Admiration vs Objectivity

For years, women have fought the oppression on many levels; equal rights to vote, to maintain and own property, and all forms of discrimination. Unfortunately, the same thing occurs in this day and age; a time when women excel at a variety of careers and sociological prominence.
However, the ongoing debate still exists in hip-hop. It is obvious that the vast majority of rappers go too far in their exploitation of women. From performers from back in the day like Sir Mix-A-Lot to Souldja Boy, the bar has reached an all-time low. Consistently, women are continuously objectified in the hip-hop culture. This objectification comes from stage performances, interviews, but the primary source is the music video.

The current status quo in hip-hop is to push the envelope as far as possible. Although there are videos now that actually cannot be shown on cable television, the issue of degradation and misogyny has reached a boiling point. On September 25, 2008, Congress tentatively scheduled a hearing focusing on the very issue (Variety Magazine, September, 2008). According to the purveyor of the hearing, Representative Bobby Rush, “I want to engage not just the music industry but the entertainment industry at large to be part of a solution…I want to talk to executives at these conglomerates who’ve never taken a public position on what they produce. But it’s been surprisingly very difficult to get them to commit to appearing.”

However succinct the reasoning behind Representative Rush’s statements, the clear target is hip-hop. Under the First Amendment, crafters of the hip-hop art form are entitled to create media that is not subject to censorship by the Federal Government. However, the Federal Government via the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Regulation on Obscenity, Indecency, and Profanity can deem the content of certain media as inappropriate. According to FCC definition, indecent material is defined as “…in context, it depicts or describes sexual or excretory organs or activities in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium.”

Clearly by definition what we see in hip-hop videos is deemed indecent. Many of the lyrics of some songs themselves are indecent but are only illuminated in their egregiousness by an objectifying video. The misogynous material usually comes in the guise of an African-American woman bent over with an undulating posterior. We can again, look at the FCC’s definition of “indecent” and undoubtedly associate it with what we usually see in these videos.

Artists will argue that the lyrics of their songs and the content of their videos are just a reflection of the art for and the artist’s experience. They will also argue it is a form of entertainment. All lyrics and video footage are for the sole purposes of entertaining, not offending. In their opinion, what is seen in the videos is admiration for themselves, the artistic product, and the performers from the audience.

However, where do record executives, media executives, and artists draw the line in hip-hop for admiration to objectivity?

Within the FCC definition of “indecency”, indecent material must “be restricted to avoid its broadcast during times of the day when there is a reasonable risk that children may be in the audience.” BET at one time broadcasted questionable music videos at 3:00 am to avoid the indecent material scrutiny. Although this was a legal act on their part, the results of these broadcasts were children and young adults altering their sleep patterns in order to view these provocative videos. BET was later forced to discontinue that particular set of broadcasts due to continuous and substantiated complaints from parents and other concerned interest groups.

It can be concluded that the line drawn between admiration and objectivity is not as discrete as one may initially perceive. Admiration for something or someone consists of clear, appropriate and endearing acts whereas objectivity consists of clear, inappropriate and demeaning acts. Unfortunately, there is little admiration for women in hip hop as they have become vehicles and tools for the recording industry to gain and maintain profits; a frightening similarity to how enslaved women were treated in the years of the slave trade.

Fortunately, there is hope as a new wave of feminism is taking place in hip hop that is being led, no doubt, by non-industry women who fervently believe in hip hop as a sounding board for all of those who have gone unheard. (Based upon its origin that is exactly the case)

Ladies!

The world is now listening…..