In: Handbook on Gender Roles
Editors: J. H. Urlich and B. T. Cosell, pp.
ISBN 978-1-60692-637-6
© 2009 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
First page affiliation: State/Country missing
Chapter 3
YOU’RE MY BITCH: CRUDE AND DEGRADING
TREATMENT OF WOMEN IN HARDCORE RAP
THROUGH THE EYES OF THE PREDOMINANTLY
WHITE TARGET AUDIENCE
Melinda C. R. Burgess
Southwestern OK State University
Karen E. Dill and Beth A. Wright
Lenoir-Rhyne University
ABSTRACT
Both news media and scholarly experts regularly criticize hardcore rap for its
violence and denigration of women. At the same time rap is routinely defended by the
industry as benefitting the community from which it originates. This chapter explores the
perceptions of rap by young adults, the people most likely to be listening to the music.
We assessed their opinions about the content of rap songs, the material typically seen in
rap videos, and the portrayal of women in rap. Additionally, we measured the young
adults' perceptions of the criticisms rap faces: do they feel the content influences negative
behaviors in listeners and who do they see benefitting, and in what ways, from the music.
Based on their reports, young people believe that women are portrayed in rap music in a
derogatory and sexualized fashion. The most common terms they listed included
ho/whore, bitch, slut, shawty and sexy thang. We emphasize that bitch, in rap lyrics, takes
on the meaning of one who submits to another’s will – sexually or otherwise. Consistent
with content analyses of rap, our sample also believe hardcore rap focuses on sex, drugs,
money, women and violence. Their perceptions are discussed in the context of what is
currently understood about media effects on attitudes and behaviors.
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Melinda C. R. Burgess, Karen E. Dill and Beth A. Wright
INTRODUCTION
In April, 2007 the Rutgers’ Women’s Basketball team won the Division I NCAA
Championship. Shortly afterwards, Don Imus, a radio “shock-jock,” was fired from CBS
Radio for his comments in which he referred to the (Black) team members as a group of
“nappy-headed hos.” As a shock-jock Imus could be expected to make offensive and
inflammatory remarks and perhaps the episode could be dismissed as the expected
denigration from a self-confessed “idiot” ["Imus Apologizes for Controversial Comments
about Rutgers Players," 2007]. However, in the fall of 2007, while testifying during a
Congressional hearing to explore the issues of media, misogyny and racism, the second
author listened to the industry defend itself from any wrong-doing in Imus’ derogatory
comments about the Rutgers’ women. Their defense? Since the rap artists, typically Black
men, referred to Black women in this way, why couldn’t/shouldn’t someone else? [From
Imus to Industry, 2007]
While this logic is certainly questionable in its responsibility and tastefulness, it is,
unfortunately, precisely what the Theory of Media and Aggressive Degradation [MAD
Theory, Dill & Burgess, in press] would predict. MAD Theory posits that degradation begets
degradation. When people view degradation of women (and minorities) in the media, this in
turn fuels degradation of real people in real life. Another tenet of MAD is that debasing media
portrayals encourage aggression towards the targeted group as well as increased tolerance for
this aggression [Dill, Brown, & Collins, 2008]. Rap music’s perceived degradation of Black
women, through labeling as “hos” and various other degrading portrayals, was a contributing
factor to the real life degradation of a group of phenomenally talented Black, female athletes.
PRESENT INVESTIGATION
The purpose of this chapter is to explore young people’s perceptions of rap music and its
portrayal of women. While rap has been soundly criticized from a multitude of sources, both
academic and political, for its embrace of violence and its glamorization of ganglife and drug
use [Haskins, 2000], and especially its misogynistic message and endorsement of rape culture
[e.g., Buchwald, Fletcher & Roth, 1993; Waldron, 1996], little research has concerned itself
with the perceptions of youth about the messages sent in rap lyrics. How do young people –
both rap listeners and non-listeners – understand and interpret the content of rap lyrics? Since
mass media use is the most common waking activity for youth, and since mass media teach
social information, this information is important to understand from the perspective of youth
socialization through media. White males, in particular, are the most frequent listeners of rap
music as a means to vicariously enjoy the “dangerous” stereotype of Black males [From Imus
to Industry, 2007]. The perception of rap stars and their messages by young adults is
important to analyze for a number of reasons. Adolescent males are more susceptible to
antisocial media influence than other groups, are more likely to find deviance--such as
violence--appealing, and are also more apt to experiment with these so called “forbidden”
behaviors. [Konijn et al., 2007].
You’re my Bitch: Crude and Degrading Treatment of Women in Hardcore Rap …
3
MUSIC VIDEOS AS SOCIAL INFLUENCE
While music and music videos have not been studied as extensively as other forms of
media (e.g., video games or television) by social psychologists, there is no reason to believe
that music and music videos are any less influential than any other form of electronic media.
Media, in any form, tell stories about cultural mores and expectations and individuals learn
about culture from the media. This is particularly true for individuals who have limited
exposure to a particular culture. For example, many White suburban children live in fairly
segregated communities, with the majority of their exposure to other ethnicities coming
largely from the media [Ward, 2005]. Music, and videos, both present an idealized view of
the world that tells a story about the way the world could, or should, be. Music and videos are
repetitive in nature – both radio stations and television video channels air repeated
presentations of songs providing the repetition that is so effective from a pedagogical
perspective [Gentile & Gentile, 2008].
RACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES IN RAP
The very notion of critiquing rap music is fraught with political overtones. While the
more public debate has centered on the “puerile rap” [Lena, 2006, p. 486] with its violent and
misogynistic overtones, there is an alternative interpretation of the protagonist (referred to as
a “hustler”) as an “anti-hero” [Lena, 2006, p. 486] who represents the “attitudes and social
crisis of the black underclass” [Armstrong, 2002, p.184]. Additionally there is a division
between East-Coast Rap, sometimes referred to as “Playa Rap”, originating in the Bronx and
West-Coast Rap, what has become known as Gangsta or Hardcore Rap, originating in LA
[Haskins, 2000]. While the East-Coast Rap began as predominantly novelty music containing
political messages extolling the negative experiences of the underclass (and has become
harder with time), West-Coast Rap began as a more aggressive response to the negative
experiences many Black (males) were experiencing in reality. Unfortunately, this outlet of
expressing rage with tragic life circumstances and corrupt systems seemingly has devolved as
major-record labels discovered the commercial success of aggressive rap. Lena [2006], in a
content analysis of all rap singles to reach the Top 100 of the R& B Billboard magazine from
1979-1995, found that the rap produced by the major record labels were significantly more
likely to feature aggressive lyrics with the hustler protagonist.
The Recording Industry Association of America [Farley, 2001] reports that 75% of rap
music consumers are White. Source magazine reported that White suburban kids are the rap
industry’s customer base [Morales, 2000, p. 182 as cited in Armstrong, 2002]. The Whiteness
of the consumer base may explain, in part, the shift in content. Certainly, the implications of a
largely White consumer base are interesting. As rap’s content has shifted from a political
message about inequality, gansta rap has now become an aggressive and degrading tool which
minimizes both Black men for their violence and hypermasculinity and Black women for
their sexual availability [Lena, 2006].
While there is little work investigating why this largely White consumer base is listening
to rap, historically the White American culture has turned to Black culture with fascination, in
large part for it’s exotic and dangerous elements [Mills, 2001]. Haskins [2000] has suggested
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Melinda C. R. Burgess, Karen E. Dill and Beth A. Wright
that White youth are particularly enamored with rap because it offers them an outlet for
“rebellion, hipness, or coolness, and protest” [p. 106]. Unfortunately, however ‘cool’ rap may
appear, research with African-American listeners illustrates that the more hard-core rap men
listen to the more negative their attitudes are towards women [Alexander, 2007]. While this
study was correlational in nature, as opposed to an experimental manipulation, it is consistent
with MAD Theory’s assertion that the derogatory nature of hard-core rap’s portrayal of
women will be associated with real-life derogation of women.
PORTRAYAL OF GENDER/VIOLENCE IN MUSIC VIDEOS
Sut Jhally, [2007] in his documentary DreamWorlds 3, discussed the “pornographic
imagination” inherent in music videos generally and in rap videos specifically. Black women
have gained admittance to the world of music videos, from which they were largely absent
prior to the popularity of rap music, but their presence is almost exclusively limited to
portrayal as a sexual commodity that can be purchased, or simply used, for men’s sexual
satisfaction. Much of the sexual imagery in these videos is associated with money being
thrown on the women in exchange for various sexual acts, or in a particularly egregious
example, a credit card is swiped in a woman’s buttocks. While the portrayal of Black women
in these videos is filled with contempt, the portrayal of the rap/hip-hop stars (primarily Black
men) is little better. Jhally [2007, p. 5-6] decries this as an offensive portrayal that promotes
sexual violence against women, and one that is ultimately rooted in racism:
“And while black men in mainstream rap and hip-hop videos are largely presented as
violent, savage, criminal, and drunken thugs interested in molesting and insulting any female
that happens to be around, we have to remember that these representations do not reflect the
reality of African-American masculinity but how someone has chosen to represent it at this
point in history. As such, they constituted the most racist set of images found in decades in
American media….[W]e have to focus our attention on these contemporary images of a
threatening and out of control, black masculinity and the role played by largely white men
who control our current media empires. We have to ask what functions do the racist and
sexist images in hip-hop and rap perform for the corporations who control our media culture
and why are these images of black masculinity so connected to the abuse of women and what
role does the pornographic imagination play in this?”
CONTENT ANALYSES: THE CONTENT OF RAP MUSIC
Many date the emergence of the rap music genre to 1979 when the first rap song,
Rapper’s Delight by the Sugarhill Gang, hit the charts. Vanderbilt University Sociologist
Jennifer Lena [2006] studied the evolution of rap music content over time and found that
there was a distinct shift in lyrical content when rap moved from independent record labels to
large media conglomerates. When large media conglomerates took over the marketing of rap
music from the early independent labels, Lena found, the corporations produced the puerile
content that many associate with rap music because they believed it would be easier to sell. In
days when rap and hip hop were produced by independents and artists, the lyrical content
You’re my Bitch: Crude and Degrading Treatment of Women in Hardcore Rap …
5
centered around features of the neighborhood and community. The genre emphasized anticorporate values and artistic expression.
What happened to rap content when multi-national conglomerates took over? After the
change from independent to the major labels, rap lyrics now emphasized street credibility, the
hustla, gangsta or baadmen personas, and making money. The subgenres of hardcore and
gangsta rap now focused on graphic depictions of sex and violence and glamorizing violence
and antisocial behavior. According to Lena’s [2006] content analysis, common themes in rap
music include partying, sex, humor, boasting, violence, gender roles, and money. Lena quotes
those who suggest that the industry puts ethics aside and produces sexist and violent music
for profit’s sake. While it used to be about the neighborhood “keeping it real,” and art for
art’s sake, it is now, to quote a P. Diddy title, “all about the Benjamins.”
Armstrong [2003] notes that gangsta rap has been called both violent pornography and
music violence. Gangsta rap is also centered on male power and hegemony. According to
Armstrong’s content analysis, 22% (111/490 songs) of gangsta rap songs contain violent
misogynistic lyrics. In these lyrics, 75% of the women discussed have been killed. A central
concern in the lyrics is with male power and dominance in heterosexual relationships.
According to Communications scholars Krohn and Suazo [1995, pp. 140-141]:
“Rap music also demeans women and promotes drug use and violence as a way to achieve
empowerment through symbolic verbal action. The negative implications of rap music have
become as popular as the music itself. It has attacked racism through more racism, lack of
power through supremacy and perhaps poverty through the sales of racist and misogynist
material to those willing to be entertained and influenced in their desire for information about
ghetto culture — those who take the easy stand of observing rather than participating.”
Miller-Young [2008] argues that Black hip hop and porn are converging – but as
entertainment for a predominantly White audience. Blackness is associated with
hypersexuality, hypermasculinity and with violent mysogyny. Miller-Young [2008] discusses
anxiety in the Black community because hip hop music portrays Black people in this way. So
called “ghetto porn” was influenced by hip hop music and glamorized the “hood” – the
gangsta lifestyle, the inner city, poverty, and Black “whores.” Thus the line was blurred
between Black rap/hip hop music videos and pornography. Black women were thus
associated with prostitution – the “hos” of the rap music video and song lyrics. Furthermore,
presenting Black men’s desire and Black women’s bodies as ubiquitous devalues Black
women. The visions of Black men as pimps and Black women as hos ads to this demeaning
social hierarchy.
MUSIC VIDEOS: DO THEY INFLUENCE BEHAVIOR AND ATTITUDES
Black adolescents’ favorite and most admired people consistently include music artists
such as late rapper Tupac Shakur, according to L. Monique Ward [2004]. However, Ward
also found that the greater Black adolescents’ exposure to music videos, the lower their self
esteem [2004]. Additionally, Ward and her colleagues [Ward, Hansborough & Walker, 2005]
found both long-term and short term associations between video viewing and gender
stereotyping and stereotyped beliefs about sexual relationships. They found that the more
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Melinda C. R. Burgess, Karen E. Dill and Beth A. Wright
videos these high school students watched, the more sex-role stereotyped their beliefs were
about men and women. In the experimental manipulation phase of the work, they found that
after viewing music videos either replete with stereotypes or low in stereotypic content
(selected from commercially available rap and hip-hop videos frequently aired on Black
Entertainment Television), the students who viewed the stereotype laden videos expressed
more stereotyped views about gender roles and sexual relationships (e.g., men are sexfocused, women are objects for men’s sexual needs) than those in the low-stereotype
condition. The strength of this particular research is that Ward and her colleagues
demonstrated that short-term priming does occur after viewing music videos. Additionally,
because of the long-term association found between viewing stereotyped videos and
stereotyped attitudes in the students, Ward et al. argue that the two methods (experimental
and correlational) together offer “powerful evidence of the potential contribution of music
video exposure in shaping young viewers’ beliefs about how women and men should look,
act, and behave” [2005, p. 159].
Because youth often define themselves by their music genre preferences, and because
music listening is a top media activity for later teens in particular [Roberts & Foehr, 2004],
the content of music popular with youth is important to study. Ward [2004] found that music
and sports exposure predicted negative self evaluations for Black adolescents, whereas
exposure to other genres of media consumption did not show the same negative correlations.
For example, she found that identification with Black characters such as Darrell on The
Hughleys was associated with higher self esteem for Black adolescents. Ward speculated that
part of the issue may be that the presentation of wealthy lifestyles and sexual desirability
promoted in Black music videos may make Black adolescent viewers feel inadequate by
comparison.
In regards to hardcore/‘gansta’ rap music videos specifically, Wingood and her
colleagues [2003] studied 522 African-American girls between the ages of 14-18 years of age
who lived in urban, lower socio-economic neighborhoods. They found that, longitudinally,
the girls who had more exposure (14 or more hours per week) to these videos were far more
likely to engage in a variety of negative behaviors. This included, but was not limited to,
hitting a teacher, getting arrested, having multiple sexual partners (associated with a
corresponding increase in the likelihood of contracting a sexually transmitted disease), and
using drugs. The authors speculated that a particularly damaging aspect of viewing ‘gangsta’
rap videos is that while being sexually available to the rappers is modeled by the women in
the videos, the long-term negative consequences of such behavior is certainly not illustrated.
For the girls in this particular demographic, the short term gain of being associated with a
rich, powerful man may be worth modeling in spite of the very real negative consequences
such behavior has in their lives.
With all of this in mind, we set out to investigate how a sample of mostly White young
adults (reflecting the primary consumer group for rap music) felt about hardcore/‘gangsta’ rap
music. We were primarily interested in five research questions: what were their perceptions of
the content of hardcore/‘gangsta’ rap music, what were their perceptions of the content of
hardcore/‘gangsta’ rap videos, what were their perceptions of how women in were portrayed
in hardcore/‘gangsta’ rap, what were their perceptions of the typical (male)
hardcore/‘gangsta’ rapper and finally what were their perceptions of any effects this genre
might have on its listeners?
You’re my Bitch: Crude and Degrading Treatment of Women in Hardcore Rap …
7
METHODS
Participants
198 (64 male, 134 female; average age 19.4 years) students from a private, liberal arts
college in the southeast participated while enrolled in an introductory sociology class or
introductory psychology class; the racial make up of these classes was consistent with the
predominantly White student body of the college. Of those whose race was known, 72.7%
were White and 10.2% were Black. This is compared to US Census statistics reporting a
breakdown of 75.1% White and 12.3% African-American in the US, and 72.1% White,
21.6% Black in North Carolina [US Census Bureau, 2008] as well as the statistic cited earlier
that 75% of the rap music audience is White. All students were treated in accordance with
APA’s guidelines for the ethical treatment of participants.
Materials and Procedure
Students completed an informed consent form indicating that they freely and voluntarily
agreed to participate in the survey and understood that they could quit at any time or leave
and leave blank any item they chose. They then answered an eighteen item questionnaire
assessing their listening/viewing habits of rap music/videos and their opinions about their
content and effects. Students were thanked for their time and dismissed.
Survey
Students completed a survey (full survey included in Appendix) titled “Entertainment
habits and opinions.” This questionnaire was labeled “Form 2B: Music Genres – Hardcore
Rap.” This was to give the impression that there were multiple forms of media and multiple
forms of music being studied – something that was also communicated in the instructions.
The purpose of suggesting that multiple forms of media were being researched was to reduce
defensive or reactive tendencies that are sometimes evoked by the perception that a form of
media is being criticized. In suggesting that the researchers were asking questions about many
forms of media, we hope the responses were more even handed.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Exposure, both in listening to the music and watching the videos, showed marked sex
differences with males significantly more exposed to rap in all ways assessed: how often do
you listen to hard core/’gangsta’ rap (χ2 = 14.48, df = 4, p < .01, Cramer’s V = .27), how
much time do you listen to hard core/’gangsta’ rap each day (F(1,194) = 10.146, p < .01, η2 =
.05; x male = 1.27 hours/day, s = 1.47 hrs, x female = 0.74 hrs/day, s = 0.83 hrs) how often do
you watch hard core/’gangsta’ rap videos (χ2 = 19.74, df = 4, p < .01, Cramer’s V = .316),
how much time do you watch hard core/’gangsta’ rap videos each day (F(1,195) = 14.267, p <
8
Melinda C. R. Burgess, Karen E. Dill and Beth A. Wright
.001, η2 = .068; x male = 0.84 hours/day, s = 1.27 hrs, x female = 0.35 hrs/day, s = .55 hrs) and
how often do you buy hard core/’gangsta’ rap (χ2 = 18.49, df = 4, p < .05, Cramer’s V =
.306).
The differences between males and females were striking and consistent across all the
subjective measurements. When asked how often they listened to hard core/‘gangsta’ rap,
46.8% of the males and 53.6% of the females responded “never or rarely”, 14.1% of the
males and 29.8% of the females responded “sometimes” and 39% of the males and only
16.4% of the females responded “regularly or often.” This same pattern was reflected in how
often they reported watching hard core/‘gangsta’ rap videos: 64% of the males and 81.3% of
the females responded “never or rarely”, 17.2% of the males and 15.7% of the females
responded sometimes, while 18.75% of the males responded “regularly or often” yet only
2.9% of the females responded “regularly” (with no females saying “often”). Most of the
students reported not buying hard core/‘gangsta’ rap music, but the same pattern between the
sexes was once again observed: 68.5% of the males and 89.4 % of the females responded
“never or rarely,” 12.5% of the males and 6.7% of the females responded “sometimes,” and
18.7% of the males responded “regularly or often” while only 3.7% of the females responded
“regularly,” again, with no females saying “often.”
Most participants did not have a favorite hardcore/gantsta rapper. Of those who did list a
favorite, the most often mentioned were L’il Wayne/Weezie (43), 50 Cent (30), Jeezy (21)
and Eminem and Jay Z (17 each).
When asked who they believe is most likely to listen to hardcore rap, both males and
females were in agreement about which sex and which race listens to hardcore rap most
frequently. The students agreed that males listen to significantly more hardcore rap than
females (χ2 = 151.76, df = 2, p < .001, Cramer’s V = .619), and this impression was certainly
accurate for the self-reported listening frequency for this sample. They were in near universal
agreement that hardcore rap is most frequently listened to by Blacks (χ2 = 235.67, df = 2, p <
.001, Cramer’s V = .792) as opposed to Whites, Asians, Native Americans or Others. Of the
students who chose only one response to who listens most frequently to hard core/‘gangsta’
rap, the breakdown was as follows: 13.3% thought all races listened to hard core/‘gangsta’ rap
equally frequently, 1.1% believed Whites listen most frequently, and 85.6% believed that
Blacks listen most frequently.
Perception of the Content of Hardcore/‘gangsta’ Rap Songs
Students listed the top five things they believed were heard in hardcore rap songs.
According to participants, sex was the most common topic of rap songs (listed 146 times).
Drugs (either the selling or using)was the next most common topic (listed 134 times),
followed by money (listed 79 times), women in general (63 times) and violence (listed 53
times).Only 6 responses to this item spontaneously mentioned degrading women. When
comparing males’ and females’ perceptions of the content of songs, differences emerged on
the three most frequently mentioned song subjects. Sex was the most frequent overall, but
females (76.8%) believed this was more frequent than males (60.9%), (χ2 = 5.418, df = 1, p <
.05, Cramer’s V = .165). Drugs, were mentioned next most frequently as a song subject, and
this did not differ between the males (73%) and females (67%), (χ2 = .8, df = 1, p > .3,
You’re my Bitch: Crude and Degrading Treatment of Women in Hardcore Rap …
9
Cramer’s V = .064). The third most frequently listed topic of money did differ between males
(50%) and females (32.8%), (χ2 = 5.395, df = 1, p < .05, Cramer’s V = .165)
Perception of the Portrayal of Women in Hardcore/‘gangsta’ Rap Songs
When asked what the most common way that hardcore rappers referred to women, out of
the 623 descriptions given, the oft-quoted “bitches” (123 mentions) and “hos” (120) were the
most common terms listed. Sluts was the third most common term (45) followed by “whores”
(35) “shawty/shorty” (33) and sexy or “sexy thang” (25). If one combines “hoes” and
“whores,” then ho/whore becomes the top portrayal with 155 mentions.
When analyzing the portrayal of women by rap songs, some of the most interesting sex
differences emerged. Across the top three most frequent descriptors of how rappers portray
women (“ho,” bitch and “slut” respectively), a greater percentage of males (81.25, 76.5, and
37.5% respectively) were consistently more likely to report each of these terms than females
(61.9, 53.7 and 20.1% respectively). Given that this sample of women reported listening to
hard core/‘gangsta’ rap infrequently, they may be less aware than men of the portrayals.
Though the frequencies are lower for women than for men, they are still sizeable.
Perception of the Content of Hardcore/‘gangsta’ Rap Videos
Of the 720 items mentioned, students listed girls/women as the most common thing seen
in hardcore rap videos (151 mentions) followed by cars (113), money (73), jewelry or bling
(55) and dancing, described in a variety of ways, (34). Virtually all the descriptors of
girls/women referred to their sexuality if not overtly (e.g., “vixens – oversexed, under-dressed
girls”), then by their character (e.g., slutty, loose, etc.).
Interestingly, in spite of the fact that the women in our sample were less likely to report
that women were negatively portrayed in rap songs, they were equally likely (75.4%) as the
men (73.4%) to report that women were the most likely thing to be seen in hard
core/‘gangsta’ rap videos. Males (70%) were more likely than females (50.7%) to report cars
appearing in videos (χ2 = 6.768, df = 1, p <.01, Cramer’s V = .185) and the males (54.7%)
were also more likely than the females (28.3%) to report that money appeared in videos (χ2 =
12.9, df = 1, p <.01, Cramer’s V = .255)
Perception of the Influence of Hardcore/‘gangsta’ Rap
The students overwhelmingly (regardless of sex) believed that listening to rap changed
the attitudes of the listeners (χ2 = 81.63, df = 2, p < .001, Cramer’s V = .458). However, they
were nearly evenly split in terms of whether they agreed (42.1%) or disagreed (36.0%) with
the idea that listening to rap causes young people to lessen their emphasis on education
(21.8% reported not knowing). The students’ perceptions fell into 6 categories of how the
music could change listeners: attitude change, participation in illegal or dangerous behaviors
(e.g., selling/using drugs, violence), interpersonal relationship changes (e.g., treating people,
including sexual partners, poorly), language changes, changes in simple behaviors (e.g.,
10
Melinda C. R. Burgess, Karen E. Dill and Beth A. Wright
dancing or clothing styles) and a general description that as a type of media music will
influence the listener, as media do generally (total changes described = 189). There were no
sex differences across any of the categories.
Somewhat surprisingly, 47.6% of the responses fell into the media influence category.
This reflects a relatively enlightened view that is not generally seen with young adults [see
Brenick, Henning, Killen, O’Connor & Collins, 2007]. The next most common expectation
was that hardcore rap would change simple behaviors (22.8%), followed by attitude changes
(11.1) and interpersonal relationship changes (6.3%) and language changes (6.3%). Only
5.8% of the responses indicated a belief that hardcore rap would influence illegal or
dangerous behaviors.
In their own words. Some examples of participants’ responses to the question of whether
hardcore rap exposure changes attitudes or behaviors are provided here for illustration.
“No – I think people realize that these are fake situations.” “No – I think most people
don’t really pay attention or base their attitudes on what they see one TV.” “No – Because
people are who they are and aren’t going to change because of a song.”
“Yes (even if they don’t realize it). They may not consciously change, however I’m sure
it does affect them.” “Yes – Because of rap music and its constant degrading of women, it is
more socially acceptable to call women sluts, whores, bitches, etc. Also it seems ‘cooler’ to be
violent and only think about sex.” “Yes – I think it is unhealthy to watch, but if I see it, it is
appealing to one as a man, however, it should not be.” “Yes – I went to a “gansta” high school
and at pep rallies they would play hardcore/”gangsta” rap. When these songs would come on
the people would go crazy and do things that would scare me.”
One young Black woman responded, “Yes – Because me being a black female many
people stereotype me and my race by the videos. Just because I’m black doesn’t mean I live in
the ghetto, sell drugs, on welfare, and know how to dance.”
Overall, these data do suggest a nascent recognition among young adults that this kind of
media is capable of influencing harmful treatment of others. Dill et al [2008] have
demonstrated that relatively brief viewing of derogatory images in video games alters
judgments about sexual harassment and MAD Theory [Dill & Burgess, in press] predicts that
similar effects would occur with the kinds of degrading presentations of women found in
hardcore rap lyrics and videos. That even a small sample of students is aware of such possible
changes is encouragement for the design of media education interventions.
Perception of the Benefit of Hardcore/‘gangsta’ Rap Songs and the
Characteristics of a Typical Hardcore/‘gangsta’ Rapper
When asked who benefits from hardcore rap, among students who had an opinion, they
almost universally favored the recording artists (44.2%) and the record label owners (33.1%)
over the community from which the music originated (1.1%) or no-one (5%). This is an
interesting finding give that the rhetoric is that rap helps the (Black) community from which it
originates. Our predominantly White sample, paralleling the largest group of buyers, does not
see this.
You’re my Bitch: Crude and Degrading Treatment of Women in Hardcore Rap …
11
Further, as if illustrating their very contention that hardcore rap is not beneficial to the
Black community from which it emerges (as opposed to the largely White Media executives),
when asked to describe the typical (male) hard core rapper, the students generated 562
descriptors. Of these myriad possibilities, only 90 (16%) of them were clearly positive.
Alternatively, 333 (59.3%) were overtly negative characteristics. The five most common
descriptors were gangster (45 mentions), African-American/Black (45 mentions) -It should be
noted that 10 of these were expressed as variations of the word “nigger”) Thug was
mentioned third most often (31) followed by variations related to the concept wealthy (27)
such as “knows how to make money.”.Finally, responses meaning disrespectful to women
were mentioned 21 times. Males and females were equally likely to describe the rapper as a
gangster (χ2 = .278, df = 1, p >.5, Cramer’s V = .037) and as African-American (χ2 = 2.892,
df = 1, p >.05, Cramer’s V = .121), yet males (25%) were more likely than females (11.2%)
to label rappers as thugs (χ2 = 6.252, df = 1, p <.05, Cramer’s V = .178). Certainly having
Black male rappers considered as “gangsters” and “thugs” is questionable in its benefit to the
Black community or to Black men specifically.
CONCLUSION
The second author mentored an African American girl from a local high school on a
research project about media violence. The girl related a story about why she became
interested in the influence of mass media. At about the age of 7, her little brother had begun
listening to rap music. One day he approached her, quite innocently she thought, and asked
her, “Are you a ho?” This story illustrates how social learning takes place through media
exposure. If young women like his sister are portrayed as “hos” in rap music lyrics, then his
sister – and the girls at his school – might be hos too. Peers may reinforce what started out
innocently. The images of male power and dominance might become enticing to African
American boys, particularly those of limited means. Ward and her colleagues [Ward et al,
2005] have demonstrated that teens striving to understand dating, sex and relationships may
take their cues from the images of Black youth they see in music videos and hear about in rap
songs.
Whites also may learn from these images that Black men are powerful, aggressive and
oversexed and that Black women are objects of sexual desire and violence – thus degrading
and marginalizing both Black men and women. If rap and hip hop began as a means of
fostering artistic expression and celebrating the Black community, they have devolved into a
big business controlled largely by Whites, sold largely to White suburbanites selling
messages of racism and sexism. Whites thus learn negative messages about Black men and
Women. Black men are the dangerous minority [Burgess et al, 2008]. Black women are
demeaned and degraded objects.
Wilson, Gutierrez and Chao [2003] discuss how individuals use the media, consciously or
unconsciously, as a means of learning about the world around them. This learning that is
derived from the media is particularly powerful when what is being taught about an ethnic
minority relies not on reality but on stereotypes. The case of hardcore/‘gangsta’ is an
excellent example of this point. While rap has its origins as music of political conscience and
protest, and even retains that message today, albeit buried beneath a layer of misogyny and
12
Melinda C. R. Burgess, Karen E. Dill and Beth A. Wright
general violence [Haskins, 2000], this largely White sample of young adults has not learned
this scenario. Rather, this group of young adults, resembling the largest demographic group of
consumers of hardcore/‘gangsta rap, has better learned the negative stereotypes of Black men
(violent gangsters and thugs dressed in ‘bling’ and driving fancy cars procured through drug
money) and Black women (bitches and hos, sexually available to rich men).
Consistent with what is known about the influence of media on aggression, this sample
powerfully illustrates what is known about desensitization to violence [Funk, Baldacci,
Pasold, & Baumgardner, 2004]. The most common terms listed for the portrayal of women in
hardcore/‘gangsta rap were negative (bitch, ho, slut, etc.), and yet, in the general questions
about hardcore rap content, fewer than one percent of the statements generated about the
content of the songs mentioned disrespecting women. Degradation and disrespect has become
commonplace and is no longer seen as degrading and disrespectful. Interestingly, they
mentioned disrespecting women as one of the most common responses to being asked to
describe Black, male rappers.
At this point it is important to consider the terms that we have labeled as degrading and
disrespectful. There is disagreement over whether various words, bitch and nigger among
them, are always derogatory, or just when used by certain individuals [Mis-Education about
the n-word, 2003). One side of this argument is that the words are always demeaning,
regardless of who is using them when. The other side of this argument is that when used as
terms of affection or inclusiveness by an acceptable person the terms are not derogatory (e.g.,
a man refers to his girlfriend as his bitch, or a young Black man refers to his Black friends as
niggas); rather they only become derogatory when used by a person in a position over power
over another, and power is compounded by differences in racial background.
Of the terms generated by our sample “shawty” or shorty is probably less well known to
general audiences. Shawty originally meant a child, but now has come to mean an attractive
woman and is used as a term of affection for one’s girlfriend. It is interesting that shawty, of
course, refers to height and children and women are generally shorter than men. It could also
be taken as a term of dominance in that shorter people may be less powerful.
The plurality of our sample is aware that male rappers call women “bitches,” and “hos” in
music lyrics. Over three fourths of men and two thirds of women believe that men call
women “bitches” in hardcore/gangsta rap songs. To better understand the meaning and
implications of this finding, a deeper analysis of these terms is in order. According to the
American Heritage Dictionary, the word “bitch” [bitch, n.d.] is an offensive term meaning:
“1. A woman considered to be spiteful or overbearing. 2. A lewd woman. 3. A man
considered to be weak or contemptible.” An intriguing aspect of these definitions is that a
bitch is a derogatory term for a woman, and also for a weak man. This implies that women are
inferior to men and weak men are inferior to other men. Furthermore, only a lewd woman, not
a lewd man, is a bitch.
We believe the definition of bitch as used in rap music is a little different from the more
common usage. We therefore accessed the web site urbandictionary.com, which bills itself as
“the slang dictionary you wrote,” meaning users submit definitions according to how they use
the slang terms. The results (see Table 1) were intriguing. Bitch, in urban slang, means a
servant, sexual or otherwise – someone who is at your disposal and who is beneath you. This
usage is similar to a male prisoner calling another prisoner “his bitch” in the sense of his
sexual servant—the one who submits to his will. One user defined bitch as “a woman that
will have sex with everybody but you,” [bitch, n.d., #13] implying anger caused by perceived
You’re my Bitch: Crude and Degrading Treatment of Women in Hardcore Rap …
13
sexual rejection from someone who you believe should submit to your will. These lyrics from
Like a Pimp by David Banner [2003] tell such a story:
‘Bitches aint shit
I tried to told ya
Dat most girls really freaks
And dis is how they gotta
make they money every week…
Real girls get down on the flo' on the flo' [2x]
Like a pimp
Now don't you hate them ole'
Lying ass hoes
Wearing her best friends clothes…
Lil' Flip and David Banner
We got all of the butts and
All of they sluts and
All of the hoes
So drop it like its hot girl
Touch yo fucking toes
Consider, finally, another definition from urbandictionary.com:
“A bitch is a female dog…or a female human who, like a dog, will whimper, growl, and
occasionally bite back. When someone calls a woman a bitch, the message is that she is
straying from the quiet, obedient "feminine" ideal. She is uppity - and needs to be controlled.”
[urbandictionary.com, n.d., #25]
Slut can mean a dirty woman, a servant or a bitch, according to Webster’s dictionary
[slut, n.d.]. Ho is close in meaning to slut, being a derogatory term for someone who
prostitutes herself or is sexually easy, and can have the connotation, as bitch does, that the
woman is attractive or dressed and groomed to be provocative.
Examining these definitions, it is easy to see that people perceive hardcore rappers as
using the most coarse and derogatory language towards women. These words demean women
by comparing them to animals, by painting women’s sexuality as crude and dirty. There is no
acceptable sexual expression for women within these labels. Bitches and hos may be sexually
attractive, but they are also servile, dirty and targets of aggressive language and behavior.
In her book Pimps Up, Ho’s Down: Hip Hop’s Hold on Young Black Women, Vanderbilt
African-American Studies scholar Tracy Sharpley-Whiting [2008] argues that the pervasive
misogyny of rap lyrics is most damaging to African American women because they are
virtually invisible in other forms of mass media. Therefore, since Black women are common
in rap videos, this oversexed, degraded vision of Black women as bitches and hoes is a
stereotype digested by the largely White audience of rap music.
Rapper Nelly released the single Tip Drill [Nelly, 2003], named after a slang term for a
sexual act where a woman allows multiple men to have sex with her sequentially in exchange
for money [Jhally, 2007]. Some lyrics to the song follow:
14
Melinda C. R. Burgess, Karen E. Dill and Beth A. Wright
“I said it must be ya ass cause it ain't ya face
I need a tipdrill, I need a tipdrill…
Now come on girl you know what we came here for
Is You a tipdrill, we need a tipdrill”
The video to Tip Drill raised much controversy because of the crass objectification and
sexualization of women that it contained. Infamously, Nelly swipes a credit card down the
backside of a thong-wearing, gyrating Black woman (see Figure 1).
As crude and derogatory as these images are, Shapley-Whiting believes the extremity of
their coarseness may actually motivate more women to speak out against the derogation of
women in mass media. Black women may have difficulty publicly critiquing Black men, in
part she says, because of factors in Black American history. Black men in the past were
lynched for even talking to White women, for example. Those factors do not excuse the
denigration of Black women, of course. In fact, part of the problem may be the low social
status of Black men encourages them to take out their anger on Black women since they are
often considered socially inferior because they are a so called “double minority.”
There has, in fact, been strong criticism against misogyny in rap music lyrics, though it is
just as strongly defended. In 2005, Essence magazine started a public campaign to encourage
discussion of misogyny in rap and hip hop called, Take Back the Music [http://www.
essence.com/essence/takebackthemusic/]. In 2004, the AP reported that Black women at
Spelman College protested the degrading depictions of Black women in rap videos, especially
Nelly’s Tip Drill.
Figure 1. Nelly swipes a credit card down a sexually objectified Black woman in the video for the song
“Tip Drill,” off the CD “Da Derrty Versions.”
One student commented, “Black entertainers have become the new myth makers,
showing gangsters and bikini-clad women with hyperactive libidos. For non-black children it
creates a gross misrepresentation of the black experience." [Willens, 2004, ¶15] From the
perspective of social learning in general, and MAD theory [Dill & Burgess, in press] in
You’re my Bitch: Crude and Degrading Treatment of Women in Hardcore Rap …
15
particular, this student captured the very essence of what is so troubling about the perception
of these terms, and their presumed meanings, in the world of hardcore rap music: bitches and
hos are not terms of affection, but rather terms indicating power differential and disrespect,
and the use of these terms is associated with real degradation, and tolerance of real harm to
real women.
One aspect of the degradation by Black men of Black women in rap videos that is not
often discussed is the effect that it may have on the perception of Black men by the
predominantly White consumers of rap music. We have mentioned the perpetuation of Black
men as the dangerous minority. But in so crudely debasing and abusing women of their own
race, it also sends the message to White consumers that Black men are grossly uncivilized and
have very low moral standards. It perpetuates the view that this is the way Black men treat
Black women in addition to the message that Black women submit to this unacceptable
treatment. It is crucial to expose viewers to positive images of Black men and women and
images of Black people in healthy relationships. Certainly some of those images do exist,
moreso in other forms of media. For example, seeing Barack Obama presenting an image of
an African-American of great character, a man held in high esteem by so many people, is a
powerful force for positive change. Seeing him interact in a warm and loving way with his
wife and two daughters is an important vision to uplift the image of Black men and women.
As damaging as the negative depictions in hardcore rap are in general, positive media images
of Black men and women can do a great deal of good.
In conclusion, this work raises some unsettling, but not necessarily unexpected issues.
Hardcore/‘gangsta rap, among predominantly White young adults, is viewed as music about
sex, drugs and violence performed by Black ‘gangstas’ and the videos feature sexually
available women referred to in degrading terms. In spite of the contention of rap-defenders
that the music benefits the Black community from which it originates, not only did this
sample believe it only benefitted the artists and producers, but their views of the artists
themselves could hardly be construed as beneficial. These results are consistent with much
social psychological theory that deals with media influence. According to predominantly
White students’ perception of hardcore rap, and consistent with past content analyses of rap
lyrics, men in these videos very often see women as their “bitches.” Rather than the
traditional meaning of a bitch as an overbearing woman, rap references to women as bitches
are power plays. Being someone’s bitch means submitting to their will, being their servant in
every way, including sexually. Calling a woman a “ho” degrades her sexuality, suggesting
that relationships between men and women, including sexual ones, are hostile and
antagonistic. These characterizations leave no room for a healthy autonomous woman whose
sexuality is also positive and healthy. Furthermore, this work supports MAD Theory’s basic
principle that derogation breeds derogation [Dill & Burgess, in press; see also Dill, Brown
and Collins, 2008]. Demeaning images of women prime men to be more tolerant of
aggression of women.
Hardcore/‘gangsta rap’ does feature ‘gangsta’ males and scantily clad females [Lena,
2006; Jhally, 2007] who are portrayed in the most degrading and pornographic ways. These
portrayals do incite real harm to real individuals, as illustrated by Imus’ degrading comments
about the Rutgers’ basketball players and the young woman whose brother assumed she, like
all women, must be a ‘ho.’ Taken in conjunction with Ward et al’s [2005] and Wingood et
al’s [2003] work, both illustrating harm in the form of degrading and stereotyped sexual
16
Melinda C. R. Burgess, Karen E. Dill and Beth A. Wright
beliefs, and various physically dangerous behaviors, respectively, this work calls for research
into ways to mitigate hardcore/‘gangsta’ rap’s negative influence.
APPENDIX
ENTERTAINMENT HABITS AND OPINIONS
Section 1 – Habits
Form 2B – Music Genres: Hardcore Rap
1) Which of the following most describes how often you listen to hardcore/’gangsta’ rap?
(Circle one.)
0
1
2
3
4
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Regularly
Often
2) How often do you watch hardcore/’gangsta’ rap videos? (Circle one.)
0
1
2
3
4
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Regularly
Often
3) How much time per day do you listen to hardcore/ ‘gangsta’ rap music? (Circle one.)
0
less than 1 hour
2
3
4
5
6+hours
4) How much time per day do you watch hardcore/’gangsta’ rap videos? (Circle one.)
0
less than 1 hour
2
3
4
5
6+hours
5) How often to you purchase hardcore/’gangsta’ rap music (cds, mp3s, etc.)?
0
1
2
3
4
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Regularly
Often
6) Who are your favorite hardcore/’gangsta’ rap artists? (list up to 5)
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
7) I am (check one) : _____Male _____Female
My age: ______
Section 2 – Impressions
8) In your experience, what are the most common subjects that hardcore/’gangsta’ songs
usually cover? (List up to 5 subjects covered in rap songs.)
9) In your experience, what are typical things you see in a rap music video? (List up to 5.)
You’re my Bitch: Crude and Degrading Treatment of Women in Hardcore Rap …
17
10) What words do hardcore male rappers usually use to describe women in their songs?
(List up to 5 words or terms).
11) What words or phrases would you use to describe a typical male hardcore rapper?
(List up to 5 words or phrases).
Section 3 - Opinions
12) Who do you think listens to hardcore/ ‘gangsta’ rap more often? (Circle one.)
_____Males ______Females _____no difference
13) Is there a certain racial group that listens to hardcore/ ‘gangsta’ rap more often than
others? (Circle the group that you think listens most.)
White
Black
Hispanic
Native American
Asian
Other: _______
No difference in racial groups
14) Some adults say young people shouldn’t listen to hardcore/’gangsta’ rap. What do
you think?
15) Do you think people change their attitudes or behaviors based on what they see in a
rap video or hear in rap lyrics?
Circle one: Yes No don’t know
Explain your views on this.
Section 4: Macro effects
16) The profits generated from the sale of hardcore/gangsta rap help to elevate the status
of the community from which the music originates.
a. agree
b. strongly agree
c. disagree
d. strongly disagree
e don’t know
17) Hardcore/gangsta’ rap actually causes young people to lessen their emphasis on
education.
a. agree
b. strongly agree
c. disagree
d. strongly disagree
e don’t know
18
Melinda C. R. Burgess, Karen E. Dill and Beth A. Wright
18) The people who benefit most from the sale of hardcore/gangsta rap are
a. recording label owners
b. the artists themselves
c. the community from which the artist originates
d. nobody benefits
e. don’t know
Please write any other comments you have below:
AUTHOR NOTE
The authors wish to thank Jessica Rowe for invaluable assistance with this project,
especially for categorizing and tallying the open-ended items.
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