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17 de Febrero, 2008
'Woman' Means Strong
Categorized under Artivism , Sexismo | Tags: Change, Format, Jin, misogyny, music, Que Viva Las Mujeres, Webbie
BETWEEN songs like Jin's Foolish Little Girls (as in don't choose to be one), and this song (INDEPENDENT by Webbie), I think we are beginning to see more and more hip-hop that doesn't spend all it's time hating women and worshipping bling.
I love the message. Not just toward women, but how he is not selling super-expensive cars, his own cash, or clothes. Nope. In fact, he is dancing in an empty warehouse!
Good to remember, too, that artists who do push misogyny and capitalism are only reflecting what they have absorbed from our culture. They do not create these ideas and skewed values. They cannot be blamed for that. But they can be blamed for furthering the messages. It's a trap that is taught to all of us here, I think. Big propz to artists like this who are truly changing the game.
And Jin's Foolish Little Girls:
This song was inspired, by all the important women in my life My motha, my sista And I’d like to dedicate it, to all y’all
[Chorus]
Just keep holdin ur own
No use actin' all grown
Don’t make yourself look like a (foolish little girl)
Let’em know whatchu worth
You the queen of this earth
Think otherwise and you a (foolish little girl)This is a dedication, nope this is medication
The antidote for the poison fed to a generation
Through sex, lies, and video tapes
Slow down, live your lives, put your foot on the brakes
Youngin’s are taught to get low
but they self-esteem has hit rock bottom so how much further can they go?
I ain’t here to knock the next man from getting his cash
But 12-year olds singin songs bout shakin that ass
Its quite disturbin, yea you make the joints for adults
But kids got ears too, so what’s the results?
Playgrounds filled with self-proclaimed bitches and hoes
Who grow up to be groupies taking pictures at shows
I get sick to my stomach, no signs of deceasing
Morals are nonexistent and values are decreasing
What’s once ignorant blinded by what I couldn’t see
Can’t let my little sister be a (foolish little girl)—Jin, Foolish Little Girls
There's a few lines later that could be rewritten (no point framing mujeres as "Best Supporting Actress(es)" when they can run their own shit just fine, we have to stop teaching helplessness and dependence to nuestra hijas) and maybe I'd shift the title, but hey, it's not my song. Jin's take on women and message to them is a thousand times better than all this "pimpin" and "smack a b***" bullshit that dominates hip-hop. I love my beats! Please, gente, separate misogyny from good beats.
I have two daughters, and I don't want that poison out there. Men parading their insecurity and hate and getting paid to broadcast it. Hate that worms into all of our minds until boys grow up and girls grow up thinking that's how It Is. That is NOT how it is. And if it is, That is not how it has to be. We need to make that type of music completely uncool in USA culture until the day comes when it won't even sell.
It's very good to see some progress being made.
Feels like we are on the way.
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Comentarios (4)
Jaime dijo:
It's funny, the "wife" and I were just dicussing this very subject this morning on our way to breakfast. Melissa is big on cultural criticism, as well as a big hip hop fan, and even though both of us are disgusted by the deliberate stupidity of guys like 50 Cent or Nelly, she finds more complex figures like Jay-Z compelling (me, I'm not so much a fan, I'll dig on Mos Def - like a typical white person, according to today's Stuff White People Like - and similar rappers, but I really just can't stomach the whole "Big Pimpin' vibe), which got us dicussing the fact that this hyper-masculinized version of the (archetypal) Black Male is a projection to compensate for hundreds of years of emasculation at the hands of the Dominant Culture. Only when the the balance of power between the "races" (race being just a social construct, anyway) is redressed will we begin to see the mysogyny and thuggery fall away.
Palabras por Jaime spat forth on el 17 de Febrero, 2008 at 04:37 PM
nezua
dijo:
great comments and insights from you and the wife. yes, compensation for years of the social and psychylogical (and otherwise) abuse....that makes sense.
tho i think i may be a tiny bit more hopeful...after all, we are seeing some of it happen here with this cat. also, if Jin can push back against misogyny, being Chinese (and we know how and in what ways Chinese males often get hated on) then i have hope for other artists.
Palabras por nezua
spat forth on el 17 de Febrero, 2008 at 04:45 PM
Jaime dijo:
Oh, no doubt! There will always be those who are visionary enough to push beyond the strictures of an overriding culture or subculture and spit something truly fresh - nothing would ever change if not for them. My heart swelled with love and gratitude when Kanye laid it down about gay bashing not being cool, because homophobia has traditionally been just one more part of that hyper-masculine version of "Black" culture that so many performers allow themselves to get locked into. We'll definitely see more rappers at least toning down the objectification and violence, if not being out and out affirmative, as cats like Webbie expand the idea of what it means to be a strong black man.
Palabras por Jaime spat forth on el 18 de Febrero, 2008 at 06:10 AM
nezua
dijo:
word.
i know i get a big kick from going against typical and expected xicano prejudices, myself. once people know you are of x or x ethnicity, they assume you hate blacks, are homophobic, are misogynist...and it feels good to join those of your gente who want nothing to do with those old ideas. "redefine." un buen palabra, a good way to put it...
Palabras por nezua
spat forth on el 18 de Febrero, 2008 at 06:16 AM