Sex and Gender

          Sex and gender are often socially constructed themes within the hip-hop world. This culture tends to be extremely male-dominated. Many hip hop artists rap derogatory lyrics toward women, belittling the gender, and talk about females as if they are objects instead of human beings. The terms sluts, hoes, and bitches, are thrown around loosely referring to women in so many different songs.  For example in the song “Bitches” by Hollywood Undead, women are referred to as bitches and hoes throughout the entire song and talked about in very vulgar terms. The lyrics include scenes of having sex and video taping it along with other descriptive sexual lyrics mainly directed toward women. 

 Hollywood Undead's "Bitches"

 

 

These lyrics clearly exemplify a derogatory song towards women, however it is not the only song within the hip hop world that does this. More or less the entire world of hip hop music greatly focus on a male-dominating force and puts females down. Not all, but included in almost every hip hop song there is some aspect negativity toward the female gender or some type of boastful and bragging lyrics about men. Frequently men like to brag about themselves in their songs such as Childish Gambino in his song “Bonfire”. He raps about wearing nice clothes, new cars, having money, and getting other guys girls. He also raps about how other rappers try too hard, but he is better than all of them. 

 Childish Gambino's "Bonfire"- Listen to the lyrics

Another theme with in hip hop that tends to dominate the culture is heterosexuality or homophobia. As previously stated, generally hip hop lyrics include male artists rapping about females. Although these lyrics often tend to be extremely vulgar towards women, these male artists are clearly straight. Some believe that without the term homophobia, homosexuality would never be included within the hip hop world. Included in the lyrics, the term “homo” is often loosely tossed around referring to gay people. “No homo” began as slang in the 90’s and brought its way into the mainstream hip hop life. Many rappers use this term after a statement to pull away from any homosexual connotation. This slang phrase reinforces the evident homophobia within rap music. Lil Wayne uses this phrase very often within his albums and mix tapes. “Faggot” is another term against homosexuals frequently used within rap music to put them down. 

 Lil Wayne's "Ambition"- Use of the phrase "no homo"

 

 

As our world is becoming more tolerant to those who like the same sex, some hip hop artists are beginning to speak out as well.  There is a lot of controversy within the topic of sexuality in hip hop music and many people disagree with any sort of homosexual behavior, but others stand up for the rights of homosexuals and see them just like normal people. Macklemore’s song “Same Love” represents a song, which assists in understanding of homosexuals and their way of life. Although this song created uproar for some other artists, many people highly respect Macklemore for supporting homosexuals, understanding their love, and putting himself out there.  

Macklemore's "Same Love"

Looking at an Album as a Whole: Nas' Illmatic

From its humble beginning in the 1970s all the way up to the present day, hip hop artists have released an incredible amount of albums. With all of the incredible talent behind the albums, it is no shocker that there are so many high quality songs and such a debate on what the greatest album of all time is. An album that comes up frequently in the debate and is arguably considered the greatest hip hop album ever would have to be Nas' debut album "Illmatic"

This historic album was released on April 19, 1994 by Columbia Records and quickly rose to number 12 on United States Billboard 200 chart. The album sold more than 59,0000 copies in its first week yet it still fell below the initial sales expectations. Even though initial sales were lower than expected, word got out from critics that this album was a masterpiece and this idea quickly spread throughout the nation.

One of the main reasons for its immense popularity would have to be Nas' ability to tell stories in song and how impressive his lyrical content was. Throughout most of the album the listener can pick up on the fact that he is using events from his own life and portraying these events to his listeners. Nas takes his listeners on a journey through his hard life living in New York City. He focuses on the tough aspects of his life such as the high rate of violence between gangs, the extreme poverty that he had to witness and cope with everyday, and the rampant drug use in his neighborhood. One of the songs that portrays the gory violence and rampant drug use is " N.Y. State of Mind."

Not only was Nas considered one of the best storytelling rappers of all time, but he was also considered a lyrical genius. This means that when looking at the words that he is saying, they actually make sense and have deep, underlying meaning. Unfortunately today with artists like Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy etc. we see less and less meaningful lyrics and artists with the ability to create masterpieces. Brilliant lyrics like " I never sleep cause sleep is the cousin of death" from "N. Y. State of Mind" ,which means he would always have one eye open because in the hood you never knew when danger or even death was close. Overall the album "Illmatic" is filled with with extremely intelligent lyrics throughout, which makes it arguably one of the greatest hip hop albums ever created. The songs " The World is Yours", "One Love", and "Life's A Bitch" are all songs that truly show why Nas is so great.  

Beyond The Words: Production and Videos

Ever since the introduction of MTV, there has been a growing importance of music videos and production in music.  Nowadays, some artists rely heavily on music videos to boost their sales and their reputation.  In genres other than hip hop, artists such as Miley Cyrus and OK Go have mastered the techniques of using music videos to boost their popularity. Hip hop is no exception to the fact that its artists also rely on music videos.  Artists use their videos to relay the message and the lyrical content in their music visually to the consumer.  The videos often demonstrate the emotions and the feelings that are in the lyrics.  One example of an artist doing this is Macklemore with his song "Otherside".

The production values in hip hop artists music is also very important.  Things such as the speed of the song, the speed of the rapping, the beat behind the song, and even the clarity of the artist's rapping contribute to the production values of the song.  All of these factors contribute to the overall way that the song is delivered and accepted my the song's audience. One song that demonstrates this very well is the song "Water" by the Roots.

Selling Out in Hip Hop

            Selling out. What selling out means, can be interpreted in several different ways. In hip hop, selling out is basically giving up what you support in order to get more money or fame. The thing with selling out in hip hop is that most people talk about it saying that they would never do it. But at the same time, isn’t everybody trying to get really rich and famous and have tons of fans?

            Granted, there are a lot of rappers who have “sold out” and stopped rapping about what they grew up on. But at the same time, they do it to make the money that all rappers try to make. The only difference is that they came up talking usually about much more violent and harsh things such as drugs and alcohol, whereas later on they start talking about more mainstream things such as dancing and partying.

            One example that commonly gets brought up is Jay-Z. He came up hood just like most rappers do. But now that he is very famous he talks completely different and about different things. You can see this when listening and watching the videos from his songs “Dead Presidents” and “Empire State of Mind”. The old song is more gangster rap, and the new one is about being rich and famous like he is.

This is what Jay Z used to sound like, which was a much harder and "realer" sound. Now he has gotten to be rich and famous and his songs sound completely different, such as in "Empire State of Mind".

It is hard to get very big in hip hop without having people say that you sold out. Everyone is in the rap game for the same purpose, to get rich and famous, and some people change over time in order to accomplish this.