"I Don't Dance Now, I Make Money Moves": Female Representation in Contemporary Commercialized American Hip Hop Music Videos
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2018-12-19
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en
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This thesis examines female representation in contemporary commercialized American hip hop music videos through visual imagery and lyrics, contrasting the ways in which successful male and female artists portray women in their visual discourse. First constructing a theoretical framework on hip hop history and concepts of race, gender, feminism and female agency in the first chapter, four selected case studies are explored on topics of sexism, the female body, notions of masculinity, femininity, female agency and sexuality. These analyses are conducted over two chapters, the first one focusing on the female case studies of Nicki Minaj and Cardi B, and the second chapter addressing the visual discourse of male rappers Drake and Kendrick Lamar. All four case studies consist out of two parts, the first part encompassing a more general profile on the respective artist, followed by a close-reading analysis of a relevant contemporary music video selected from the artist’s repertoire. Ultimately, the conclusion is drawn that even though contemporary commercialized American hip hop music videos show a general tendency towards a more progressive representation of women in their visual frames, a strong set of gendered dynamics is revealed to still dominate hip hop culture, heavily influencing the ways in which female and male artists are able to portray women in their music.
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