ENGL 1101 - Fall 2020 - Hip-Hop Reader - PEASE

Paul Michaud

The Impact of Hip Hop

         Imani Perry’s essay’s “The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto” compares and contrasts two hip hop songs. They talk about the culture and objectification of women and the way they are treated. They also focused on the negative body image on women. Although Hip Hop has negatives like those it also displays how people express and accept past wrongdoings and helps move on from past traumas.

         A song that I wanted to pick was U.N.I.T.Y. by Queen Latifah. This song talks about how women are being degraded and seen as nothing but sex objects and how women are called by bad names. It talks about how you should stand together and not put names and labels on women. She also calls to attention the women who pretend to be someone and something they are not. This whole song is black women calling out and demanding respect from other people in the industry and not wanting to be undermined due to their gender. This song was meant to lift up the spirits of younger women. This song put a major change and impact on hip hop. My second song would be the entire album of the miseducation of Lauryn Hill by Lauryn Hill. The album was a major change in the hip hop genre. She showed people that you could sing about motherhood, love, pain, and life and it could be heartwarming. She opened up about her experiences and shared them with her viewers. The song in this album that sticks out to me the most is “every ghetto, every city” She sings about her passing and how she grew up. She was not afraid to share with the world her past experiences. She talks about her mom teaching her and how she was raised. She speaks of her true experiences and her roots.

 Both of these songs are great examples of the “The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto” because it shows that in the genre hip hop women are objectified and are nonstop sexualized because of their gender. It shows this by the song artist's meanings in their songs. For Queen Latifah her song shows that women deal with objectifying all the time and she also brings to light other things like the people who don’t act their true selves and chose to act like a  person who has a lot or just wants to flaunt things they don’t have. She brings that to light because Queen Latifah thinks the women who do that allow men to see women in a negative way in hip hop.  She made the song to be empowering for women and to prove we can be together, that is why the song is named unity. With Lauryn Hill's song she shows viewers that hip hop does not have to be hate or objectifying. The way she shows that all the negative does not need to be necessary she talks about experiences in her life and how it was to grow up. In her whole album it was a major change for hip hop because the influence of the way she showed her life is strong but how she truly experiences everything from growing up to motherhood. She practically talks about how it feels to be a woman. When she did that, she showed viewers women could be talked about without sexualizing them and she shows that when talking about them you could talk about life, feelings, and experiences that are life changing. She talks about what it really is to be a woman. These two-song artists and their songs really show how it is like to be a woman and shows that it is empowering to be one.

I wanted to be able to do female and male artist because I feel like they make as much as an impact and influences the culture just as much. I will compare and contrast Yesterday by Atmosphere and Soundtrack 2 My Life by Kid Cudi. I chose these songs because it shows someone’s life and experiences. I also chose these songs because they both have been songs that truly influence me and had meaning. The first song is Yesterday it is about a man saying he had seen someone who had left him. He then tells us a little about his life and how him and this person had it rough. He then says he would love a visit, to kick back how they use too. He then said, “I thought I saw you yesterday, But I know it wasn't you, ‘cause you passed away, Dad”. The second song is Soundtrack 2 my life. It's about how he grew up rough and it was hard to have to go through the emotions of his dad dying and how he became addicted to drugs and alcohol.  He talks about his issues and his emotions. He says the way he lets everyone see it is by writing it and bringing it to light.

         They are alike since they both had rough starts, they both use their music to vent and get out emotions about how they are getting through life. They both talk about having to do things they were too young to be involved with. They talk about having so much anger and sadness in them and having to fight it. Although they are different because in “Yesterday” goes deeper into his life and “Soundtrack 2 my life” just runs over his life details. In “Yesterday” he tells his story around his dad and being different now. In “Soundtrack 2 my life” surrounds his life now and about how he lives life now. They both are the same because they both speak of tragedies of trying to deal with growing up and having to go through dealing with it later. They both deal with going through the rough patch of resulting alcohol and both are not afraid of showing their side. These two songs prove that hip hop songs do not have to be about sexualizing women or objectifying them. These two songs are about genuine experience, it shows raw emotion and the truth. They both talk about life and how it is to be the person they are today.

         In “The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto” Perry exposes that in Hip Hop women are constantly objectified and sexualized. With Song Artists like Queen Latifa, Lauryn Hill, Missy Elliot, Cindy Campbell, MC Lyte, and so many more women who had changed the view on hip hop. Not only were they becoming powerful women of color in hip hop, but they were also becoming strong female role models who were trying to change the view on the whole genre of hip hop. These women wanted to get people to stop looking at hip hop as objectifying women and all other types of negative things, but they wanted people to look at it as a genre that could help people grow, to become better, and to be something to look up too. These women had fought hard to get what they deserve and that was respect and reputation. These women definitely worked hard to try to change the view that people had on hip hop and wanted to make a name for themselves.

         Hip hop does not have to be about the negative view of women by seeing them as objects or only seeing them in a sexual way. All of the songs I have listed in this paper prove that hip hop is about the experiences and letting everyone see true examples of life through the experiences they sing about and how they express their feelings through song as well. On One37 they say “thanks to her willingness to explore issues that affected women and members of the Black community. Her song “U.N.I.T.Y" addressed the way hip-hop culture treated women, along with verbal and domestic violence, which won the Queen a Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance in 1995.” This shows that she made such an impact on hip hop culture on how women were treated. She demanded the respect she deserves, and she got it by proving women are more than just their bodies. On Wikipedia they said “Critics generally praised The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill for Hill's presentation of a woman's view on life and love, along with her artistic range. At the 41st Annual Grammy Awards, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill earned 10 nominations, winning five awards, making Hill the first woman to receive that many nominations and awards in one night.”. When they said that they proved that she spoke about her view on being a woman without sexualizing it. Her impact was so big that she was the first woman to bring home that many awards in one night. These women proved that they are more than just a gender. In “The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto '' Perry said that women are only spoken about when it comes to their bodies but song artists like these proved that women in hip hop culture are a huge impact and they don’t have to be only in a negative view. They prove that hip hop does not belong to just one gender and its more about looks and objectifying, it is about culture and experiences and how you view life.

Work Cited Page

Sanchez, Jennifer. “10 Female Rappers Who Changed the Hip-Hop Game.” One 37, 2020, www.one37pm.com/culture/music/female-rappers-who-changed-hip-hop.

Wikipedia contributors. “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.” Wikipedia, 27 Nov. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Miseducation_of_Lauryn_Hill.

At the beginning of the music video he is standing on the top of a tall building, which symbolizes him “making it” or being at the top. Before he starts to rap or sing he talks to the camera and says that he was in a dark place and he had to be there to get to where he is now (at the top), those experiences he had in that dark place he was in allowed him to bake better decisions moving forward. He also said that if you are in a dark place this song might be able to help.

The song Not Afraid by Eminem has a couple of focal , one being him admitting that he is in a dark place and has a problem. He raps/sings about him not being afraid to admit that he has had problems with drugs and that glorifying drug use in his other songs was wrong of him. He talks about starting a new path, doing what he thinks is right rather than doing what could make him money or make him more famous. 

Another main point of this song is letting listeners know that whatever it is that they are going through, they are not alone. “Whatever weather, cold or warm Just lettin’ you know that you’re not alone.” He talks about important life lessons like not caring about what others think. At the end of the day it is your life, so do not let anyone tell you how to live your life. 

The focal point of the video is when he jumps off of a cliff not knowing what the outcome might be. He has to take a leap of faith in his life and his career, making this change to get away from glorifying drugs and trying too hard to look cool, to focus on the things that are important to him might negatively impact his career. However, after a few seconds he starts to fly, symbolizing that the changes he made his life better.

This is when Eminem was standing at the edge of the cliff

This is him flying after he took the “leap of faith”

Similarly to him jumping off of the cliff, a little more than half way through of the video he breaks out of the dark room that he has been stuck in throughout the video. What I get from this part of the video is that it was hard to get out of the dark place that he was in, just like how it would be difficult to break a brick wall like he did in the video. With time he grew the strength and courage to break out.

At the beginning of the music video Not Afraid by Eminem, he is standing on the top of a tall building this is the focal point of the video but we don’t know that yet because meaning is added to this shot later in the video. Him standing on the tall building symbolizes him “making it” or being at the top. Before he starts to rap or sing he talks to the camera and says that he was in a dark place and he had to be in that dark place to get to where he is now (at the top), those experiences he had in that dark place he was in allowed him to bake better decisions moving forward. He also said that if you are in a dark place this song might be able to help.

The song has a couple of main points, one being him admitting that he is in a dark place and has a problem. He raps/sings about him not being afraid to admit that he has had problems with drugs and that glorifying drug use in his other songs was wrong of him. He talks about starting a new path, doing what he thinks is right rather than doing what could make him money or make him more famous. 

Another main point of this song is letting listeners know that whatever it is that they are going through, they are not alone. “Whatever weather, cold or warm Just lettin’ you know that you’re not alone.” He talks about important life lessons like not caring about what others think. At the end of the day it is your life, so do not let anyone tell you how to live your life. 

The climax of the video is when he jumps off of a cliff not knowing what the outcome might be. He has to take a leap of faith in his life and his career, making this change to get away from glorifying drugs and trying too hard to look cool, to focus on the things that are important to him might negatively impact his career. However, after a few seconds he starts to fly, symbolizing that the changes he made his life better.

This is when Eminem was standing at the edge of the cliff

This is him flying after he took the “leap of faith”

Similarly to him jumping off of the cliff, a little more than half way through of the video he breaks out of the dark room that he has been stuck in throughout the video. What I get from this part of the video is that it was hard to get out of the dark place that he was in, just like how it would be difficult to break through a brick wall like he did in the video, but with time he grew the strength and courage to break out.

Finally, for the last shot of the video, Eminem flies to the top of a building but not just any building, the building he was on at the beginning of the music video. The shot at the end of the video is nearly identical to the one at the start of the video. At the beginning of the video he is making a statement that he is at the top, but at the end of the video we see that he flew up to that building showing that only after making those changes in his life such as, no longer promoting drugs, and focusing on what matters to him rather than what matters to the media, he made it to the top. However, one could argue that he was already at the top, he was already famous before this video came out and even before these changes in his life. While that is true, he didn’t have control over his own life, his addictions had control over him and it wasn't until he made these changes to his life that he really felt on top.

The song “Lost One” by Jay-Z was the second song in his album “Kingdom Come” which was considered to be his comeback album. The first words of the song he lets the listener know what he wanted the song to be. He says “It’s not a diss song, it’s just a real song”. This is not figurative language but I do believe that it is important to mention because rather than making a diss song and trash talking the people that might have done him wrong, he decides to make a song to simply let people know what has happened.

In the first verse Jay-Z raps about his work/professional life. He says, “N***** wasn’t playin’ they day role/ So we parted ways like Ben and J-Lo/ I shoulda deen did it but i been in a daze though/ I put friends over business end of the day though”. He used a simile to say that his partners were not working as hard as he would have liked so he stopped working with them, he compared that to when Ben Afflec and Jennifer Lopez ended their personal and professional relationship. However, he did not decide to end that relationship until later because he was distracted by his romantic life. The last bar of that phrase is a jab at Jaz-O and an allusion to another song of his “Friends Betrayed”. Unlike himself Jaz-O puts business before friendships. Continuing to the end of verse one, Jay talks about the plan that him and his friends made, to get into the industry, make money, and get out. However, that did not happen because they all ended up liking the fame too much to leave. He explains this very will with a metaphor, “Except that fame is the drug worst drug known to man/ It’s stronger than heroin”, I think this is a great comparison because like he mentioned earlier, his plan was to get in, make money, and get out, but it did not work out that way. Also, sometimes people with drug problems make drugs too much of a priority over everything else and that drives a wedge between them and their friends and family. Something simminal happened here, Jaz-O got hungry for fame and attention and let that drive a wedge between him and Jay-Z.

In verse two, Jay transitions from talking about work to talking about his personal life. He talks about his past relationship with Beyonce, that they could not have worked because they both were more focused on their careers than their relationship with each other. (Add more)

In the final verse he talks about the death of his nephew. His nephew died in a car that Jay bought for him so Jay believes that its partially his fault. He explains how painful this was for him, he says “Place any burden on me but please, not that , Lord’. He would rather anything else happen to him other than his nephew dying. He makes an allusion when he says “Gonna see you again, im sure of it” I think that means that Jay knows that he will see his nephew in heaven. However, in a time of so much pain his nephews girlfriend finds out she is pregnant. He says that he is “child-like, waitin for a gift”. Like a kid waiting to open their presents on christmas, Jay cant wait for the birth of his nephews baby.

The song “Lost One” by Jay-Z was the second song in his album “Kingdom Come” which was considered to be his comeback album. The first words of the song he lets the listener know what he wanted the song to be. He says “It’s not a diss song, it’s just a real song”. This is not figurative language but I do believe that it is important to mention because rather than making a diss song and trash talking the people that might have done him wrong, he decides to make a song to simply let people know what has happened. Throughout the song he raps about different aspects of his life. The first verse is about his work and professional life, the second verse is about his personal life, and in the final verse he raps about the death of his nephew.

Throughout this song and many of his other songs, Jay-Z likes to use a lot of allusions. He talks about his work life when he says, “N***** wasn’t playin’ they day role/ So we parted ways like Ben and J-Lo/ I shoulda been did it but I been in a daze though/ I put friends over business end of the day though”. He used an allusion  to say that his partners were not working as hard as he would have liked so he stopped working with them, he compared that to when Ben Afflec and Jennifer Lopez ended their personal and professional relationship. However, he did not decide to end that relationship until later because he was distracted by his romantic life. He later talks about his nephew that passed away. He makes an allusion when he says “Gonna see you again, I'm sure of it” I think that means that Jay knows that he will see his nephew in heaven. 

At the end of verse one Jay talks about the plan that him and his friends made, to get into the industry, make money, and get out. However, that did not happen because they all ended up liking the fame too much to leave. He explains this very will with a metaphor, “Except that fame is the drug worst drug known to man/ It’s stronger than heroin”, I think this is a great comparison because like he mentioned earlier, his plan was to get in, make money, and get out, but it did not work out that way. Also, sometimes people with drug problems make drugs too much of a priority over everything else and that drives a wedge between them and their friends and family. Something similar happened here, Jaz-O got hungry for fame and attention and let that drive a wedge between him and Jay-Z. This metaphor also connects to another line in this song. In the middle of the first verse Jay-Z  takes a jab at Jaz-O using allusion to another song of his “Friends Betrayed”. Unlike himself Jaz-O puts business before friendships. Jaz-O let the fame get to his head and turned his back on his friends. At the end of the song Jay-Z talks about the death of his nephew, he explains that his nephew died in a car accident and the car that he was driving was the one that Jay had bought him so Jay felt that his death was partially his fault. However, in a time of so much pain his nephew's girlfriend finds out she is pregnant. He says that he is “child-like, waitin for a gift”. Like a kid waiting to open their presents on Christmas, Jay cant wait for the birth of his nephew's baby.

Most of the figurative language he used in this song were; allusions, metaphors, and similes, he also used some other forms of figurative language. He talks about his relationship with Beyonce when he says “Finally, my time is too short to share”. What he means is that Beyonce’s career (at the time) did not allow her to have a serious relationship, but Jay-Z was ready for a relationship so he needed to move on. He explains how painful this was for him, he says “Place any burden on me but please, not that, Lord”. He would rather anything else happen to him other than his nephew dying. Here he continues to talk about the loss of his nephew. “Some things can’t be explained, what caused it?/ Such a beautiful soul, so pure shit!/Gonna see you again, I’m sure of it/ ‘Til that time, little man, I’m nauseous”. Here he uses two different types of figurative language, in the first two lines he describes his nephew using an idiom when he says he was so pure. Then in the last two lines he says that he will be nauseous until they meet again which will be in heaven. Personally I have never experienced the loss of a loved one that was younger than me but, i believe that is a bit of an exaggeration when he says he will be nauseous for the rest of his life.