This is a great response. I think it's fair enough to discuss it, though, and the issue has arisen in specific media, as that essay by dream showed. Andrew's contribution was well intentioned.
---------- >From: Kent williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: 313 list <313@hyperreal.org> >Subject: Re: (313) Re: hey ya? >Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 6:30 AM > > On Sat, 20 Dec 2003, spacecrusher wrote: >> lets also point out that for all the misogynism in hip hop, > > It comes in many flavors -- straight up women-hating, parody of straight > up women-hating, ironic, comic, critique of misogyny -- and it comes down > to who's saying it, why they're saying it, and whether it reinforces negative > attitudes in listeners. > > Whether Andres and Big Boy are women-haters or not? Dunno. Can you separate > their personal attitudes from the characters they seek to portray in their > songs? Are they holding up the character for critique, or are they actually > expressing misogyny? Are they thoughtlessly incorporating the language of > hip hop misogyny into their work without considering it's implications? > > And there's a thing in hip hop where the goal is to say the most outrageous > thing you can and see if you get away with it. Like a phrase from Rampage > I heard him drop Thursday night: "I'm gonna beat you down worse than Oprah > in 'The Color Purple'" -- is that misogynistic, or just a battle rhyme? > > I think that it's easy to condemn stuff in hip-hop for being politically > incorrect, and difficult to actually decode the message. If you like an > artist's work in general it's easy to temporize to justify their less savory > pronouncements. > > And those of us who are among the white audience of a primarily black > art form, without the full context of the gender issues in African-American > Culture, it's arrogant and possibly racist to make any sweeping statement. > >
