Do you feel that this article is unfairly criticizing misogyny in rap by implying that the problem is more pervasive or genre-wide than it is?

All parts are different topics and will have attached music playlist/ PowerPoint slides since this is an assignment just for missing work throughout semester.

PART 1.
Next, please read the article “The Words Have Changed But the Ideology Remains the Same: Misogynistic Lyrics in Rap Music” from Journal of Black Studies 36, no. 6. After reading, please answer the following questions:

1) Do you feel that this article is unfairly criticizing misogyny in rap by implying that the problem is more pervasive or genre-wide than it is? If no, please provide details about why. If yes, please provide song examples in support.
2) What is your take on this quote: “Although music is powerful, music is only a reflection of social relations and culture; thus misogynistic views have a cultural rather than a musical value.” Do you agree? If so, explain why music is “only a reflection.” Do you disagree? If so, explain why or how music can produce views rather than merely reflecting them.
3) The authors seem to imply that the treatment of black women in rap partly derives from the treatment of black men as “less than” in a white patriarchal society. What other genres from this semester seem to work in a similar way (an oppressed class using music to mock or criticize members of an even-more oppressed class?)
4) Do you think that the authors are giving too much power to the stereotypes discussed? Please provide supporting examples for why they are or why they are not.
5) The authors say that “Although individuals may say, ‘I don’t buy into stereotypical ideologies,’ some aspect of their consciousness taps into this mythology.” Operating under the assumption that this is true, how might music play a role in deconstructing these stereotypes from the points of view of producer, consumer, and marketer? Give specific examples of choices that could be (or have been) made.
6) What about the female consumers of rap? Or the women who are willingly participating in the music as either performers or back-up dancers? Do they hold more of (or a different kind of) responsibility than their male counterparts? Why or why not?
Next please read “Sexism and Misogyny: Who Takes the Rap?” by bell hooks.
bell hooks presents an interesting counterpoint to the views expressed in our other reading for this week. Please share your thoughts on the following questions:
1) What are your thoughts on her view that misogyny is a “field that must be labored in and maintained. . . . . to sustain patriarchy. And what better group to labor on this ‘plantation’ than young black men?” Does she remove too much agency from the lyricists and performers or is she rightfully acknowledging the continuing lack of power of black men in a white patriarchal society? Or perhaps some combination of both? After you provide your thoughts, write a few sentences about the responsibility of the performers, some of whom have become very wealthy thanks to this genre, in this system.
2) Comment on hooks’s comparison of misogyny and sexism in “The Piano” with misogyny and sexism in gangsta rap. Do you agree with her assessment? Why or why not?
3) Who does hook says are the “audiences who feel such a desperate need for gangsta rap?” How does this audience differ in terms of race and/or socio-economic class from the original urban youth audience of rap? What does this audience and the way they are using this genre tell us about the current(ish) status of the feminist movement?

Next please read the article titled “Tupac Shakur and Feminism.”
WHILE READING ABOUT SHAKUR AND LAMAR, GO BACK TO THE POWERPOINT SLIDES – EACH MAN HAS A SLIDE!
1) What are your thoughts about how the author reconciles Shakur’s two styles of portraying women in his songs? Or does he try and fail to do so?
2) Listen to “Brenda’s Got a Baby.” The article does not include this as one of Shakur’s feminist anthems but I argue that it should be considered as such. What is the feminist message of this song? How is it different from others we’ve heard this week in terms of how it portrays women? How is it also not different?
Next please read the article from Medium, “I’m Not Mad at Kendrick Lamar’s Portrayal of Women, You Shouldn’t Be Either.”
In this article, the writer presents an interesting defense of Lamar’s portrayal of women, implying that he was being unfairly judged because he has been labelled “socially-conscious” in the tradition of people like The Last Poets or songs like “The Message.”
1) Do you agree or disagree that Lamar should be judged differently based on the identity that has been assigned to him? Why or why not? (Think back to how we thought about Loretta Lynn’s identity contradictions).
2) Listen to “Humble.” What is his message to women? How does it relate to the portrayal of women in the other songs we’ve heard in this unit? Is there anything contradictory about it – why or why not?

Part 2. (attached will be songs and PowerPoint slides)
After taking note of these themes, please choose 1 of the following assignments.
1) Write 5 questions about issues raised in this week’s materials. The questions can be based on the songs or the readings or both. The questions should show that you have actively engaged with the material and should require your reader to actively engage with the material in order to answer them. In other words, please don’t give a question that can simply be Googled such as “What year did the Rolling Stones release “Satisfaction?”
2) Write a writing prompt in the style of the ones I’ve given for our informal journal entries. The writing prompt should offer some leads and give possible directions for your reader to pursue in her or his journal entry.

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