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Black Masculinity In Outkast's Music

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Black Masculinity In Outkast's Music
We Luv Deez Hoez: The Issue of Women and Black Masculinity in Outkast’s Music

Hip-Hop is the top selling genre in the U.S. today although over the years, critics have suggested Hip-Hop has no real future [Kubrin 2005]. Hip-Hop’s emergence into mainstream culture and its success across America has continually caused tension with not only the media but politicians and other members of society. This has been due Rap artist’s explicit view on society from the Black perspective. The extensive use of curse words has been just one battle between rappers and American censorship. However, one theme that has caused great controversy, most apparent in the ‘Gangsta Rap’ genre, is misogyny and sexism. In a study of the 2005 U.S. Billboard Charts, Rap …show more content…
Their themes reach further than those of sexual objectification and violence. It appears they have 8 themes (if not more): • Sexual Objects • Money Grabbers; the issue of child support is very apparent • ‘The one’, the girlfriend • Commenting on women treating themselves as sexual objects or accepting abuse • Ex lovers • Women and girls with personal issues • Strong Women • Mothers The tracks I will analyse do not cover all these themes, but represent a large amount of them.

Funky Ride In their first album, ‘Southernplayalisticadillamukic’ (1994) there is a strong sense of sexism, with ‘hoes’ and ‘bitches’ appearing in many tracks. ‘Funky Ride’ uses a substantial amount of simulated sex sounds. The track has a slow ballad tempo and the music has a funk feel, with the addition of wah-wah guitar usually associated with Disco. Although the track appears to see a woman as a sexual object, the lyrics “let me take you on a funky ride” do not suggest any violence or abuse. Therefore, this is a song about free sexual expression that Rose [2008] discusses. …show more content…
This should be considered more so when looking into the issues of misogyny and sexism. This paper is a very brief starting point that can be used to look at the wide variety of Hip-Hop styles in order to gauge further understanding of misogyny and sexism along with other issues raised in the genre.

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Reference List

Adams, Terri M. and Fuller, Douglas B. 2006: ‘The Words Have Changes But the Idology Remains the Same: Misogynistic Lyrics in Rap Music’, Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 36, No. 6, (Summer), pp. 938 - 957.

Aldridge, Derrick P. 2005: ‘From Civil Rights to Hip Hop: Toward a Nexus of Ideas’, The Journal of African American History, Vol. 90, No. 3, (Summer), pp. 226 - 252.

Cheney, Charise, 2005: ‘In Search of the “Revolutionary Generation”: (En)gendering the Golden Age of Rap Nationalism’, The Journal of African-American History, Vol. 90, No. 3, pp. 278 - 298.

Chuck, Stone et al 2002-2003: ‘Can Hip-Hop Be the New Driving Force behind Increased Racial Segregation?’, The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, No. 38, (Winter), pp. 64 - 67.

Crossley, Scott, 2005: ‘Metaphorial Conceptions in Hip-Hop Music’, African American Review, Vol. 39, No. 4, (Winter), pp. 501 -
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