RA #3 From Fly-Girls to Bitches and Ho's

Title: From Fly Girls to Bitches and Ho’s
Author: Joan Morgan
Date: November 4, 2012
Topic: Examine the causes of violence and sexism within the lyrics of rap music.

Exigence: As a music writer and fan of hip hop, Morgan argues that the misogyny of rap is a symptom of crisis in the black community and it must be confronted and understood, rather than simply looking away from it and putting it behind us. If looked at deeply and trying to better understand the music it is a step toward healing the pain that it expresses and also inflicts.
Intended Audience: Most American’s, students, fans of Hip-hop
Purpose: To identify and eliminate the negativity and objectification towards women that is portrayed so strongly through hip-hop music and better understand where so much of these attitudes come from.
Claim: Black folks in America are living and trying to love in a war zone battling against sexism. As it is portrayed as part of the problem, rap music is essential to that struggle because it takes us straight to the battlefield.
Main Evidence: “Sad to say it, but many of the ways in which men exploit our images and sexuality in hip-hop is done with our permission and cooperation” (605).

“We desperately need a space to lovingly address the uncomfortable issues of our failing self-esteem, the ways we sexualize and objectify ourselves, our confusion about sex and love and the unhealthy, unloving, unsisterly ways we treat each other.  Commitment to developing these spaces gives our community the potential for remedies based on honest, clear diagnoses” (606-607).

Writer strategy 1: One mode Morgan uses is description. She describes a lot of things that are going on within black communities and shows us the alarming numbers that have to do with black-on-black crime and violence. As she describes, “my decision to expose myself to the sexism of Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, or the Notorious B.I.G. is really my plea to my brothers to tell me who they are. Why is disrespecting me one of the few things that make them feel like men? What’s the haps, what are you going through on the daily that got you acting so foul?” By using Pathos along with the description mode and stating them as questions it really helps the reader understand the context and also wonder why these things happen and for what reasons.

Writer strategy 2: Another mode Morgan uses is Cause and Effect. She uses the hip-hop music to show how the effect comes from what is being caused. As she writes, “This is crystal clear to me when I’m listening to hip-hop. Yeah, sistas are hurt when we hear brothers calling us bitched and hos. But the real crime isn’t the name-calling, its their failure to love us- to be our brothers in the way that we commit ourselves to being their sistas. Any man who doesn’t truly love himself is incapable of loving us in the healthy way we need to be loved.” Making it apparent to us that there is deeper meaning to these songs and music we hear and even goes on to explain this as a war. “Black men are engaged in a war where the real enemies- racism and the white power structure- are masters of camouflage. They’ve conditioned our men to believe the enemy is brown.” She goes on to even say, “for too many black men there is no trust, no community, no family. Just self.” It is very true and these effects are serious and having a devastating result among black communities and we continue to battle this “war”.

Response: I really enjoyed this reading it was something very serious and not something many people choose to bring up and especially rare when looking at rap lyrics and songs. Morgan did a good job at really making connections between the lives and underlying reasons behind the scenes why these men feel the way they do and what makes them express themselves the way they do so uniquely. I feel it is important to take a look at the songs and lyrics and better understand rap and hip hop in order to better understand the rates of homicide amongst black males and stop the mistreatment of women.