Hip-hop is turning 50 this year. The genre of music that exploded in the US during the late 70s and early 80s is undeniably one of the most consumed genres of music around the world. One of the greatest appeals of rap music is that it doesn't shy away from discussing any issue. Whether it is about social justice, sex, drugs or other issues, rap music leads the music industry by discussing them. But, this mass appeal also has a downside. The hip-hop music scene has always been sexist, or should I say misogynistic?
Hip-hop -- which is predominantly rap music -- began in the Bronx, New York. In the beginning, the genre was predominantly followed by African-American, Afro-Caribbean and Latin-American youths.
Mathew Oware, an Associate Professor and Chair of the Sociology and Anthropology Department at DePauw University in Indiana, says in an article that rap was party music when it first originated in 1979, with the release of "Rappers Delight", which became the first rap song to go mainstream on vinyl. But eventually, it changed to socially conscious music. Rappers concentrated on portraying their daily life and what they saw around them in their lyrics.
In the mid-80s, a new genre called gangsta rap emerged, which shifted the sound of rap and has played an important part in how today's hip-hop music scene works. Even though poverty and gang violence were the major themes in gangsta rap lyrics, they also had elements of misogyny in them.
Despite the violence, and improper language in the lyrics, rap music only kept growing and has become a global phenomenon.
According to Luminate's 2022 midyear charts, hip-hop is still the top genre of music consumed across the globe. Even as their popularity continues to grow, hip-hop and rap music are still in the middle of controversies, many of which relate to misogyny in the genre.
Misogyny in hip-hop
In 2022, when Drake and 21 Savage dropped their joint album "Her Loss", it caused a stir on social media for its misogynistic lyrics. Drake was criticized for the opening verse of the song "Circo Loco", as it appeared to be a reference to Megan Thee Stallion and her 2020 shooting incident involving rapper Tory Lanez. In the opening verse of the song, Drake talks about his sex life before referencing a dishonest woman, which fans and critics believe is a diss towards the female rapper.
This will not be the last such instance. And that's the scariest part of hip-hop. The genre has normalised the weaponisation of the medium to tear down women, especially black women.
In 1988, when MC Lyte released the first solo hip-hop album by a female artist, women flooded the hip-hop scene. “At the same time, the lyrical content of our male counterparts seemed to shift,” said Ellen Chamberlain in her “Misogyny in Hip-Hop” TED talk. Male rappers began to incorporate derogatory statements and words directed at women.
She further states that hip-hop culture has always used women as props. She specifically mentions how the hip-hop crew in the 90s had female members. However, they were not offered the privilege of shining on their own or becoming independent successful artists.
When analysing rap music, the most common feature one finds is the portrayal of women in derogatory ways. The genre portrays women as less than what they are.
Women in hip-hop
In a USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative study, Professor Stacy L. Smith analyzed the artists of 700 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart over the years 2012 to 2018. Professor Smith uncovered that across all seven years, 12.3 per cent of songwriters were female, 21.7 per cent of the artists were female and only 2 per cent of producers across 400 songs were female. Most crucially, the producing side of the music industry has consistently lacked female representation.
Like in any other field, there is a big gender gap in the music industry as well. But it might seem bigger in hip-hop because the genre, ever since its inception, has always revolved around male artists. It is a genre dominated by men, where more than 90 per cent of the artists are male.
An example of the underrepresentation of female rappers in the genre is the number of female rappers who have topped the charts and won prestigious awards so far. Only a handful of female rappers—including Megan Thee Stallion, Iggy Azalea, and Cardi B—have topped the Billboard Hot 100 since Lauryn Hill, the first female rapper to top the Billboard Hot 100. Cardi B leads the group with five total No. 1 singles.
In 2023, Rolling Stone magazine released a list of the 200 greatest rappers of all time. Only five among the top fifty were female rappers. Unironically, most of the male rappers in that top 50 have been criticized for their misogynistic lyrics. That includes artists like Drake, Dr Dre and NWA. It is so common even among the most 'respected' hip-hop artists to write misogynistic lyrics.
When Cardi B won the Best Rap Album at the 2019 Grammys, she made history, because in this decades-long genre, a female rapper had finally won that prestigious award for the first time.