Written By Morgan Delva

Edited By Anya Labelle

Introduction

One of the most fundamental realities pertaining to hip hop is the genre’s inseparability from its roots in Black American culture as a radical tradition (Johnson, 2023; Sullivan, 2011). Given this fact, it is crucial to navigate conversations about the genre with this in mind, especially when trying to deconstruct the more problematic tendencies that often present themselves in mainstream hip hop. One of the most scrutinized elements of mainstream hip hop is the undeniable prevalence of misogynistic lyrics and themes in the music of some of the genre’s most well-known artists. To distinguish a recent example of this, one needs to look no further than the widely-documented treatment of women as tools of war in the beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake (Bero, 2024; Cunningham, 2024; Gee, 2024). Given the rich history of hip hop as a mobilizing force for radical social movements as well as an enduring form of Black American self-expression, it is clear that the genre provides immense value to music as a whole and the Black communities that produce rap music. However, it must also be stated that the continuous presence of misogyny in hip hop is a problem. To understand how the genre can move past it, we must understand how misogyny exists in hip hop as a side effect of a much larger problem: the commodification of Black American masculinity.

A Brief History of Misogyny in Mainstream Hip Hop

As previously mentioned, misogyny in hip hop remains prevalent enough in the genre to rear its ugly head in what was easily its most high-profile event this year, but how long has misogyny pervaded rap music and in what ways has it done so? To answer this question, we must begin by analyzing the trends that surfaced following rap music’s inception. As the story goes, hip hop seemingly came into existence on August 11, 1973, when DJ Kool Herc began “scratching” and MC-ing a dance record at his sister’s back-to-school party (Cob, 2023; Grove, 2024). Following this event and the development of dance music based around sampling existing records, the genre would undergo various transitions until it started to resemble the artform we are familiar with today. One of the most significant of these transitions was the explosive success of “Gangsta Rap” in the 1980s, which defined the direction mainstream hip hop would go in the following decades (Folami, 2016). While gangsta rap was extremely controversial in its early days, facing pushback from conservative entities and various sectors of American society as a whole, it was also hugely popular not only within Black communities, but with young white audiences (partially due to its subject matter and partially in spite of it) (Dollinger & Rieger, 2023; Guyton, 2021). Through this process, the charts began to be dominated by rappers and collectives like Ice Tea, NWA (whose members like Ice Cube, Dr.Dre, and Eazy-E amongst would later fashion successful solo careers following the group’s breakdown), Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., and DMX amongst others (Guyton, 2021). Through a provocative manner of tackling sociopolitical issues disproportionately affecting Black communities, gangsta rappers exhibited (and often exaggerated) the traits that white American society expected to see in Black men, these being arrogance, displays of newfound opulence, aggression, and an overall hypermasculine swagger (Folami, 2016). An obvious side effect of these being the desired traits was the presence of severely misogynistic lyrics in gangsta rappers’ music (Sather, 2021; Weitzer, 2009). It is important to acknowledge that before, during, and following the emergence of gangsta rap, “conscious” or lyrically-focused hip hop has been one of rap music’s most fundamental subgenres. However, despite this kind of music being considered the backbone of hip hop and being characterized by different songwriting and thematic approaches, it has never been its most popular on a mainstream level (Sound of Life, 2022). Following gangsta rap came the rise of other popular subgenres like pop rap, drill, and the most popular modern hip hop subgenre: trap (Spotify streaming data, 2018). Each of these subgenres displayed similar expressions of Black masculinity to those popularized by and demanded from gangsta rap (Caldwell, Jarenwattananon, et al., 2023). The resulting misogyny typically manifested as exaggerated lyrical self-depictions of rappers as playboy figures constantly surrounded by attractive women that they sleep with and inevitably cast aside (Kubrin & Weitzer, 2009). Although these patterns were most prevalent within filler lines in songs, they sometimes emerged in the themes of entire songs or albums as seen most recently in the joint album Her Loss by Drake and 21 Savage (Drake’s unique brand of misogyny is another topic entirely) (Kornhaber, 2022).

Misogyny as a Symptom of Commodified Black Masculinity

The misogyny that has run rampant within hip hop’s most conventionally popular subgenres has more often than not come as a symptom of (typically white and male) American audiences’ demand for depictions of Black masculinity that fit within their preconceived notions of what a Black man is and/or should be like. This phenomenon has pervaded the genre ever since gangsta rap’s unprecedented popularity sent label executives on a relentless search for young Black men that could come off as thuggish, angry, and most importantly, hypermasculine (Alonso-Recarte, 2020; Philips, 1995). It is important to note that hip hop is a genre that specifically prides itself on producing music that works as a form of self-expression (ghostwriting songs is a cardinal sin within music meant to be an authentic reflection of the Black experience), which requires a wider conversation about misogyny being such a consistent feature of this self-expression (Hadley, Veltre, et al., 2012). However, even in the age of streaming and greater access, label-backed artists are those most likely to gain significant popularity and staying power in the music scene, and this can lead to the majority of artists getting signed being those who exhibit the traits that majority white audiences find appealing (Blackshear, 2005). This is because, while hip hop is, at its core, a form of Black American self-expression, Black Americans only make up approximately 13% of the US population (US Gov Census, 2023), which inevitably means that white audiences are the ones to market to when trying to hit the mainstream (Blackshear, 2005). In fact, according to Bill Yousman, “Dunlevy (2000) cited figures from the hip-hop magazine The Source that suggest that more than 70% of rap music buyers are white (Yousman, 2003).

Where do we go From Here?

It is evident that while many hip hop purists would argue that the most visible parts of the genre have strayed away from rap’s roots as a socially transformative and radical form of musical self-expression (The Listening, 2016), hip hop still has a lot to say. Despite the ever-present incentive to appeal to white audiences’ expectations for black men, there remains a multitude of rap artists whose music is an authentic reflection of their experiences, personalities, and worldviews. Furthermore, hip hop maintains the mobilization potential so integral to it, as seen in the use of Alright by Kendrick Lamar as an anthem for the Black Lives Matter Movement, as well as through the musical and social organizational responses of rappers to the murder of George Floyd (Limbong, 2019). Hip hop may have changed over time, but it still maintains what makes it unique. On the other hand, it also maintains what holds it back. It can be argued that this will not change until hip hop is no longer subjected to the market forces that had so much to do with its partial co-optation by powerful label companies and sections of the genre’s audience (Corry, 2020; Pope, 2014). Nevertheless, there is reason to hope that with greater involvement from women in the genre (Partridge, 2024) and potential diminishing of labels’ influence on the success of artists (Watson, 2023), we will see authentic reflections of the Black American experience that don’t leave room for misogyny.

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