Black Female Identity In Black Female Rap Hits Cultural Studies Essay

guttlecast young-bearing(prenominal) Identity In B overlook Fe manly soul Rap Hits Cultural Studies EssayRap is sh argond a event of music which serves as a means of expression for those who thumb conf functiond and outraged in Ameri ratister society for authorized reasons. harmonise to Tricia ruddiness, (or you assume to provide the names of the many scholars that you b ware in mind in the foot none) rose hip joint hop in America originated from disadvantaged neighborhoods and served as a voice for people who lacked post secondary education and had difficulties in finding a job in the new post-industrial service sector economy. In the early beginning rap artists rapped round p undefendedy, racism and injustice. As the musical drift was developing, tits would look for inspiration in former(a) aspects of their every life. Male/ distaff relationships would appear as a common motif in their handstal strains. As discourseed in the first chapter, misogynistic mes sages could be found in a extensive share of anthropoid rap hits. Although rap has been associated mainly as celestial orbit of workforce, young-bearing(prenominal) contri hardlyion to this genre is similarly significant. Hence it is worth examining how their legacy contri scarceed to the grisly egg-producing(prenominal) image in the fall in States. It is alike heavy to none how the messages in their melodys differed from those of phallic rap artists. In this chapter I am going to guidance on the motifs of sinister womanish identity which hued the lyrics of young-bearing(prenominal) rap hits starting from the late mid-eighties through the beginning of the 20 first ascorbic acid. I will represent my analysis by referring to the undivided kit and boodle of literary scurrilous hip hop culture critics much(prenominal) as Tricia Rose, bell hooks, Gwendolyn D. Pough or Cheryl L. K look. The findings presented in this study will be ground on the existing researc hes on the subject as rise as my lyric interpretation of billboards Hot Rap Year End Charts. unmatchable of the recognized social theorists, Patricia Hill Collins, claims that much of the contemporary social phenomena is soundless and analyzed from the European, white male standpoint. Moreover, by this improvement mordant women in bureauicular shit been horse sensed as non-human, commodified and objectified. Needless to say, it is important to labyrinthine sense this approach by interpreting vague womens stick ups from their perspective. I find aesthetic invents of young-bearing(prenominal) person bosoms, as well as their interviews to a be a great source for such a counter analysis. Female rap artists would oftentimes identify themselves as belonging to a genuine crew or would use the haggling as drop, attitude, queen, diva date describing or referring to one an early(a). Based on those self imposed labels, Cheryl L. Keyes distinguishes iv prevailing types of young-bearing(prenominal) knockers baron M other, vanish Girl, Sista with status and Lesbian. These categories reflect certain images, voices and ages of African American women. Interestingly enough, rappers assigned to these groups marked their presence on the hip hop stroke in this particular assure scarce, as Keyes noted, they can swing between these teams or belong to a a couple of(prenominal) concurrently.According to Keyes, the first group poof Mothers consists mainly of early female rap pioneers of the 1980s such as Queen Latifah, Roxanne Shante or MC Lyte. They express strong companionship to their African heritage by job themselves Nubian queens, and hold uping ethnic clothes and jewelry. The symbol of queen mother whitethorn be supposedly rooted in African court tradition. Mothers of kings in many African kingdoms utilise to be cult objects and granted fussy privileges. Queen Mothers in hip hop culture also consider themselves as strong, in allegeigent s omber women responsible of spreading the intelligence activity among the community. They discuss issues similar to their male counterparts marginalization, subjugation, and hardship of an urban life. A foot of their appertain would be also hetero enkindleual advances of men toward women, as well as internal violence, and male wakenism. These female rappers tended to present dingy women in their numberss as self assured and main(a) .Similarly to male rappers, they would aim to take exception racist white supremacy by their music. Whilst sorry males in order to empower themselves oftentimes resort to sexist notions addressed towards their female counterparts, Queen Mothers do not apply the comparable strategy of subordination. As the excerpts from the songs presented in the first chapter show, many male hip hop artists depict women notwithstanding as familiar objects and generally cast derogative begin on them. Some black culture critics, as bell hooks, claim that male gangsta rappers engage in this behavior because women supposedly emasculate black men, negating their human race and reducing the esteem received from others. The critic also states that well-nigh black males lack strong male (father) models to look up to. They are organismness convinced throughout their childhood that they are not destined to rick up as successful, strong, virtuous males. preferably they receive education how to snuff it emotionless thugs. hooks blames the mass media for perpetuating the image of a strong, angry black woman as opposed to black castrated male who is not able to provide for his family. Other reason for that may be the business of female intimateity, thus women must be keepled.Queen Mothers demand respect not only for black community in general moreover for black women in particular. This causes a huge inner identity campaign among black women, whether to be loyal to their ethnicity and race or gender. Extending the theory of black femini sm to rap, black female rappers provide back lashing voices against male sexism and misogyny. However, universe a black feminist should not mean rejection of the African heritage. The African legacy may be utilized as an superfluous source of strength and power in this struggle. Tricia Rose in the her adjudge Black Noise argues that in the late 1980s and early mid-nineties pioneer female rappers although refraining from calling themselves feminist, expressed three feminist standpoints female empowerment, agency, and independence. They would quite a call themselves womanists as they did not feel much connection with the predominantly white second wave feminism movement. Moreover, they felt as having been overlooked or even purposely excluded by white feminists in their struggle for female empowerment. These artists rejected and challenged representations of women as simply sexual objects. Rose states that they use rap music as a platform of difference of opinion between other fe male and male artists, and their audience in general.The to the highest degree noticeable Queen Mother on the hip hop injection is Dana Queen Latifah Owens. Although latifah in Arabic means feminine, delicate and kind she wax to be also a strong and influential rap artist. At the young age of cardinal one, she became well acclaimed artist. Despite her young age, her mother wish behavior and mature approach to life do her to be comprehend as a Queen Mother. Although she would find such comparison flattering, she attempt to distance herself from being labeled. She would call herself a queen because every black female is a queen to her. The reason why Queen Latifah and other rappers have been allocated to the group of Queen Mothers may be linked to the othermothers phenomenon in black African community. Patricia Hill Collins elaborates on this notion in Black womens rightist Thought. She claims that black women take a significant part in fostering of the black society in the United States. They have developed an image of a strong black woman who contributes to the whole black community well-being. The notion of motherhood in general, whether invoked by bloodmothers or othermothers, has powerful connotation. It seems that African American community seeks for strong mother figures not only in real life but also on the hip hop delineation. Queen Latifah reflects the image of othermother by taking up serious political-economic issues of the black community in her lyrics, as in The vicious that Men Do whither she raps about struggle of women on welfare.another(prenominal) pil mortifiedcase of a strong political commentary is Queen Latifahs song Ladies First. She focuses hither(predicate)(predicate) on promoting womens importance and clamors for their equal treatment. She raps about the need for sisterhood which prompts women to support each other. The notion of sisterhood is emphasized here by the detail that the artist collaborates with another black European female rapper, Monie Love. They feel affiliated with each other by the bonds of the same gender and race. This is a veritable(prenominal) approach of women of annotate engaged in the terce Wave Feminist Movement in America. The concept of global sisterhood coined by the indorsement Wave feminists is questioned and challenged here. Black feminists manifest more connection with other women of color from different countries or countries of their origin than with white middle class women from the United States. The video to Ladies First is also a tribute to African American womens history featuring images of activists and abolitionists as Rosa Parks, Angela Davis, Harriet Tubman, or entrepreneurs as Madame C.J. Walker. The video also features the image of Winnie Mandela which may serve as a commemoration of the struggle against segregation in South Africa as well as wildness on the concept of global black sisterhood. The rappers bring back these images into the light in o rder to re-inspire all women of color and prove they are fitting of achieving the highest goals as breaking the racism and sexism.Queen Latifah in her Grammy Award-winning song U.N.I.T.Y, as one of the first female artists does not only prove her rapping skills but also takes up the issues which divide black community. She focuses here on perpetuated hatred directed by black males toward black females. She answers back to males who use the insult bitch in filename extension to women. She does so by employ similar forms that are used by many of their male counterparts to defame women. By the use of vulgar language she reclaims those forms for women. Another pioneer rapper, MC Lyte in her song Paper Thin also makes a black female a subject. She brings her to the center of discussion by rapping about the constrains of her (own?) involution and setting the rules by which she will date a man. According to Rose, the to a higher place mentioned artists messages are both emancipating and liberating for women. They rebel against the restrain of black female voices, oblation counter hegemonic perspectives. Female gangsta rappers in particular, have created and imposed their own definitions of muliebrity through their use of vulgarism, voice intonations, and sexuality.Although most female rappers identify themselves by belonging to specific rap crews, well-nigh of them would fall from one house to another or exist in many simultaneously. As an practice of such a swinging artist may serve Yo Yo. The rapper and activist when perceived through the prism of her artistic and social plow would be allocated to the group of Queen Mothers. Her songs are devoted to her view on the political issues and black feminism. She is the founder of the group Intelligent Black Women alignment (I.BW.C.) which aimed to fight against racism and sexism. Yet, Keyes claims that her style and attire would suggest she also fits the menage of so called Fly Girls who gained recognitio n on hip hop scene mainly in the nineties. The origin of the new signification of the word fly dates back to the sixties and seventies and describes someone wearing fancy clothes. The style has been presented in the blaxploitation movies like The Superfly (1972), Shaft (1971), The Mack (1973) or Foxy chocolate-brown (1974) and whence adopted by the black youth in the eighties and nineties. Indeed, what distinguished Fly Girls from Queen Mothers at first sight was their sense of appearance. Queen Mothers tried to affirm their eroticism that refrains from the nakedness and exposure of Hesperian styles by rejection of miniskirts or high heels. Fly Girls did not fear to wear smutty clothes which accentuated their sexuality. They tried to counterbalance Western European dish aerial canon by showing the beauty of black female body, come with by eye catching hairstyles, shiny jewelry and suggestive dancing. By doing so they made a statement against the white supremacist boss of th e black round female body being undesirable. It was their fashion style that made them not only heard but also visible. The male hip hop group the shuttlecockgie Boys describe a fly misfire as Woman who wants to see her name, her game or her ability. . . she sports a lot of gold, wears tight jeans, leather miniskirts, a made up face, has voluptuous curves, but speaks her mind.The most prolific and well pronounced Fly Girls of hip hop scene is undoubtedly the trio Salt- N- Pepa. They aspired to be acknowledged as models of real independent and successful black women of the nineties. They reached the peak of their popularity in the early nineties by releasing controversial hits like Lets Talk About Sex (1991), What a Man (1993), or Shoop(1993). While the first mentioned hit raised sentiency about safe sex, the other songs can be interpreted as manifestation on female sexuality and appraisal of men in terms of friendship, love and inti young man heterosexual relations. Lyrics from t heir popular song Aint Nuthin besides a She Thing, again typify messages of their powerful womanhood Im a female, and I got it goin on /Dont be fooled by my s-e-x/It aint that simple, Im more complex/Lets keep despicable forward, girls, never look back. In this song artists are exchanging ideas with women and men in general, warning men not to rely on clichd notions of gender roles when interacting with women. They refuse to be considered as a weaker sex. They prove of their ability to work as hard as men, yet their intention is not to empower, or emasculate men. Similarly, they are passing on the same message to women piece of music concurrently urging these women to progress, not regress, in their thinking and behavior. Such messages permeate most of the Salt N- Pepa top hits. umteen examples of the Fly Girls songs take focus on female agency in male/female relationships perceived from the womens point of view. In the chorus of her song, Whats Up Star, Suga initiates the inter action with males Whats up star, Id like to get to know who you are/Lets have drinks at the bar/And if I like what I see then the drinks is on me. While men are normally considered to be the initiators in heterosexual relationships, here the artist takes it over and demonstrates her empowerment on this field. By doing so she violates an unwritten mathematical function of male-female courtship. She breaches the gendered norm of conduct. Instead of waiting for a man to approach her with an offer to buy her a drink, she would rather sit in judgment and watch over attainable suitors. Upon verificatory evaluation of a potential mate she offers to buy him a drink. Another example of assuming power comes from a rapper and bass dancer, MC Luscious, who in her song Boom I Got Your Boyfriend seizes another hypothetical womens partner Ill take him, jolt him, ring him out/ Ill show your man what its all about./ So when he tells you its the end./Thats when you know I got your boyfriend. Her use of the verbs take, shake, and ring in reference to her male lover illustrates the discover that she maintains over him. She outdoes her female competitor by articulating her ability to sexually expose what the girlfriend cannot to the boyfriend, leading to the termination of the relationship. Thus, she demonstrates her control and manipulation of the lover and eventually her supremacy over the female antonym by stealing her boyfriend. Although deceitful and potentially unethical, MC Lusciouss desires, and behaviors are at the core of attention in her song.Another significant group of Fly Girls worth noticing is TLC ( Tione T-Boze Watkins, Lisa Left-Eye Lopez and Rozonda Chilli Thomas). Their popularity had been quickly developing since their debut in 1991 and reached its maximum in the second half of the nineties. They spread similar messages to the other Fly Girls like rising awareness about safe sex (Waterfalls) or fighting with women insecurity (Unpretty). They also introd uced more diverse fashion sense. Instead of accentuating their fit bodies with tight clothes, they would wear baggy pants as a symbol of solidarity with women of less flattering shapes. Similar approach was interpreted by another Fly Girl Missy Misdemeanor Elliot. macrocosm a successful writer and producer paved her way to the howling(a) success in the music industry. In no time she was offered a possibility to instal her clothing line and appeared in GAP and Adidas commercial-grades. The feature that full-figured Missy became a model of the established clothing brand could be perceived as groundbreaking in the sphere of perception of black female bodies. She serves as a role model to many black women who doubt in their attractiveness.As during the late nineties rap became commercialized, gained greater audience and shifted to mainstream it is worth examining what were the messages conveyed by the female rappers. During this time some female artists were as popular and selling as many records as men for example, Lil Kim and Foxy Brown both had albums that sold one million copies. present-day(a) female rappers of the late nineties and the beginning of the twenty first century also endeavor in empowering and subversive mission against male domination, but the lyrical content of their songs show surprising and alarming similarities between them and male rappers. This may be one of the reasons why these female rappers gained more commercial recognition than the pioneers. As means of empowerment they apply the strategy of heavy(a) the attitude and answering back in a rude means to their male counterparts. This group of female rappers fall into the category of Sistas with Attitude which includes such popular rappers as Foxy Brown, Lil Kim, and Da Brat, or Sis, or eventide. The attribute of their style is the employment of the same symbolic speech and behaviors as their male curse word rappers. It may seem that by doing so they show (try? unclear) to be equal to men on every aim. The lyrics of their songs included motives of indulging in hedonistic activities as partying and smoking marijuana with their men, seducing, harassing, and sexually emasculating male characters as well as disrespecting (dissin) their male and female counterparts. Although so called dissing in female rappers songs is mainly directed at male sexism, an analysis of contemporary female rap songs reveals that there are instances the same strategy is aimed at women. It is well visible here that Sistas with Attitude seek for their self empowerment by all means.The content of songs with attitude is abundant in vulgarity. The use of derogatory terms may be interpreted in a positive way. I trace some similarities between Sistas with Attitude and some of the Third Wave of feminism representatives. Similarly to them, female rappers reversed the pejorative meaning of vulgar words addressed to women.Sistas may be considered a mutualr, garment version of Third Wave of feminism Girlies or Riot Grrls. These were usually members of underground punk bands who addressed issues as rape, female sexuality, domestic abuse, and female empowerment. Same as Sistas they also adopted derogatory, hurt words as cunt bitch slut in their vernacular. By writing these words on their skins or t-shirts they ridiculed and nullified their derogatory meaning. On the one hand, renewal of the shoply used word bitch may be perceived as a positive way of self empowerment or as providing healing liberation. Other critics claim that this may bring worse returns as the message of female empowerment seem to be small-scale and eradicated by female self-objectification. maven of the most reoccurring motives found in female rap lyrics is their swaggering feminine self assurance. This characteristic of rap has its grow in part of African-American oral tradition of toasting , where the toast-teller employs in verbal self- enhancement, and presents himself or herself as the dre ams of his or her Black audience and symbolize for them gladness and accomplishment against the odds. For instance, in Sittin on Top of the World, Da Brat writes Im on top of the world/Girlfriend offender cuz they mans think Im all that/ One of the baddest bitches on the planet. She highlights how she is so bad, meaning great to such extent that she aggravates other women because their men find her beautiful. Another fitting example of braggadocio can be found in evens song What Ya Want, writing Popular since I started my life/ Every thugs dream wife, see the love in they eyes/My time to shine, whole package make her a dime. In these lyrics, the rapper is presenting herself as popular, and good-looking to every male and a perfectly make physically ( a dime in hip hop vernacular).Many rappers enhance their sense of attractiveness by emphasizing their possession of incomparable objects that others cannot afford. Foxy Brown, who adopted her moniker from the seventies blaxploitation movie protagonist of the same title, in Ill Na Na raps Uhh, rollin for Lana, dripped in Gabbana/And yall gon see by these mils I possess/Never settle for less, Im in excess. Foxy highlights here the fact that she wears expensive womens designer clothing that working class and upper-middle-class individuals could not afford. Furthermore, the audience gets the message that Foxy earns millions of dollars from her rapping. She also admits she is not spontaneous to settle down and start a family but would rather live in abundance of material goods on her own. A vast majority of the female artists mentioned owning luxurious intersections of mass consumption. Obviously, possession of extravagant material goods are crucial for many contemporary female artists. Material success, fame, and sexual ecstasy is their achieved American Dream. Similarly to male rap artists who glamorize life a of a pimp, these female artists present themselves as physically attractive to possible mates as well as in possession of goods that timed people do not and cannot acquire. This type and degree of overconfidence permeates throughout rap music and is common to both sexes of rappers. It illustrates artists abilities, or their dreams, to overcome obstacles (unattractiveness, lack of money) and eventually achieve (sexual and material) success.The partying, alcohol and drugs abuse is a frequent theme also in Sistas with Attitude rap music. In the overall adjudicate of a sociologist and anthropologist Matthew Owares study of 44 female hip hop songs of the nineties, in each song there was an average of one-and a-half references made to alcohol or drugs. For instance, in her song Deeper, rapper called Boss refers to both alcohol and drug use. In these lyrics, Boss is indulging in a popular process liquor, and also smokes chronic, a strong form of marijuana mixed cocaine. Another song by Queen Pen, Party Aint a Party, presents Im tipsy from the cab, down the whole bottle of Henney/ Is yo u dealing with the cat thats blunted. Queen Pens alcohol is Seagrams Hennessy and blunted means being under the influence of marijuana. These female rappers refute the stereotype that women refrain from hard alcoholic drinks and illegal drugs. These women depict themselves as being equal to men by winsome in similar potentially harmful behaviors.Another feature of rap music that is often taken up by female rappers is disrespecting or dissin, which is the act of verbally insulting an opposition. Dissin allegedly has its origins in West Africa, among tribes such as the Efik in Nigeria and subsequently could be found in early African-American oral traditions. geneva Smitherman writes women rule when it comes to signifyingfemale rappers use this age-old rhetorical strategy to launch critical offensives. Traces of such style can be found in the verse rapped by Heather B. Fuck how much you sell cause, I read your album cover/You couldnt write a jam if your closing name was Smucker. A s jam may also mean a hit song she ridicules here the amount of records sold by her opponent while dissing his writing skills contrasting them with a popular food product brand Smuckers Jam.Most disrespecting attitudes were pointed at males who attempted to pursue women with pretentious tales of sexual gratification. While some rappers resorted to warning of the potential suitor who must approach them in a courteous manner or gets rejected, other rappers would openly ridicule males sex skills and their fear of womens sexuality. Considered to be one of the most overt and explicit rappers, Lil Kim in Hardcore rhymes The sex was wack, a four stroke creep/(later he asked) Could he come over right betting and fuck my pretty ass?/Ill pass, nigga dick was trash. The rapper sets here her own conditions for a sexual intercourse. She keeps men under control and reserves the right to choose her partner by assessing his sex skills. She also implies what is surely feared by most of the heterose xual males to be ridiculed by a woman for poor sex performance. Black males, in particular the ones who have been trying to conceal the image of an emasculated black man, may feel highly sensitive about it. As many instances of male rap hits presented in the first chapter show that they tried to apply many strategies to recollect their control over women. Boasting about their sexual hyper skills was a frequent topic.Gangsta Boo, a successful Sista with Attitude of the late nineties and early twenty first century, touches upon similar themes in her lyrics Ha-ha, hey, Ladies check this out/ Well, let me tell this story about this nigga/ With a little dick but when its hard, hes swearin it (is) bigger/ Im not to be the one guess you aint got much to offer. Here, Gangsta Boo speaks directly to women about false male machismo. Boo, similarly to her counterpart Lil Kim sets the norms here and evaluates whether her possible mate lives up to her expectations. When finds out that the man is poorly endowed, she ridicules him in front of other women. Hence, as Tricia Rose writes we have women speaking to men, engaging in critiques of supposed male sexual prowess in addition, they are speaking to other women about the failed attempts of these men to satisfy them sexually. These disses provide a female response to male rappers chauvinism, misogyny and bragging about their sexual potency.Similarly empowering themes also permeate throughout the songs and lyrics that present female sexuality. some(prenominal) popular female rap artists depicted themselves as explicitly sexualized. Lil Kim in one of her songs vulgarly demonstrates her acting upon a partner and presents herself as not submissive in sexual relationship. She clearly rejects here the romantic prototype of a pure virgin who is overtaken by more experienced lover. Yet, Kim is not a ho, in hip hop vernacular, because her sexuality is not being exploited by her mate, she does not submit to his wants or desires fo r his satisfaction rather she gains sexual gratification from this encounter. In hegemonic discourses surrounding womens sexuality, women are silenced or are not allowed to derive pleasure from sexual intercourse with males. Kim articulates her pleasure.Oware in his study notes also another explicitly sexual song of Lil Kims fellow sista Trina, where she raps G-string make his dick stand/Make it quick then slow head by the night stand/See I fuck him in the living room/I make him eat it while my period on. Similarly to Lil Kim, Trina controls the sexual relationship with her male partners. Also, in her narrative, she makes her male partners perform oral sex while she is menstruating, a level of vulgarity that many heterosexual males would find mortifying. Although this new level of vulgarity was introduced mainly by Sistas with Attitude, similar motifs can be seen in the songs of before mentioned Fly Girls such as Salt-N-Pepa. Even though they characteristically had lyrics that sce ptred women, they also had lyrics where they sexualized themselves I throw it like a pitcher, let my sex appeal hit ya/ Game so sharp that it split ya. The quoted whiz Gitty Up was released in 1998 which may imply that some Fly Girls opted to rig to the common explicit, raunchy style of the late nineties and first ex of the twentieth century. Similar path was chosen by some representatives of Queen Mothers who also shared similar coarse style in some of their late nineties songs. MC Lyte in one of her Grammy-awarded songs raps about a ruffneck but she does not condemn his involvement in criminal activities there. Instead she assures her listeners what is her main interest But he dont gotta be large to be in charge/Pumpin in and out and out and in and here we go/Hes got smack it, lick it, swallow it up style.As we can see in aforementioned examples, sexually explicit lyrics exist in second wave 1990s female rappers songs. Furthermore, some female pioneers who are known for songs e spousing the positives of womanhood also employ overtly sexual lyrics in some of their songs during this time. They risked their well established, positive image by collaboration with the controversial, coarse style of rap which gained prominence recently. This contradiction potentially undermines any empowering messages that these rappers used to convey. Sistas With Attitude did not only present themselves in overly sexualized ways, but as stated before they also used language that would be considered derogatory and demeaning to women. The majority of the female artists in my sample referred to themselves or other women as bitches. Reclamation of bitch by female rappers may be perceived not only as a joyride for self empowerment as Queen Mothers and Fly Girls would argue. The word metaphorically translates as a demeaning and derogatory word usually targeted towards women. However, the word holds multiple meanings in rap music, particularly in songs by female rappers. Whilst Fly Gi rls would explain the word denotes a positive and strong woman, Sistas with Attitude extend the definition to an assertive female who subverts patriarchal supremacy. In her song She is a skreak, Missy Elliott uses the word bitch to describe a person with lyrical skills, who can motivate and excite an audience. Self-evident from the title, Da Baddest Bitch rapper, Trina, metaphorically speaking, expresses how she is the best at rhyming and sexual activities. Following in the tradition of the bad nigger tales of the late nineteenth century, these bad girls of hip hop present themselves as the best at their craft, although employing non-normative and masculine language.According to Rose in cases where females music departs from males there are more instances of empowering lyrics about women. Although these female rappers lyrics consist a lot of references to indulging in low entertainment as consumption of alcohol and drug, as well as engaging in disrespecting acts of verbal abuse, se veral songs found in the Billboard charts deal with more serious issues. There are songs that take into thoughtfulness domestic violence, female self-determination and power, and sexuality from the perspective of women. For instance, in her song, Eve casts a bright light on the matter that is seldom discussed in rap music and in the African American community domestic violence How would you feel if she held you down and raped you?/What kind of love from a nigga would black your eye?/Smacked you down cause he tell you was too tall for him, huh? Female rappers while talking about respective(a) issues also shared other similarities with male rappers, such as riotous use of violent lyrics. How could you beat the mother of your kids? In this song Eve argues from the standpoint of the victim. Her female friend is beaten, raped, and eventually killed by her abuser. In the song she asks the victim about why she stays with the oppressor and later she confronts him about his actions. In the end, Eve kills the abuser. Her song reverberates as a warning, alarming all women against proper