In Rana Emerson's article "Where my Girls At?": Negotiating Black Womanhood in Music Videos she documents her findings of black women in hip-hop music and about their culture and expression. She "coded" videos that she had recorded in a large number of categories including the presentation of gender roles, the sexuality of the performers, attention to motherhood, the camera angle, etc. Emerson evaluated the videos later and decided that women acted powerful and strong in many videos, even though they were displayed in a erotic way. Because "sex sells", women continued to dress and dance scantily, but they also sang with power and authority. Men who were owners and producers included themselves in many of the videos in which women were the main performers, which eluded that women could not be here if it weren't for those men. However, some women stood out as directors and creative minds in many videos as well. They showed the emergence of black women from their African American male counterparts.
In John Markert's article Sing a Song of Drug-Abuse: Four Decades of Drug Lyrics in Popular Music--- From the Sixties through the Nineties, he evaluates lyrics about drugs through the four decades discussed in the title. Markert finds lyrics that mention drugs specifically by name through two internet resources and with the help of his students. Four drugs were assessed and specifically searched for. Heroin, cocaine, hallucinogens, and marijuana. The author explains that heroin is never spoken well of and cocaine isn't frequently talked about in high regard. Heroin is talked about in a way in which people are afraid of it. It's deadly and that is discussed in numerous songs. Cocaine is spoken of negatively consistently, but more negatively when crack cocaine becomes relevant in society. Halucinagens aren't frequently spoken of, but were expressed in the "acid generation" through beats and tunes. Marijuana is frequently spoken of in a positive manner, but is losing its fan base because it has been considered a "gateway drug".
Meganne Weissenfels
It surprises me that cocaine is spoken about in a negative way. One reason that I thought of for this, at least from what I've seen in movies and television and have just kind of heard, is that cocaine is often used by people with a lot of money or are higher up in society. A lot of television shows have shown rich white executives using cocaine. This could be one reason for why it is talked about negatively and a genre of music that is often listened to by people with less money and in a lower place in society.
ReplyDeleteLayne Bersano
Sex and drugs, a fascinating pair of articles.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I understood in your summary of the article, "Where my Girls At?": Negotiating Black Womanhood in Music Videos, that there is a significant amount of sexuality present with African-American females in music videos, yet at the same time an identity of strength and free expression is being forged through this particular medium at the same time. I wonder if the article categorized the difference between lead singers and other portrayals of African-American in music videos as well, such as background dancers.
As for the second article, Sing a Song of Drug-Abuse: Four Decades of Drug Lyrics in Popular Music--- From the Sixties through the Nineties, it seems that of the four drugs, hallucinogens and marijuana both have been seen in a positive light, but only during specific time periods. As for Cocaine and Heroine, song lyrics have never particularly held them in high regard. Were these based solely on direct references to the drug, or were euphemistic and slang terms searched for as well?
Boris Rudolfs
The first article wasn't anything as surprising since it is true that women are always being displayed in an erotic way but I never really thought about how they were also being powerful and in control. But I believe that is mostly shown when the woman is the lead singer and/or the only girl in the video. Using women for music videos has been going on for years starting with African American women and now other races as well.
ReplyDeleteFor the second article, I've known about the use of drugs in lyrics especially in rock and hip hop music, but never really thought about how they portrayed it. Around the sixties through nineties the topic of drugs were popular at that time and therefore were portrayed as dangerous because they were. Those drugs are not really touched on as marijuana is today and that drug is shown as positive which I still think is fascinating. Maybe it is because it isn't as dangerous as the others?
^Eva Medina
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