Besides watching videos with our favorite rappers, dancers
or video girls, we oftentimes read or watch them being interviewed on television,
online or in magazines. The interviewer asks the questions and we carefully
read or listen to the response. We focus
intensely on the answers but we rarely turn the spotlight onto the questions
being asked. If we were to take a closer look at the interviews on World-Star
Hip Hop, in XXL magazine or on MTV Jams, we would see that many of the questions
asked are “what inspired you to make that track?”, “how many cars do you have?”,
“are you single?”, etc. Based on the answers given, many of the artists appear
to be shallow, when in all actuality; most of the questions lack any depth.
Below is an interview conducted between 305Honeys and infamous video girl,
stripper, and girlfriend of rapper Tyga: Blac Chyna. Blac Chyna is interrogated
about the outfit she wore in a photo shoot, how she felt when Drake dropped her
name in one of his songs and a clip leaked on World-Star Hip Hop that shows her
stripping at the popular gentleman’s club King of Diamonds.
Blac Chyna Interview for 305Honeys
These questions are asked, under the assumption of the
interviewer that people don’t want to know about Blac Chyna herself, but who
she is in relation to the people of true importance, the (male)rappers. Blac
Chyna functions as a tool within the interview and within her other various
roles in Hip-Hop. As we are told in Hip-Hop:
Beyond Beats & Rhymes, Misogyny & Homophobia, “the idea is, these
men are so important and so powerful, and these women conversely are so dime a
dozen…that they don’t matter, they’re just eye candy, they’re worthless”. And
it’s easy for us to write off Blac Chyna’s reponses, but if we dig deeper, we
notice that the interview is being held by someone we never see. The interviewer hides behind an anonymous,
authoritative, entitled male voice whose accountability lies only in asking the
questions and not the content hereof.
But it
takes two (or more) people to create a dialogue. Therefore it’s my goal, to
bring the interviewer, the overlooked person, to the forefront and bring awareness
to them: the choice of questions asked, the way in which the interview is held,
their ideologies and views on women, does effect how women are portrayed in
hip hop just as much as the artist's perspective does. By targeting the hosts, the interviewers, those who report on hip hop
culture, we can shift the accountability from lying solely on the artists and
the faces we customarily see flash across our screens.
My first
interview (amongst many interviews I hope to conduct in the future) about
displays of women in hip hop was with Rah Grizzly and Kevin E Serious, two of
the three hosts of the internet-based radio show True Talk Sessions. True Talk Sessions is configured in a way that
allows its hosts to discuss the current state of Hip Hop and the negative
and/or positive effects the videos, songs and artists have on our everyday
lives. Rah Grizzly, Jett Jett and Kevin E Serious tie urban/Hip Hop ideologies
into our ability to function within relationships, at the workplace, in childrearing
and along color lines. You will oftentimes find Jett Jett, Kevin and Rah
discussing popular culture, mainstream and underground Hip Hop. Holding true to
the title of the show, the episodes are not scripted and topics shift easily
between what they feel is worth discussing. This gives them a rare advantage
over popular radio shows like the Breakfast Club on Power 105.1 which is hosted
by DJ Envy, Angela Yee and Charlemagne the God as well as the morning show on
Hot 97, hosted by Cipha Sounds, Rosenberg and K. Foxx. They are free from
scripting and censorship by the radio company and they are not required to tailor
the show to keep advertisers satisfied the way major companies are forced to. The
hosts of True Talk Sessions have a power of immense magnitude within their
grasp: an outlet where they have the ability to not only call out the major and
minor players in Hip Hop on their shit but also to reach an audience and let
them know, that what’s being fed to them does not have to be absorbed without
critical thinking. Indeed, the purpose of True Talk Sessions is for
entertainment, but within all forms of media there is a necessity for its
creators to be aware of the responsibility (whether big or small) they have to
those who view.
Key
questions I asked in the beginning of the interview were: “Do you think men
within this industry need to be more educated about sexism?”, “Do you feel that
women currently play key positions within the entertainment and/or music
industry?” And “Does hip hop portray women in a way that appears as if they are
disposable? In other words, has hip
hop/urban culture devalued women? Specifically, women of color”. The results weren’t all that shocking. Kevin
and Rah passed off the debasing reflections of women as being purely
territorial. According to them, women
were shown as they were in videos because hip hop has always been a male-dominated
industry and that’s just the way things are. I then proceeded to show them the
clip below by Nicki Minaj, for her “Beez in the Trap” video.
Next, I asked “what was the first thought that comes to your
minds after seeing this”? Jokingly, they commented mostly on the “eye candy”. So
I followed with “Do you think that Nicki Minaj represents the present day woman”?
Immediately, they answered no. They
wanted to make it clear that not only should women not be generalized, but that
Nicki Minaj represented a different type of woman: the”bad bitch” and/or “ratchet”
women who are uneducated, sexually promiscuous and without drive or focus.
Shortly after I said, “What are your thoughts on teens and girls looking to her
as role model”? Kevin’s response was that it was the responsibility of the
parents to be role models to their children.
If a child looks up to Nicki Minaj as a role model, it’s the parent’s
fault.
It was
my goal, to ignite critical thinking about the correlation between the media
and how it directly shapes our culture.
I chose to play the official trailer from Miss Representation for them.
In this study/interview, I knew that I was in a way “setting them up” as they
partially saw it. However, it was not to
bash them for the views they held, but it was used merely as a means to get
them to reevaluate their thoughts on women in relation to hip hop. In the Exploitation
of Women in Hip Hop Culture, Ayanna asserts that “exploitation of women in
hip hop culture has become an accepted part of it for both the artists and
audiences alike, and many critics blame the music without looking any deeper”. I
felt it my duty to shift towards the depth she spoke of.
Miss Representation
The clip struck a nerve.
Hilary Clinton and Condelezza Rice being ripped apart shocked Kevin and
Rah. But what struck Rah the most was Marie
Wilson’s omission “you can’t be what you can’t see”. Majority of the spaces in
hip hop are overwhelmingly filled with images of women, and especially women of
color at the most demeaning levels: as video vixens, “bitches” and “hoes”. But
the outlet to combat and reverse these images is not found within hip hop. As
Yvonne Bynoe puts it, “ {black} women within hip-hop are to be ogled in music
videos, insulted in the name of free speech and discussed by pundits, but rarely
are they given access to the major media outlets that would allow them to
accurately represent themselves, their images and ideas”. Women {of color} are
not provided with images of themselves that are genuinely worth aspiring for.
Now, a
destructive consciousness has been revealed and although I don’t expect them to
start a feminist movement, progress has been made. By knowing how their opinions
directly and indirectly effect how they conduct their interviews, interact with
artists and the messages sent to their audience, Kevin E Serious and Rah
Grizzly can go into True Talk Sessions each week, with an awareness that women
desperately need to hear and see themselves in another light in hip hop. By posing
the in depth questions that people don’t want to hear, they will begin to raise
the bar within hip hop media. Hopefully, they can gain some buzz and strengthen
their movement from an interview that puts both the artist and the host in
positions that call for critical thinking. Meanwhile, I will move on to my next
set of hosts or reporters, trying to change the way they formulate their
discussions.
*It
should be noted, that Grizzly Bear Entertainment (the media company formed by
Kevin and Rah) in connection with True Talk Sessions, is making progress and an
effort to provide alternative, underground hip hop artists to counter the
impact mainstream artists and companies have made in degrading women. Artist,
J-Sass, is one of the many underground talents promoted and supported in this
effort.
“Whispers” By J Sass
Works Cited
Ayanna. “The Exploitation
of Women in Hip-hop Culture”. www.ealert.mysistahs.org/features/hiphop.htm Accessed: November, 2012
Bynoe, Yvonne. “Hip-hop’s
(Still) Invisible Women”. www.alternet.org/story/51933/hip-hop’s_(still)_invisible_women Accessed: November, 2012
Hurt, Byrone. Hip-Hop:
Beyond Beats & Rhymes, Misogyny & Homophobia. http://www.bhurt.com/beyondBeatsAndRhymes.php
Accessed: November, 2012
Videos
305Honeys. “Blac Chyna Interview, talks Drake and Nicki
Minaj”.
Nicki Minaj. “Beez In The Trap”.
Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
Miss Representation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gkIiV6konY
Filming/Production: Heavy Bags
Editing: Kevin E Serious. Instagram: @4g__grizzly
Rah Grizzly. Instagram: @rahgrizzly67 @truetalksessions
www.15mofe.com
Filming/Production: Heavy Bags
Editing: Kevin E Serious. Instagram: @4g__grizzly
Rah Grizzly. Instagram: @rahgrizzly67 @truetalksessions
www.15mofe.com
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