Music and Gender

 Hey folks! It's LJ back again with another blog about Music and gender. I will be talking about the music and gender within rap music. Rap music really started or gained its hype around the 70s starting in New York City. As rap has become way more recognized globally its explicit nature of lyrics that sexualize, objectify and romanticize women has become extremely normalized as well. Rap lyrics often reflect and reinforce traditional gender stereotypes. For example, some male rappers may boast about their masculinity, while female rappers may challenge these norms by asserting their strength and independence. 

Female rappers like Nicki Minaj and Cardi B have used their music to empower women, celebrating themes of confidence, financial independence, and sexual agency. Many female rappers even outside of Nicki and Cardi emphasize financial independence, highlighting the importance of economic self sufficiency and breaking free from financial dependence on others. As I was talking about earlier at first rap was a male dominated game and female rappers like Nicki and Cardi B are challenging these gender norms. Challenging these traditional gender roles and expectations, often pushing back against the idea that women should be submissive or passive. They demonstrate strength and resilience in their music.

 Their is also gender expectations or such things on the male side in rap. Toxic masculinity, some if not many male rap artists have been criticized for promoting toxic masculinity, with lyrics that objectify women or glorify violence. This is a recurring theme in rap music. While over time things have changed and diversified over the years, there are still instances where rap lyrics and attitudes can perpetuate harmful aspects of toxic masculinity. Then the aggressive and violent theme that male rappers also portray. The lyrics contain aggressive and violent content, which can glorify aggression as a sign of masculinity. This can promote a culture of violence and encourage the idea that men should resolve conflicts through physical force. Also promoting gang violence or other know as street violence making it seem normal and tough. This could be due to the pressure to suppress emotions of males in rap. Which toxic masculinity often encourages men to suppress their emotions and vulnerabilities. Some artists you may notice they avoid addressing emotional issues, further reinforcing the stigma against expressing feelings. Today I feel as rappers such as J.Cole are doing a better job of fixing this issue and making it ok to show emotion or feelings.