Sean Nelson – “‘Let’s (Not) Get It On’: Or, Fucking to Songs About Fucking and Other Uncomfortable Developments in the Awkward Relationship Between What We’re Going to Have to Just Agree to Call Indie Rock and Sexuality in the 1990s”
Stasia Iron and Catherine Harris-White – “Ladies First: Is Homophobic Hip-Hop So Anti-Woman That It’s Homophilic?”
Reflection:
I disagree with Nelson. Rap music generally talks about a violence that I find no connection to; violence that is entirely absent from my life and the lives of many of its listeners. The same can be said about the treatment of women and the references of unwanted sexual and violent acts towards them. Even with these truths, rap music is my favorite genre; however, I have noted a need to distance myself from the lyrics of the music and a need to focus on the instruments or beats behind the lyrics. This “[turning] off lyrics in [one’s] head” is something discussed in Irons and Harris-White’s piece as well, but in their article, they call for a need to change the “homophobic” nature of rap music. They also reflect upon the “conversely homophilic” aspects of rap, which are utterly compelling, as examples such as Boosie’s and YG’s “My Nigga” are examples of rappers telling other men they love them, referring to women as “bitches,” and belittling other men by calling them feminine. This is reflective of the sexuality of music that Nelson discusses, as these tendencies in rap music are ways of reflecting the “manhood” of rappers. There is an interesting solution presented in the comparison of these two articles; Nelson talks about Nirvana as overcoming rock music’s obsession with sexuality by breaking gender and sexual norms (overcoming the continual expression of “sexual primacy”), a potential solution to problems associated with the obsession of rappers with sexual primacy of today.
DJ Selections:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLZRYQMLDW4
Kendrick’s DNA highlights some of the important points made by Irons and Harris-White in their article. With phrases like: “you’s a bitch, your hormones prolly switch inside your DNA, . . . backbone don’t exist,” Kendrick refers to womanhood and feminine-like men as weak and pathetic. He also continually talks of himself as a “soldier” and as a hardened murderer. This show of violence and “manhood,” contrasted with derogatory phrases towards women and “unmanly men,” is a problem of rap addressed by Irons and Harris-White in their article. This homophobia and anti-womanhood is intrinsically tied to a depiction of sexual prowess common in many rap songs, something discussed as a common factor of rock music (and evolving popular music in general) in Nelson’s piece.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW9UhAgccPI
In Big Sean’s “No Favors,” Eminem is featured rapping: “fuck Ann Coulter with a Klan poster, with a lamp post, . . . hand over the mouth and nose smother, . . . gut her, make an example of her, . . .”. Therein, the lyrics promote both the rape and murder of Ann Coulter, a controversial political figure. This glorification of rape and murder applies to both articles discussed above, as both an expression of “manhood,” violence, and a disdain towards some women.
Group 16 - AFRAM 337 