IN honor of B.o.B's recent visit to Cornell University I decided to write about the phenomenon of female rappers and what they represent. I've noticed a stark divide among female rappers and how they choose to portray themselves. That is to say they either display overtly sexual tendencies a la Lil Kim and Nicki Minaj or are completely asexualized a la Missy Elliot and Da Brat. This oddity occurs for a very simple reason. Each type of female rapper is trying to appeal to their male audience, but in different ways. Sexualized female rappers appeal to a man's inner lustful desires while providing entertaining music, and desexualized female rappers appeal to a man's pack mentality aka she becomes one of the boys. Interestingly enough neither archetype tries nearly as hard to appeal to their female fanbase. Are men simply a more lucrative audience or are they quite literally giving in to "The Man" they ostensibly fight in their music?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPoKiGQzbSQ&ob=av2n Missy Elliot
Well, what you're saying might be like that because rap music usually comes out when there is some sort of extreme. Otherwise rap music would sound quite funny, if it were to about regular things. Here is an example of rap music about ordinary life, or course, it is ment to be funny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PsnxDQvQpw
ReplyDeleteIf you don't have an extreme emotion you probably would not need rap music, it would sound quite silly.
I think that when it comes to the popular/mainstream music industry, the "package" or "image" one tries to sell becomes as important as (if not more important than) the music that goes along with it. It's possible that rappers like Lil Kim and Nicki Minaj like being something close to sex symbols, but it's far more likely that their companies raised their sex appeal meter in order to try to gain more attention from male listeners. I think everything can be traced to money eventually, and if one wants to win big in the music industry, it's quite easy to get lost in the "concept" one goes for.
ReplyDeleteI think that this idea isn't exclusively true for female rappers, but female celebrities in general. It seems as though some feel the need to be very sexual and beautiful all the time simply because they are in the public eye. Some emphasize their physical appearance, while others prioritize their efforts in honing the skills that they present to the world.
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