Gender Differences In God

With rappers such as Nas and Tupac utilizing Christian iconography such as crosses and bible verses in their songs, Josef Sorett suggests male hip hop artists are able to capitalize on their masculine power by characterizing themselves as divine (Sorett 17). On the other hand, in Rap and Religion: Understanding the Gangsta's God, Ebony Utley argues female MC's invoke God in their songs to act as a protectorate who forgives them for their lust and as a lover who is committed to them unconditionally (Utley 34, 37). This difference in the perception of God between the genders is clearly a byproduct of societal and religious gender dynamics. Through this response, I will connect the aforementioned articles by Sorett and Utley to describe why there
Although the Lady of Rage asks God to forgive her for her lust, she also uses God to give herself a platform to discuss issues such as unprotected sex and the sexism inherent to hip hop (Utley 34). Through this invocation of God, she is able to reject from the masculine pressure to be a sex symbol and empower herself through an honest conversation about her sexuality and expectations of black women in hip hop (Utley 35). Similarly, Remy Ma, in her Shesus Khryst album, uses religious symbols of the cross and an eponym similar to Jesus to emphasize her rap authority (Sorett 17). Much like "J-Hova" and "Yeezus", who turn themselves into Jesus in order to heighten their masculinity, Remy Ma is able to synthesize this divine authority with sexual acts and clothes to claim power in the confines of the patriarchal rap culture (Sorett 18). Both women described use their platform to protest their unequal status in hip hop by invoking God or alluding to themselves as divine. However, it must be noted that both women did not protest men directly and still adopted some aspects of hip hop's patriarchic society (i.e asking God for forgiveness and wearing seductive