (2003): 213-15. Tolerance in the News. 12 Aug. 2003. 29 November 2009 Rap Music's Influence Upon Teenagers :: 6 Works Cited Length: 1389...
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...Culture (E-Tracker 2) Mass culture reflects a culture of mass production for mass consumption promoted by mass media such as radio, television and magazines in modern capitalist societies. The culture industry is a global, multibillion dollar enterprise, driven, primarily, by the pursuit of profit. It is the culture for the proletariat that has been allowed to exist by the bourgeoisie and it is often argued that it is a means of control and lacks intellectual or artistic value. An example of modern day exploitation would be the genre of hip-hop, the genre’s cultural origins date back to the Griot speakers of Africa but today is used in mainstream media to promote materialism, misogamy and consumerism amongst other things. Traditionally a folk culture the ruling class have adapted the genre to fit the ideology they want to promote, it has been used as a tool in presidential campaigns and promotes the latest fashion to consume. Mass culture is unavoidable, it’s in your Coca-Cola, in your Nike shoes and it’s playing in cinema’s nationwide, but why is their ‘mass culture’? “The class which has the means of material production at its disposal has control at the same time over the means of mental production, so that thereby, generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are subject to it.” - Karl Marx: The German Ideology (1845) Marx suggests that those who control the production of the materials we consume also control our ideas; if an individual...
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...How American Music has shaped America Every culture uses music to express their beliefs or feelings. From the early days of slavery, to recent pop culture, hip hop, rock, jazz or techno, music has shaped Americans into what we are today. Music not only gives artists an avenue to express their beliefs, it also gives the listener the feeling that there are people in the world that has the same feelings that they have. Not all music has a meaning or a message. Some music is just that, music; beats of a drum, strums of a guitar, electronic collaborations to make a melody, with no real message. Whether it is political, cultural, social, or just for the sake of music, artists have the means to express what they feel, and the popular ones have an audience. The first chapter of William Roy’s book, Reds, Whites, and Blues, focuses on folk music and social movements from the 1930s-1960s. He states that the importants of music was that, “…freedom songs was less important for their mass appeal than in the activity of blacks and whites joining arms and singing together (Roy 2010). Roy goes on and explains that social movements mobilize around culture, and music is culture. Ron Eyerman and Andrew Jamison explore social movements as it relates to music and how it transforms cultures. In the beginning of the book, they state that, “…nowhere has the “role” of music been more important than in the United States, where social movements have been less ideological and more emotive than...
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...playing it. For instance, a young jazz musician playing Charles Mingus' song "Fables of Faubus" (which was about the wrong doings of governor Faubus) would have no meaning to the musician because he/she never lived that era. As for new, recent music, the artist plays what he/she feels in respect to the present. For instance, Herbie Hancock's new album came out about a month ago called "Possibilities". This album was called his "all-star project" (Downbeat; Pg 38) because it featured new artists like John Mayer, Christina Aguilera, and Paul Simon. The album depicts a movement of music in how a new form of jazz, soul, and pop our recent era has developed. The decade of the 1960’s, also known as "The Sixties", are known for it’s popular culture and revolution in social norms about clothing, music, drugs, dress, formalities and schooling. Conservatives refer to...
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...performance art form consisting of purposefully selected sequences of human movement. This movement has aesthetic and symbolicvalue, and is acknowledged as dance by performers and observers within a particular culture.[nb 1] Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire of movements, or by its historical period orplace of origin. An important distinction is to be drawn between the contexts of theatrical andparticipatory dance,[4] although these two categories are not always completely separate; both may have special functions, whether social,ceremonial, competitive, erotic, martial, or sacred/liturgical. Others disciplines of human movement are sometimes said to have a dance-like quality, including martial arts, gymnastics, figure skating, synchronized swimming and many other forms of athletics. 2. What are the types/kinds of dances? Types of Dance - Categories Here are some of the most popular dance categories and types: Ballroom Dances These dances started appearing first in Italy, during the early years of Renaissance. Popularity of this kind of entertainment quickly swept over the Europe, United States and the World. Although many other simpler and more easily preformed types of dances caused the ballroom dances to lose some of their influence, modern worldwide dancing audience started resurrecting these immortal dances in ever increasing pace. • Waltz - This graceful and slow two person dance was first introduced in mid-19th century and was...
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...Introduction American culture, being traditionally perceived as quite liberal and democratic, is in fact paralyzed by the overwhelming power of stereotypes which shape the current image of culture at large and its industries, including music, in particular. Even the most innovative and advanced movements’ turn to be submitted to the canons of the ideology that dominates in American culture. Unfortunately, such a situation does not contribute to the development of really free, liberal and focused on spiritual, moral and intellectual progress of the consumers of the culture. Probably one of the most interesting, new and, unfortunately, typical example of the domination of stereotypes in American culture is the development of female black rap music, which has become particularly intensive in 1980s and is still quite dynamically developing. At first glance black female rap music should be free from traditional stereotypes, it should be innovative and contributing to black female emancipation and increasing the role of black females in the society at large but, in actuality, the situation is absolutely different. Despite the fact that many female rappers pretend to be unique at developing the new image of a free and independent black female, it turns to be that practically all of them, or at least the most popular of them, are ideologically dependent on the male dominance in proper and figurative sense of this word. It means that as a rule black female rappers tend to create an...
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...individual intention or conscious, rather we create our intentions within ideology (Marris, Thornham, 2000, p. 267). These ideologies exist before we are even born; they form the social constructions and conditions that we are born into. But, ideologies are just a practice, and it is produced and reproduced in apparatus of ideological production. The media is a great example of an apparatus of ideological production (Marris, Thornham, 2000, p. 273). It produces social meanings and distributes them throughout society. However, as long as ideologies continue so will social struggles such as racism, which we will discuss in this essay. Media elites represent different races through media based on their ideologies. This has a predominant influence on the social constructions of race and contributes to our understanding of it. The media is bias. This is due to the bias in the minds of those in control of these media outlets known as the media elites. Harold Innis is a well-known Canadian political economist and a pioneer in communication studies who explores the concept of media...
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...varying ages. Furthermore, theoretical mechanisms of media framing and cultivation have been deconstructed throughout this article to uncover the impact of magnified female subordination on the domestic expectations of children and young adults. Through the collection of data, it was able to be conclusively recognized the impact of objectification on social attitudes. Results had shown the many conceptions concerning the female purpose, these include; a woman’s role as a domestic and sexual slave to her male partner. Through the convergence of data, semiotic analysis and academic theory, it may be meticulously understood how female objectification in the mass media is a social complication in the construction of an egalitarian future. ‘Women’s bodies are predominantly valued for its use to others’ Fredrickson & Roberts 1997 During the past decade, society has witnessed the progression of information technology, and has been a part of a global communication network that surpasses domestic and moral boundaries. This network has fabricated a sharp impact on national discourse, political policy, and the social attitudes of society, particularly children and young adults. As our society becomes more commercial,...
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...Negative Stereotype Life is a symphony composed of three distinct movements, a lot of people, a few people, and almost no one; each of them is affected by stereotypes. Stereotypes may be defined as popular beliefs about specific social groups or types of individuals and are broadly standardized or simplified conceptions of groups based on some prior assumptions.* , stereotypes are present an incomplete, subjective and sometimes false image of the reality. They are often based on tradition and are resistant to change. Although they can have positive and negative effect; the last is much more common and easily spread throughout social institutions, such as mass media, that are using stereotypes, basing on the assumption, that they are well known to everyone and help the receivers to understand the content of the message. Stereotypes have a negative effect when it published throughout the mass media such as gender stereotype or violence stereotype and other. First, gender stereotype; the Differentiating gender roles in the modern societies can be a perfect example of the negative social effects of using stereotypes in mass media. Nowadays the differences between male and female roles are smaller, however mass media still perpetuates traditional gender stereotypes so still seen in series how is the man have been considered to be financial providers, assertive and independent, whereas women have been shown as low-position workers, responsible for raising children and doing...
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...In Latin America, the popularity of the sport is growing rapidly and the most recent of talent into the NBA is migrating from Latin America. The cultural popularity of the sport was growing exponentially and is well documented in China with the likes of Yao Ming and Jeremy Lin who are Asian sensations. With Latin American backgrounds integrating into the game of basketball, I wonder how these international translations are in turn changing the game we see at home. In Latin America, where the climate and geographies are so much different than the one in the United States, we find growth in basketball. Though the NBA in Latin America is growing, it is still not a hit in Central and South America. Though whenever you go either it is Latin America, China, America, etc… there is always someone playing the game. Even in the likes of Mexico, they are mostly known for militant based political revolution than anything else, but basketball courts do exist. The courts might be used for other things like farming during the day, but you will always see some kid playing and working on his game. Just like what I do when I am in my hometown hooping outside of my house, no court just the concrete and the hoop I have next to my garage. The growth of basketball throughout Latin America region is unexpected, only because they compete for national attention in their number one sport soccer. Basketball has to compete in Central American countries like El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Cuba, and...
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...Art And Culture Art and Culture Since the beginning of time, artists have labored extensively to find innovative ways to convey sentiment, passion, and feeling. Telling stories and trying to unlock the minds of people through different avenues of artistic labors. Art touches and affects people in unique ways; it can have special or unusual meaning on the person depending on how one views it. Artists’ rendering of their art is interpreted in numerous ways by others who view it unless it is explained by the artist on its meaning giving a clear example of what they are portraying. Two people looking at the same painting, sculpture, portrait, or photo may come to different views on the arts meaning even though they are looking at the same item. Art is how one interprets it and what that person sees. In today’s society art is done in so many other forms and diverse categories. This essay will concentrate and bring together four art forms, photojournalism, painting, architecture, and sculpture. The in-depth examination of the subsequent arts will be concentrated to the following: The influence of technology on the evolution of each of the art forms: architecture, photography, sculpture, and painting. Diversity’s role in the development of the arts and how it changed throughout the 20th century. Art and popular culture’s relationship and how this developed during the 20th century. From the beginning of time, Art has been known as evidenced by the past relics. Technology certainly...
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...Art And Culture ARTS 125 Art and Culture Since the beginning of time, artists have labored extensively to find innovative ways to convey sentiment, passion, and feeling. Telling stories and trying to unlock the minds of people through different avenues of artistic labors. Art touches and affects people in unique ways; it can have special or unusual meaning on the person depending on how one views it. Artists’ rendering of their art is interpreted in numerous ways by others who view it unless it is explained by the artist on its meaning giving a clear example of what they are portraying. Two people looking at the same painting, sculpture, portrait, or photo may come to different views on the arts meaning even though they are looking at the same item. Art is how one interprets it and what that person sees. In today’s society art is done in so many other forms and diverse categories. This essay will concentrate and bring together four art forms, photojournalism, painting, architecture, and sculpture. The in-depth examination of the subsequent arts will be concentrated to the following: The influence of technology on the evolution of each of the art forms: architecture, photography, sculpture, and painting. Diversity’s role in the development of the arts and how it changed throughout the 20th century. Art and popular culture’s relationship and how this developed during the 20th century. From the beginning of time, Art has been known as evidenced by the past relics. Technology...
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