The music industry is estimated to bring in 40 billion dollars a year. Due the industry influence and power, it is important to understand the way in which the products of this industry (i.e. artists, music, videos…) influence people. This industry is far reaching and therefore can do a tremendous amount of good; on the other hand depending on what is being put out in terms of messages found in the lyrical content of popular songs/ artists the effects of music can be damaging. Music affects the way in which people speak, dress, talk, look, and in some cases think. In the culture of music, specifically Rap/ Hip Hop men and women enable and support practices that work against the role of women as a part of society that should be valued for more than their bodies.
The lyrics and videos that are associated with Rap/ Hip Hop music exploit women as sexual commodities. In an article from the Eye on Culture paper titled “Listen to Those Lyrics” by Colleen Raezler she takes a look at top songs and the messages their lyrics send. “ Singing sexually degrading lyrics is not the exclusive province of male performers” (p.4); this point from Raezler highlights the notion that within the music world women play a role in the degrading and derogatory messages that are put forth. Ear catching examples of this is Janet Jackson saying “Tonight my body is an exhibition baby” in her song “Feedback” or Mariah Carey repeatedly saying “touch my body, play with me some more” in her song “Touch My Body”. The lines from these songs might appear insignificant or harmless but to those that are influenced by what popular music artists have to say, these messages could become the way they view the world. For a female that looks up to Mariah or Janet their songs could be seen as instruction manuals around the way to live. Similarly artist such as Lil Wayne who puts out explicit verses such as “she say he so sweet make her wanna lick the rapper’’ wield an influence over young people that may influence them to believe that women’s sexual ability is what is most significant about them as members of society.
Young women and men get a lot of their ideas about the way females should look and be treated from the popular music they listen to. In her article for the Daily News, Tina Moore quoted that “We must deal with the fact that “ho” and the b-word are words that are wrong from anybody’s lips, the Rev. Al Sharpton said after CBS fired radio host Don Imus over his remarks about the Rutgers women’s basketball team” (p.1). Moore is helping to highlight the way in which the words that come through popular music can be damaging and using words that are degrading to a category of people in simply not acceptable. Moore goes on to point out that Rap/Hip Hop is a roughly 30 year old genre that has always faced harsh criticism by groups that take offense to certain lyrical content.
Females’ sense of self is negatively impacted by the images and lyrical messages they are exposed to in the music and music videos of rap/hip hop music. As the FOCUS… organization states on their website “Teens have their own cultural beliefs about what is normal sexual behavior…the infrequent portrayals of sexual risks on TV, such as disease and pregnancy, trivialize the importance of sexual responsibility”. For much of the American culture reckless sexual behavior seems to be celebrated through various parts of the media, particularly music. This is why it is important to see that people are influenced by the music they hear and the videos they see that send the message that a female has to be physically appealing to male to have worth or a woman’s worth goes as far as her role as a sexual object.
It might be argued that the music industry, particularly rap/hip hop music, affords women the opportunity to gain money, independence, and positions of influence. But it can be argued that within these opportunities women have to demean themselves to get to where they want to be. For instance artists such as Lil’ Kim and Nicky Minaj are very popular females in the hip hop/ rap arena a large part of the popularity these women experience is due to the way they chose to look physically. More specifically Lil’ Kim has had implants put in, while there is much speculation around whether Nicky Minaj has had but implants. Therefore while we see these females in positions of power it interesting to notice that male rap/hip hop artists are not help to the same standards or expectations to modify their bodies to get ahead.
Some may also say that music is a place of self-expression but when one has an influence over many others, especially young minds, his or her responsibility goes beyond the self. According to a study done by FOCUS Adolescent services “Girls who watched more than 14 hours of rap music per week were more likely to have multiple sex partners and be diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease”. With such a direct connections being made between sexual behavior/ health and the intake of rap music it is important for artist to understand the responsibility they have not only to express themselves but to have a positive impact on those that look up to them.
Rap/ Hip Hop are a part of the music industry that brings to light highly publicized ideas and messages that are demeaning to women. Unfortunately within this industry women take part in creating music and taking roles that perpetuate the same messages that degrade them. The music industry has made a way for women to earn power, money, and influential status but the women in this industry can mainly do so by taking part by selling themselves to the public as sexual commodities. The question is, are some musical icons selling the public ideas that do more harm than good? The idea of the role one can play in society as a woman or man is not something to be bought or sold. This is a responsibility that should be taken to heart by those that hold an influence over the minds or millions; musicians hold such power.
