Rap: Prejudices, Phobias and Misogyny

"I can’t believe you’re listening to that!"

That’s what a friend of mine once said when he heard me listening to Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle album. The lyrics talked of a man who killed with no remorse, hated weak men, glorified gang violence and treated women with such disregard that it would make your toes curl. But why do most rappers sound so violent yet in real life are just as calm and reasonable as any ordinary person?

Many reasons have been placed to explain the contradictions that appear in the genre. One says that rappers are merely reflecting a world they reside in, while others say that they are perpetuating what others have perfected to earn the same financial success. But a more alarming reason claims that they are desperately masking inadequacies and personal fears.

Before I dive back into the topic let’s look at what misogyny is. Misogyny is defined as the glorifying, justifying, normalizing, objectifying, exploitation and victimization of women. Most male rappers have been accused of victimizing and perpetuating lyrics that glorify violence towards women. Asked why they find themselves objectifying or exploiting women in their raps, some claim that they are merely exposing the ills in society in the most honest portrayals they know. While others say “it’s all I know”.

Women, likewise have also not been left out of the problem, as some are seen to normalize and even justify the trend by presenting themselves as objects for men’s exploitation through sexualized lyrics and complicit depravity. 

Dante - Limbo

So how does a rapper sleep at night with such corrosive lyrics? Simple, they learn to disassociate themselves from their art. For example, when Dante painted hell he was not drawing from experience but inference, and thus rappers have learned to separate what they say and who they are, sometimes to the detriment of their social health. 

At home your favorite artist is a loving parent or spouse but in the booth he lets out his demons and takes on a different persona. That’s why sometimes when you ask a rapper “Are you the same person who raps in your records?” they can emphatically tell you “NO!” 

Tucked behind this paradoxical reality is that at the core, rappers don’t want to look weak. Being bad, dangerous and vicious automatically earns respect. Like animals in the wild the strongest, biggest and meanest is usually placed in higher stature.

When Hip Hop or rap started there were no rules, the strongest, wittiest and bravest ruled supreme. Battles were the backbone of the art “Show me what you got” soon made way to “you don’t want to mess with that guy he’s a beast” so fear was used to illicit respect regardless of the method or the consequences.

But where does the listener fall in all this because they too have a part to play in this toxic, confusing relationship with self destruction. For a seller needs a customer, a producer a market. Then if people are consuming and wanting more of the drug then what does that say about society?

I fear we let the beast loose and are now desensitized to the toxic content some of us now consider normal. Although a few rappers are waking up to the destructive effect of prejudicial, phobic and misogynistic lyrics, the new rappers seem to continue with the same vice (ironically) with a new found zeal.

What are we to do now? Well, to begin with you don’t cure cancer by screaming out we have cancer. It has to be cut out and treated systematically. We can start to radiate the market with more introspective empowering lyrics; songs that just don’t glorify our broken past but offer a cautionary tale with real consequences of not heeding to wise counsel. 

Bringing the issue to light and addressing the elephant in the room is a positive response to what appears to be an ingrained issue. Luckily as more people become aware of the issues that plague their society; many elements, practices or thought processes will have to be realigned to fit the new coming reality. 

A change is hovering all over the planet. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that people are asking for better, safer and sustainable environments to co-exist in.  Although a loud majority is fighting back to sustain the old ways, a resilient minority is saying enough is enough! Let us come to the table and fix this or we shall fix it without you! Not a very diplomatic response, but as the law of the jungle states if the righteous leader is strong, then he too can rule.

Oh such a paradox is this life!