What is to become of our culture, shit, humans at large with these kind of standards? Are we all just going to settle for becoming a bunch of brainless troglodytes, snickering to ourselves, being too fucking cool to care, and looking for the next easy fix on our race to the cultural bottom? If nothing else, all this shit will lead to even more troubled men suffering from obsessive pornography addiction and a warped view of women. Don’t believe that it can happen? Look me up in 10 years and tell me how your real love life is going sans any stimulants or prescription pills. Kiss your libido goodbye. OK, or don’t.
To reiterate, this is not a call for the end of pornography or nude art in general. Rather, I’m using this discussion as a means of holding up a sign with a request, a challenge to artists: use your art wisely and creatively. Don’t simply go for the quick look, glance, listen, etc… I can’t tell you how fucking tired I am of browsing [insert popular hip-hop blog here] and seeing boobs, ass, and pussy ad nauseum masquerading as cover art. The same goes for the videos I mentioned earlier. This is so lowest-common denominator it’s not even funny. It’s not even repulsive or shocking anymore. It’s just … sad and disappointing.
What frustrates me the most is the thought that some people might see this and become reactionary, touting sorry lines like, “It’s all for the art, man!” Bull-fucking-shit. You know damn well you didn’t throw a naked woman on your mixtape cover for art’s sake or even to push the envelope. It’s because you know it will help you stick out (no pun) on your quest for easy mass appeal. But hey, here’s a novel idea: how about you get those views, streams, and downloads by making music that’s worthwhile on its own? Oh right, you’re probably not interested in that. Fuck making anything that can be preserved and thought as timeless, right? Why make an uplifting or at least decent track, Fat Joe, when you can just make “Instagram That Hoe” and be the short-term talk of Twitter? Yeah, I thought so.
We’re all in a weird place now, I get that. We’re all still adjusting to the constant barrage of images, videos, animated GIFs, and the like that blow up our brains any time we go on our Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Vimeo, YouTube, and [insert basically any website here] for more than a minute or two. I just hope that the Internet, bless its heart we wouldn’t be here without it, isn’t the goddamn Skynet to our collective world.
Actually, hip hop has its roots in the sound systems of Jamaican music. But I agree it did start as music.
Good article. I typically don’t buy/download music from the kinds of artists who would be most likely to do this. The only brush I’ve had with NSFW art recently was Tabi Bonney’s Lovejoy Park mixtape. I remember Tabi commenting on Twitter or Instagram that early on, he had some issues with the mixtape’s availability for download because of the artwork, and some doctoring of the image was done for some sites. Tabi Bonney definitely isn’t the worst offender of this, but it seems like he’s really trying to ramp up his reach as an artist these days, so I understand why.
It doesn’t surprise me that the kind of pandering described in the article is going on. But Instagram That Hoe? That sounds like something they woulda done in CB4 if it came out in 2012. Any artist that does this kind of stuff is just working a gimmick. It’s a race to the bottom, and it gets more ridiculous year after year.
When I listen to hip-hop (and I do that much less than I used to), I try to go for the people who are offering something with more redeeming qualities than Instagram That Hoe. Sadly, the panderers often get the most coverage/hits/retweets on the Web. Again, I’m not surprised though, because as the article says, it’s certainly reflective of society at large these days. (To be fair, there were always pandering hip-hop artists, but something has changed–there’s more of them, they’re more explicit, they’re more eager to do it–I think a combination of things, but it’s definitely different nowadays.)
On a less serious note, can we start calling Rick Ross shirtless pics NSFW? Tryna keep my eyes from bleeding,
Rap is a part of hip hop MUSIC. hip-hop music, is a music genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly ACCOMPANIES rapping. As i said before, a little more research. Hip hop has its roots in electronic music. You do know rap more than MOST, not all.
Spare me the crap & get your head out of your ass…you sound insolent. I know my rap better than most people. It was originally defined as part of the hip hop culture as “rhythmic speech”, i.e. the modern version of poetry (but not accepted as such due to its upbringing which I will not mention here because it revolves around the touchy topic of discrimination). It was only tagged with the label “music”, later on as it grew in popularity & starting to hit mainstream radio. Today, rap flourishes & is broadly accepted as music. Whether this is the case, is another debate. My previous comment merely pointed to the root & not the current state.
Sidebar: What the hell is wrong with you? Through the whole comments section you have been nothing but negative & a pain in the ass. We got your point, but you do not seem to be open-minded about others’ perspectives.
you know jack shit about hip hop if you think it wasn’t intended as music. Do just a little bit more research.
I just wish you tone down your “passion” to truly get my point. But you don’t. All good. Thanks for the views.
I would.
I can appreciate that Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire video where he and his crew throw bills on a stripper. I don’t like it, but I get its intention.
Its okay andrew i’ll leave you alone. what got me mad is the fact that you wanted to act like you were aiming for music in general when that was just a cover. No vitriol on my part, just passion. Hope our little discussion makes you a better thinker.
Hell no it isn’t but answer my question. Would you be able to distinguish between those guys doing it for the look and someone else doing it for art? I doubt you would andrew.
What the hell would I have to gain by lying? Man, this was one of the most honest things I wrote, and the same goes for my replies. If you can’t see through your own vitriol then just fuck off, I guess.
Come on Andrew, you know deep down that you’re lying bro. You were aiming for hip hop. I read your article with the best intentions, also thinking I would agree with most of what you said. But you were in over your head trying to blame hip hop as my article surely pointed out to you.
Three minutes of Rozay, Wale, and them at a stripclub ain’t art. It’s lazy pandering.
Honest question, would you be able to recognize the artistic purpose of throwing money at a stripper in a video, if the artist did it with artistic intentions you didn’t know about? I doubt it, because you have pre conceived ideas about what women represent in hip hop. And I know you can come up with a better excuse than the fact that this is a hip hop site. Own up to the fact that you wanted to call out hip hop for the most part.
Shit dude, he agrees with me: “If misogynistic hip-hop was erased from American life and memory today, tomorrow my e-mail box and the e-mail boxes of millions of others would still be barraged with links to tens of thousands of adult entertainment web sites. We would still have at our fingertips, courtesy of cable and satellite television, porn-on-demand.”
My overall point isn’t about just hip-hop, but our culture in general. Again, I called out some hip-hop and R&B artists because that’s what I cover on a daily basis.
Sigh. Just put things into context. This is primarily a hip-hop site, hence my numerous examples from that community.
And if you think Rick Ross is using strip club videos as a means of furthering his “art,” I really feel for you.
There’s a huge gap between an artistic depiction of a naked body and a video featuring dudes throwing bills on strippers for three minutes.
Just read the article. He doesn’t cite an example of mysogyny in music that isn’t hip hop. In the fat joe paragraph, he refuses to believe rap artists are using the images for art. There is so much wrong with this article, but he hid it behind the veil of a critique of general music, when he just doesn’t have the balls or knowledge to call out hip hop. Thats why he’s scared of my article. I’m half white btw just to nip his little race thing in the bud.
Well said.
ha
that Death Grips shit was stupid too
Thank you.
Logically speaking & going back to the roots of hip-hop, I do not believe it was intended to be “music” rather it was initially defined as poetry. My, the times have changed. In your words, define “music”…
Thank you. And I agree, it’s difficult to find a stopping point in this discussion. If nothing else, I wanted to shed light on an issue important to me and I’m just glad others share my view and appreciate it.
hmmm…do you think that there are other environmental factors (or pressure) surrounding the artist, such as the corporate business who make demands to sell a certain amount or else, the consumers who ask for such crude image/videos, the money (yes, money talks) etc. Anyway, this discussion, although stimulating & thought provoking, would never end. In the end, you wrote a good article. Cheers.
1. who is “we”? 2. why don’t you just stop reading the article? 3. why would someone who thinks rap isn’t music be the editor of a hip-hop site?
My target is the artist who uses this shit as a cheap way to get attention.
Good article. But you did not make clear, who or what you were aiming your criticism at; was it towards the fat-cats of the music industry, towards hip-hop, towards the directors & designers, towards mainstream music…
Rest assured, at least you – and unfortunately, a small amount of people – are conscious of this encroaching culture.
The second one, the stupid thing.
Did you even read the article? This is beyond race. Or are you just stupid?
Oh it is a race thing now? Ha.
http://www.alternet.org/story/52343/caucasian_please!_america's_cultural_double_standard_for_misogyny_%26_racism educate yourself andrew
Thank you for reading and completely missing my point
I just read your bullshit article again andrew, and i’m even more pissed the second time. what pisses me off is that you act like you’re talking about music in general when we all know this is just another ‘misogyny in hip hop’ article. You’re probably one of those people who think rap isn’t music. From the bottom of my heart, Fuck you andrew.
Full of shit article. If you’re going to come out against hip hop then just do it. I’m sick and tired of this bullshit faux-feminism front guys put up so they can finger bang dumb girls at art exhibitions. there is more misogyny in classic literature, visual arts and music than hip hop can fit in a million uncle luke videos. Fuck you Andrew, I can smell the fake from here.
I was thinking of him too but of the lou ferrigno vid but its kind of fun and not exploitative.
so Death Grips album cover? i know there is a clean version but i was like whatever, you know this is there art i’ll keep it there, i am a liberal dude, i am not a homophobe. but at the gym i realize someone might see the picture on my iPhone attached to arm band and think i am flashing my own dick at them. or if you look at my iTunes playlist which is in album picture mode they will see it too. so i had to change it. cause vaginas and breasts are okay, they are accepted, the only dick that is accepted as none threatening is either Nirvana’s album cover or if your watching Dragon Ball
I think it has it’s place. Like in the Mr. Muthafuckin Exquire vid Position of Passion. I think that the nudity in that video reflects his music, his lifestyle and his message.
rappers throwing bills at strip clubs also has a message………..make sure your daughter doesnt end up on the pole.
How? That video had a message.
The same could be said about Murs Animal Style video.
I agree– there is no single solution, and there is no definitive line to draw. I think it can be said though, that our culture has succumb to the standards of the porn industry more than ever. Exhibit A: NBC’s bro-approved slow motion video of female Olympians. There is no woman strong or powerful enough who can’t in a moment’s time have her power taken away by mainstream media, artists, or otherwise, and be reduced to a voiceless object.
My thing is, people have the right to watch, talk about, and produce porn. But people also have the right to not feel weird or ashamed when they feel it’s become too rampant, when they feel women have been reduced to body parts on tap for a lazy industry of cool, and when they feel it’s time to pump the brakes on the race to the cultural bottom.
Sex as a selling point is inescapable, but I hope we can eventually squash the mentality that there’s nothing we can do and that there’s no point in talking about it.
I think you make some really good points Andrew. As you imply in your final paragraphs, the problem isn’t just one of ill taste turning up cheap thrills, it’s ill-conceived art grasping for any straws to increase sales, and sex is just the lowest hanging fruit. The larger issue is that artists of serious substance rarely make it to a place where they garner such acclaim as Fat Joe, or Mario. So, the people on the front line aren’t folks that are trying to make compelling art, they’re just trying to make a buck.
I am every bit as guilty, although I’d like to believe that my approach is wholly different because it’s deeply informed by cultural knowledge, and a knowledge of art history. If you ask me about any of the more risque art I’ve created there is a substantial conversation to go along with it. And I personally also have a history as an artist that extends well beyond cover art, which is well-filled with brazen sexuality.
In my opinion, hip hop has morphed into a platform where many people–artists, industry folks, and audience alike–grapple with sexuality. We live in such hyper-sexualized times that implicitly create such grotesque expectations. To me, rap music is actually a productive means by which we can mitigate the outrageous impulses that are forced on us through the constant barrage of media. That’s not to say that everyone is acting with intention that validates their actions, but the possibility is there.
But…did you read the rest? haha
I’m really talking music in general.
Are we talking about the same Hip Hop here? Because what people think Hip Hop is versus what Hip Hop actually is, are totally two different discussions.
Meh, I watch everything NSFW I post, homie. My thoughts are that if you’re working, you shouldn’t be on this blog in the first place. I don’t give a fuck how cool your boss is and what downtime you have, if you are on someone’s clock working to earn their money, do your job and surf the internet on YOUR time.
Thanks, Matt.
my new album is called “see this pussy” tho
Excellent write-up. As a father of two young girls, I wonder how I can even share hip-hop with my daughters when they get old enough to appreciate it.
unfortunately, you might be right
I’m sayin’. And one of my biggest issues is that bloggers don’t watch the shit so it’s not labeled as NSFW or whatever.
WELL SAID
Sadly, I don’t see this changing anytime soon, if ever, really. Sex has been selling for thousands of years. As soon as a new idea to sell/promote anything arrives, best believe sex will be involved in one of the first successful attempts at using said idea.
Nice article, man. I feel like the hyper-sexualized aesthetic of hip-hop makes is part of the reason why many trash hip-hop. It always annoys the hell out of us when someone complains about how “rap is just cars and naked chicks…” and we do our best to defend it. But in a way, deep down, we know that to a certain extent they are right. So much of it is the same old tired strip-club video and recycled lines about how many strippers they’ve laid. As we know, there’s a ton of hip-hop that ISN’T doing that, but in the end that’s what gets the most airplay most of the time. I DO think there is a place for it, but it’s so prevalent now that it’s just become tiring. Dig deeper into that bag of tricks!
And on another anecdotal note, as someone who lives in a somewhat gritty neighborhood in Brooklyn, that shit totally has a huge impression on the youth in my hood. I can’t tell you how many times my 16-year old neighbor Miguel wants me to listen and watch the latest 2 Chainz video. No matter what I show him he just shrugs and wants to watch 2 Chainz.
I’ll try to save the rant about how using lady parts further makes lots of us ladies feel like goods that men trade and sell for another time. I do have to agree wholeheartedly with what you’re saying here. It’s not just in hip hop either. One particular video stands out in my mind of some indie band that shot a video of two topless girls drinking wine and making out. That was the whole premise to the video. Seriously? Has every idea under the sun been used up already? Could you not have come up with something more compelling? If you’re getting the same amount of emails that SKOA does, the amount of mediocre snoozefest bands that are out in the universe right now is just mind boggling. It’s no wonder that we’ve had to dumb everything down and resort to hocking lady parts in order to get ahead. Alternatively, I’ve seen some gorgeous videos where there is nudity involved that nearly moved me to tears. It has to be done correctly and not just as an easy way to get views/plays.
good point ha
Wish I could say that it will eventually stop man, buuuut Tyga is only 22 y/o so i dont see the videos going away anytime soon