Critical Investigation:
“Yeah you running now, you running, I’ma put this p*ssy on you”[1]
In the video ‘Look Back At Me’ why are artists such as Trina represented in such a sexualised manner? And can their success be depicted without conforming to stereotypical conventions?
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Female hip hop is tendentious in the sense that ideologies such as sexism and self misogyny are now integrated into the construction of contemporary texts. These artists form “a new wave of feminism” [2], Trina in particular uses ‘sex punanny power’ [3] to generate mass revenue and to liberally self objectify. It is now obvious that ‘male record label executives have begun to capitalize off the exploitation of black female bodies’[4]. The bourgeoisie are exploiting and misrepresenting black females in order to create ‘Dominant' readings’ [5], which are ‘preferred readings by those whose social situation favor the text’ [6]. Slip N Side who manage Trina clearly draw on ‘values and assumptions which are most valuable and most widely accepted’ [7] by audiences, this is more then likely why they represent her in such a sexualised manner, because her behavior is ‘widely accepted’ in society.
At present, artists such as Nicki Minaj perform degrading sexual dances in videos such as ‘Stupid Hoe’, where medium shots of her dancing like a zoo animal are used to reinforce ideologies of patriarchy. Prior to the emergence of Nicki Minaj, artists such as Lil Kim used “Sex as a part of her arsenal to deploy when necessary definitely for money.” [8] This is evident in her verbally explicit lyrics from ‘How Many Licks’ in 2000, “Kim got your d*ck hard, startin’ fights in the yard”[9]. Contemporary artists have almost misconstrued their sexual appetite as a means of power; ultimately the crux is that the many influences in society have altered the representation of these females. In comparison to Nikki D, Roxanne Shante and Queen Latifah, it’s evident that change has occurred. “All my ladies don’t stop, keep fighting, we’re gonna’ show em’ we’re just as strong as the brothers” [10], famous lyrics taken from Roxanne Shante’s ‘Roxanne’s Revenge’ in 1984. Shante wishes to be a liberally empowering female, in stark contrast to the Queen of the South Khia. In 2002 she released a song with the introductory lyric: “All my ladies pop your p*ssies like this”[11].
Both artists are inclusive - they wish to dominate their audiences via instructions. Shante demands fighting, Khia wants her ladies to pop p*ssy. In terms of postmodern, contemporary female artists intentionally represent themselves negatively. This essay will investigate why female hip hop artists have subverted previous representations.
In the video ‘Look Back At Me’ by Trina, “Hip-hop and pornography are going into business together” [12]. Her lyrics often reinforce the fetishisation upon her in many shots of the video; this interestingly conforms to Phillip Sturgess’ technical language theory: he argued that technical and language based approaches are taken into consideration and are thus molded by producers in order to make a seamless sync of verbal language and technical viewing. In the beginning of the video Trina’s first lyric is “I got an a** so big like the sun” [13], as she says this a close up shot is used to showcase her behind, not only is she pleasuring the male gaze’s (as Laura Mulvey argued) she is describing her body in a degrading way, which according to Trina makes her successful. Throughout the video ‘Look Back At Me’ Trina’s body is rarely a site of empowerment except when it is being objectified for the male rapper in the song Trick Daddy, a medium shot is used of Trick Daddy spanking her behind, the following close up shot is of Trina smiling. This shows her “strength can only be defined through his power over her” [14]. Nietzsche’s pre mass-media perspective contradicts Sturgess’ argument because he would argue audiences are able to create their own perceptions of a text, Trina believes she is successful due to her physique, many black female feminists will be disgusted by her lyrics and videos; they may think this because Trina’s lyrics lead people to believe that “black women are all no good b*tches with no morals” [15]. The black liberated female movement, which took place in the 1970’s allowed black women to fight against sexual and racial discrimination, ‘black women faced constant sexism throughout the movement’ [16], because they never stopped fighting equality is now present regarding the perception of black women. By Trina using such vile lyrics, you could almost argue she is undermining the movement made by these black females in the early 70’s.
These black feminists think in view of Paul Ricoeur, he argues “Meaning depends on individual interpretation”[17]. The male gaze interpret Trina’s videos as ‘successful’, this is because their needs are being appealed to because her body is constructed in an aesthetically appealing way, whereas the secondary female viewing audiences are entitled to their alternative perceptions “as the concluding interpretation depends on the individual”[18]. Hip-hop owes its success to the ideology of woman-hating. “It creates, perpetuates and reaps the rewards of objectification” [19] Trina subverts these ideologies, one could argue she wishes to be represented as a “no good b*tch with no morals” [20], it’s evident now that Trina must do these things to cause controversy between audiences and to invite the male gaze. Trina’s brand of ‘hip hop feminism’ [21] takes what could be described as a post-feminist turn, as femininity and sexuality are used for self-definition and self-gain.
Has society played a pat in the seuxalisation of female hip hop? Writer David Zlyer argued “Many women simply choose the easy way, by appealing to men’s baser instincts-in effect they cheat” [22]. Trina is cheating; the clothing a woman wears amplifies the perception of her entity. This sexually dominated society encourages women to dress provocatively to get what they want, “As the best-looking woman, and therefore Alpha-female, she can extract favors from the men who hope to sleep with her” [23]. The best-looking woman in female hip hop is known as the Baddest B*tch, Trina has called herself this in many videos, because Trina wishes to be the ‘Alpha female’ the ‘favors’ she wishes to extract profit from her male gaze. By her showcasing her body, which supposedly symbolizes ‘success’, she will be rewarded with ‘favors’ that will help maintain her career. This could be the reason why her representations follow the theory of structuralism, reoccurring narrative patterns and ideologies of sex and power allow her audiences to identify with present social perceptions of women dressed provocatively, if her audience’s voyeuristic needs are repeatedly being appeased they will continue to repay her with ‘favors’ (profit).
Based upon the dramatic changes in history female rappers have to promote different ideologies to represent their success. In the 1980’s rappers such as Queen Latifah and MC Lyte seeked to be empowered liberally through their lyrics, in the video ‘Ladies First’ in 1989 Queen Latifah raps about the hidden power women possess “some think that we can’t flow, stereotypes that go to go, I’m gon’ flip the scene with a little touch (of what) ladies first” [24]. Although the video was filmed using certain angles to gracefully manipulate the power given to Queen Latifah, the language however is what she uses to represent her success; David Graddol suggested there are two models implemented in to text to convey linguistic meaning the schemtaic model argues that “Producers encode messages and directly transmit them to audiences” [25]. This is also a form of the hypodermic model, It’s the idea that Queen Latifah the producer is carrying messages which she believes will represent her as successful and because she has decided to construct this linguistic representation for her audiences they can ‘recover’ [26] the meaning. By Queen Latifah saying she is going to ‘flip the scene’ [27], she could mean she is going to change the common representation of women in society. Writer Maria DiCenzo describes women as a ‘struggling minority’ [28]; she argues that history has contributed to the misrepresentation of women, which may be the reason, why Queen Latifah wishes to ‘flip the scene’ [29]. The common women was devalued through a variety of misogynistic laws confining them to a life of grief, one of particular importance which also covers economic values present today is that women were required to work for minimum wage until the supreme court declared this as unconstitutionally in 1923 in the United States. “Women would never achieve economic independence as long as laws treated them like children in need of protection” [30]; the feminist movement took women to a pinnacle of independence and today they are still fighting for equal rights as Julie Hayward a victorious feminist who set the land mark for the equal pay right still fights for the barrier to be broken. We now have a idea of what Queen Latifah meant when she was trying to ‘flip the scene’ [31], because of the obstacles society has created for women it is difficult for them to be successful which is possibly why Trina juxtaposes the movement of feminism through her sexually liberal representation.
In the video ‘Ladies First’, Queen Latifah conforms to the manipulation theory as she has manipulated the population of the mise en scene in order to make her the only strong women in the scene. A relevant scene is where she is dressed in all black controlling the ‘military movement’ of women, close up shots were used to emphasize where the movements would take place next, miniature statues of women were placed all over the table which had a map of the world. The fist statue, which possibly represented patriarchy and misogyny was pushed of the table by Queen Latifah, the female statues were placed all over the world to signify the possibly dominance women will have over society. She is represented in a very powerful and masculine way, Judith Butler argues we all put on gender performances, and identity is performatively constituted by the very expression. Her expressions throughout the video consist of pursuing a fierce feminist movement, by demonstrating masculine conventions in the video such as aggression and war this may be a way Queen Latifah attempts to represent herself as ‘successful’ as men are stereotypically seen as stronger within society. The writer Jessica Valenti would describe Queen Latifah as a feminist as she is “working her a** of for the cause she believes” [32] through Queen Latifah’s lyrics her audiences can decode what makes her ‘successful’, its now evident that social, political and economical factors have had a part in the sexualisation of female rap.
Every woman wishes to be a ‘alpha women’ [33], the alpha women are trendsetters and are powerful iconic women; audiences will aspire to be like them making it more likely for the audience to buy their music. Trina wants to be the sexual, liberal, self-objectified leader of the female hip-hop market; Trina’s extensive audience interest could possibly be derived by the ‘truth’ she speaks. “All women are whores” [34] If what Dick Masterson is saying is true Trina is now the ‘Alpha whore’ and women want to aspire to become like her. Dick Masterson suggests that “women have nothing to validate their self-worth except how much a man will pay for access to their vagina” [35]. Trina often expresses that her “loving don’t come for free’ and that a ‘n**ga gotta’ spend a lud’ of money to get this p**sy” [36]. So in some aspects Dick Masterson is correct, because Trina is self-expressive about her sexuality her audiences know this and adore this about her, which is why she has generated such mass revenue. Her music can be described as verbal pornography due to the sexual actions she describes, if all women aspire to be an ‘alpha whore’ that means a women can only be successful if she is an ‘alpha whore’. According to the hypodermic model, Trina sets the agenda; she and other female rappers have made it almost impossible for their success to be depicted in an alternative light as they have decided to conform to these ideologies of sex, glamour and money. That is what ‘success’ means to a female rapper, to be the most attractive, wealthiest and most sexual, performer which they often perpetuate in their lyrics as being ‘Da’ baddest b*tch in the game’.
The hip hop genre has many ‘instances of repetition’ [37] it also carries traits of pornographic language. Lil Kim’s 2000 song ‘How Many Licks’ with it’s explicitly sexual lyrics in which she describes an oral sex scene: “now imagine your tongue in between my thighs” [38] contrasts sharply to more contemporary texts as “difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre” [39] The video ‘Look Back at Me’ by Trina also has various pornographic traits, in order for a female hip hop artist to succeed she must perpetuate existing genre conventions and vary them in accordance to the time. This is why in one scene Trina is sitting on a chair making a sex phone call, this allows her to identify with a much more modern audience as “phone sex is a free and more modern way to create orgasms” [40] the shots take a particular fetish upon her legs and lips this could be because “the sensation of lips cause orgasms” [41]. Trina makes orgasmic grunts and facial expressions which are accompanied by a smile to reinforce that she sets the agenda via hypodermically, because her immoral actions are accompanied by a smile she invokes acceptance in to her audience, almost suggesting that her actions are acceptable. ‘Look back at Me’ is one of many “hip hop videos that objectify female sexuality” [42] The close up of her lips tilt slightly to her eyes were Trina winks at the audience, the wink confirms the agenda as Trina confirms that the existing sexual equilibrium throughout the video will not be intervened by any morally conscious narrative codes (the disequilibrium). In MacKinnon's words, any form of pornography represents “sex forced on real women so that it can be sold at a profit to be forced on other real women” [43]. In view of the video ‘Look Back at Me’ MacKinnon is suggesting that Trina's body is trussed and maimed and to some extent raped, she is turned into a tool to become ‘attained’ [44] and ‘accessed’ [45]. From 1998 – 2011, the longevity of her career and instant success of her first selling album the ‘Baddest Chick’ made her sexual antics more reoccurring. Female rappers including Trina construct themselves conforming to the self-objectification theory; the theory argues that these women represent themselves in a powerful independent way, and are sexually provocative inviting and controlling the male gaze. It is now evident that they must conform to these conventions in order to be ‘successful’; one could quite easily argue that in order to conform to this genre of music these are ideologies you must promote.
It’s not just Trina who uses her ‘p*ssy’ as a weapon, “Maybe it’s time to put this p*ssy on your side burns” [46] “This p*ssy is a monster, don’t make it have to eat you!” [47] “N***a did you hear, her p*ssy be crazy”[48]. From a contemporary perspective, many female hip hop artist sensationalize their sexual appetite and behaviour to entice audiences. The zeitgeist of 21st century encourages female hip hop artists to become ‘adult entertainers ’. This refers to any woman, who trades her sexualised image for social and economical capital. These females are being exploited and from a hegemonic perspective, the ruling and dominant record labels are creating false consciousness within these artists. Leading them to believe they can have self-validation by allowing these male dominated record labels to represent them sexually. If they generate revenue they become successful, however, their ‘success’ is now at the stage of regulation. Ofcom are now warning broadcasters that “material ranging from swearing to sexual content and violent and dangerous behaviour. Even the depiction of drug-taking, smoking or the imbibing of alcohol”[49] must not be featured in programmesxt primarily for children. Institutions such as MTV, 4Music and Kiss encourage the viewership of younger audiences. This means artist such as Trina, Lola Monroe and Rasheeda will be unable to appeal to audiences due to restrictions. So to a small extent their ‘success’ will be hindered.
To conclude, Trina is constructed in a sexualised manner because she believes we are beyond the need for feminism. Trina believes artist such as Queen Latifah have fought for her right to objectify herself, although we are past feminism, the hip hop genre will forever conform to third wave feminism as artist are redefined and encouraged to be sexually assertive. The video ‘Look Back At Me’ reinforces patriarchal ideologies and concerns; perhaps hegemonic record labels believe we now live in an era of post feminism, and society is past needing feminism, so record labels like ‘Slip N Slide’ can exploit females in order to generate profits and make these artists ‘succesful’.
Word count: 2,290
Bibliography
Works cited
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Queen Latifah. (USA. 1989). Ladies First. Ro Smith. Tommy Boy Records
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[1] Trina ‘Look Back At Me’ (2009)
[2] Denean, T. (2007). p. 8
[3] Ibid. p. 8
[4] Bene, C. (2010) http://thefreshxpress.com/2010/03/sexualization-of-female-emcees-in-hip-hop/
[5] European Journal of Scientific Research. (2009) http://www.eurojournals.com/ejsr_29_1_08.pdf
[6] Ibid
[7] Chandler, D (2000) http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/marxism/marxism05.html
[8] Denean, T. (2007). p. 9
[9] Lil Kim ‘How many Licks’ (2000)
[10] Roxanne Shante ‘Roxanne’s Revenge’ (1984)
[11] Khia ‘My Neck’ (2002)
[12] Ford, S. (2004). http://xpress.sfsu.edu/archives/editorials/001990.html
[13] Trina ‘Look Back At Me’ (2009)
[14] Peterson, L. (2010). http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2010/apr/12/nicki-minaj-female-rapper
[15] McGill, C (2006) p. 11
[16] But Some of Us Are Brave: A History of Black Feminism in the United States. (2000) http://www.mit.edu/~thistle/v9/9.01/6blackf.html
[17] Ricoeur, P. (1976). p. 25
[18] Ibid. p. 26
[20] McGill, C. (2006). p. 24
[21] Genz, C (2009). p. 123
[22] Zyler, D. (2010). p. 51
[23] Paige, A (2009) p. 69
[24] Queen Latifah ‘Ladies First’ (1989)
[25] Graddol, D. (1994). p. 70
[26] Ibid. p. 70
[27] Queen Latifah ‘Ladies First’ (1989)
[28] DiCenzo, M. (2007). p. 131
[29] Queen Latifah ‘Ladies First’ (1989)
[30] DiCenzo, M. (2007). p. 288
[31] Queen Latifah ‘Ladies First’ (1989)
[32] Valenti, J. (2007). p. 224
[33] Paige, A. (2009). p. 205
[34] Masterson, D. (2009). www.menarebetterthenwomen.com
[35] Ibid.
[36] Trina ‘That’s My Attitude’ (2010)
[37] Neale, S. (1990). p. 460
[38] Lil Kim ‘How Many Licks’ (2000)
[39] Neale, S. (1990). p. 467
[40] Rosen, R. (2010). p. 147
[41] Ibid. p. 200
[42] Gwendolyn, D (2007). p. 229
[43] Lucas, L (2007). p. 140
[44] Ibid. p. 140
[45] Ibid. p. 140
[46] Young Money ‘Bed rock’ (2010)
[47] Rasheeda ‘Bossy B*tch Music’(2010)
[48] Lola Monroe ‘They be talking’ (2011)
[49] Dowell, B. (2011) http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/sep/30/ofcom-television?INTCMP=SRCH
