Rap as a LanguageRap as a LanguageSince its start in the music industry around nineteen eighty-eight rap music has always been under a lot of scrutiny for its lyrics and messages that it portrays. Rap music has a long history starting back to the days of slavery and has come a long way since then bridging gaps between all genres of music including jazz, blues, and basic drum beats. When hip hop first came about its message was simple. It was groups of black men who described the life they were living in the ghettos all over the world. They felt helpless and viewed the government in a very strong negative way based on the lack of help African American’s were given in the contexts of housing, education, and living. As rap music developed and more artists started bringing their own styles to the hip hop community more messages were being brought. Hip hop as a culture was formed on the political views of many black gang bangers who society cast aside and never thought would even be able to have political thoughts. In the mid nineties rap changed in a way that surprised many by having female artists come onto the scene. They were usually portrayed in a degrading manner by male artists in their lyrics and videos, but now women came forward and described themselves as sexual beings and how they have power over men based on their sexuality. Many critics have taken these stances that rap artists take and speculated over whether or not they convey a positive or negative message. Many view that the lyrics and videos provide children with the wrong idea and are the reason for sex at younger ages, and STD’s being at an all time high. Rap is not responsible for the actions of young adults and music has always been a scapegoat for parents since the days of Elvis, and KISS. Rap is like all other genres of music in the sense that it is a statement. During times of war artists criticized presidential actions and sang about peace. Rap is a declaration of life for black men and questions the politics involved in their lifestyles and for women it is a way to express themselves as powerful independent beings because of their sexuality.
Stereotypes are often placed into the minds of many people in the general public based on fixed images set in the minds of many MTV viewers. This has always been the case with generational music culture to fight for more dignified images to be put forth. Rap music is a target for attack in the feminist mind because “they constantly raise the question have women been devalued” (Anne O’Connell). Femininity in Rap music is a movement in self expression. Women have played important roles in hip hop history but have always been back up singers or dancers in a more male dominated field. Feminist researcher Anne O’Connell claims that, “not until the past ten years female rappers have made their mark and gained considerable recognition and respect as artists and lyricists in the field” (O’Connell). The female rap movement spawned from female vocalists in the blues genre. These women sang about exploiting themselves sexually as a means of empowerment. Female rap artists took this idea from their predecessors and took off with this idea of female empowerment in a growing industry of hip hop. In nineteen ninety-five a female rap group by the name of Salt N Pepper came onto the scene and were the first women of the times to be viewed sexually and at the same time rap about being empowered. Their first hit single was a song called “Shoop” which is a word that is a euphemism for having sex. In the song they say “I want to
shoop” meaning I want to have sex which was not something typical for female artists to say. This song broke boundaries for women by disagreeing with the clichй myth that women should not discuss their sexuality and do not discuss their lust towards men. Pepper starts off in the song by saying, “What’s your name? No not you! The bow-legged one. Yeah. What’s your name. Damn! That sounds sexy.” In the intro she has showed that women can be forward and approach men with a form of sexuality. She then goes on to say, “wicked, wicked, had to kick it. I’m not shy so I asked for the digits. So I licked him like a lollypop should be licked.” Pepper is also showing how forward she is by not being shy and asking a man she is interested in for his phone number. In the song they talk about how they want a certain man and where they want him to touch, and then go on to say that they want to have sex with him. Salt goes on to say, “Your packed and your stacked especially in the back, brother want to
lick me too! Pepper also said that in the first verse is the most ridiculous song on earth. What you think you are doing in this part of the song is making it sound like an older song about the “young, horny men” that she never thought any of the men should touch (and then go on to say, “I just want to show you how hard it is to get fucked
). It was fun to hear what she was saying from some old, horny guys.
In the next verse she has asked how much she likes a vibrator and how often she is on the phone with her boyfriend (but not her boyfriend’s boyfriend). It was cool to hear that song but she can be so confident, confident, confident. I’m not a hot man myself, so it was difficult to keep a straight face with Pepper. I guess it was because I was a different kind of person in different cultures, so I thought it was all nice and a little bit more realistic than I thought it was.
On the next song she makes some wild things up about male sexuality. In one of her many different and colorful interviews, she said, “If you ever want to have sex, go suck—that’s right.” While in her studio, Pepper says that there is not one single male who I would ever give a second thought that he wants to have sex with in their life and let us have him lick me—he is a sexy guy. Even though it looks like a man and not a little guy, I didn’t think he would be a little bit interested in me licking up their asses if he were a different kind of guy. Her reaction is the same as I see for myself: I’d love to do that in her next song.
On the final song she states that that she doesn’t like men touching her. I guess its just an opinion I can trust. My head is a mess. Sometimes I really don’t take into account how much I love the touch it makes my skin crawl even though they kiss all over it. There are other men that I’ve spoken to on the phone about that have not touched me, which is just like a completely different thing. This is only really the beginning of my thinking about this song…
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‏This is the first video of the song by Pepper.
‏Pepper is getting attention for being a song that makes women cry
‏The song is called “The Beautiful” in Korean. Click to enlarge
‏Pepper has been described as the hottest hot girl on Earth
‏The song seems to be made primarily for men. Click to enlarge
‏Pepper has been described as a “hot slut”
‏Pepper’s popularity on Twitter has been trending in Korea
‏Pepper’s performance on “Yessi” has been trending around the world in Korean
‏Pepper has become something of a cult following with fans praising her as well
thank your mother for a butt like that.” Her she is switching the roles of male and female stereotype. She is playing the role of the whistling construction worker. She is talking about a male posterior in a way guys normally talk about a woman’s. Salt then goes on to say “If looks could kill you would be an oozi, or a shotgun