Keep Ya Head Up: On hip-hop feminism

“I got a test for you/You said you want my heart/Well baby you can have it all/ There’s just something I need from you/Is to meet my boys/I got a lot of boys/And we can make you right/And if you get too high/Baby come over here and ride it out, ride it out.” 

- The Weeknd, “Initiation”

These lyrics are from the song Initiation, by the Weeknd, who happens to be one of my favorite artists. They describe a dark scenario: The Weeknd is implying that in order for this girl to gain his attention she has to get extremely high and then sleep with the rest of his crew.

As a passionate feminist, how can I justify listening to music like this? The Weeknd isn’t the only perpetrator; almost all hip-hop artists partake in the use of misogynistic lyrics. Drake, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Big Sean, Kanye West, even Chance the Rapper… all have songs that objectify women. All of them are also on my most-listened-to playlist. If hip-hop culture is known for its degradation of women, is it possible for feminism and hip-hop to have a positive relationship in the future?

The hip-hop feminist movement has focused on just that, the forging of a positive relationship between feminism and hip-hop, since its development in the late 1990s (the term was first coined by Joan Morgan in 1999). Hip-hop feminism is focused on holding hip-hop culture accountable for its role in perpetuating negative stereotypes about women. However, its goal is not to just point fingers.

Hip-hop feminism has attempted to encourage young girls to get involved in hip-hop by providing a platform for them to speak their mind. It celebrates the inclusion of women in the hip-hop industry and urges them to reclaim their positions in hip-hop culture. But why is hip-hop feminism relevant? And what has it accomplished?

Because of hip-hop culture’s pervasiveness, its depiction of gender can have a lasting effect on society’s stereotypes. Therefore feminist investigations of hip-hop culture serve as more than just critiques of misogynistic lyrics; they can allow us to examine the racial and socioeconomic politics of hip-hop from a lens that exposes their gendered tendencies. Investigating hip-hop from a female’s perspective exposes certain issues that would otherwise be ignored. For example, the issue of sexuality becomes far more complex when looked at through a woman’s perspective. From this point of view, embracing sexuality could be seen as conforming to the male gaze, or it could be seen as empowering. Either way, a new dimension is added to the conversation whenever a new perspective is considered.

In addition to this, hip-hop feminism is a type of percussive feminism. This refers to how the combination of two traditionally contradictory things, hip-hop and feminism, can generate creativity and disruptiveness and thus instigate social change. Hip-hop feminism aims to both acknowledge the degrading aspects of hip-hop and extract the encouraging ones. Some positive relationships are already appearing in the hip-hop industry. Although misogynistic sentiments dominate most rap lyrics, there are an increasing number of hip-hop artists that incorporate philogynistic lyrics in their music. Tupac’s Keep Ya Head Up is an example of positive lyrics about women that was even ahead of the hip-hop feminism movement. Tupac’s influential verse goes:

“And since we all came from a woman/Got our name from a woman and our game from a woman/I wonder why we take from our women/Why we rape our women, do we hate our women/I think it’s time to kill for our women/Time to heal our women, be real to our women.”

                        -Tupac, “Keep Ya Head Up”

In addition to this, female rappers are also reclaiming and redefining the stereotypical woman in hip-hop. Nicki Minaj is an excellent example of this. She is known for embracing her sexuality and demanding recognition for her success, both of which encompass feminist attitudes. In addition to this, Minaj has expressed the importance of feminism both in and out of hip-hop. She has explicitly stated that she supports all other women in the industry. She has spoken out about challenges she has faced working in a male dominated industry and has insisted that women can play just as much of a central role as men in hip-hop culture. Minaj is therefore an embodiment of what is possible for the future of hip-hop.

“I am not a word/I am not a line/I am not a girl that could ever be defined.”

-Nicki Minaj, “Fly”

But the future of hip-hop feminism holds much more than just an increase in female rappers and philogynistic lyrics. Hip-hop feminism has a future in urban education, potentially decreasing (and ending) both intra- and interracial violence against women by exposing stereotypes and offering advice on how to combat them. Stereotypes that objectify women perpetuate the idea that it is okay to treat them like objects, which can often lead to violence. By educating girls and boys about the negativity of these stereotypes, they are less likely to reinforce them in the future. Additionally, hip-hop feminism is a global movement; female rappers in Sweden (one of the most gender-neutral countries in the world) are using their music as a means to target sexism in the hip-hop industry. Hence hip-hop feminism’s positive effects can be felt by anyone involved in hip-hop culture.

Hip-hop feminism’s future of equality in hip-hop culture can be used as a model for positive change in other areas of society. By incorporating women into one of society’s most misogynistic fields, hip-hop feminism can be used as an example to do the same in areas of society that are also known for their sexism (politics, work force, etc.). Hopefully, it can have a ripple effect. So this brings me back to my initial question, can I be feminist and still support rap music?

Being a feminist and liking hip-hop isn’t just possible, it’s necessary.