The views and opinions expressed in the following editorial are those expressly of the writer of this piece and do not necessarily reflect those of HipHopDX.
“She said she thought Hip Hop was only guns and alcohol. I said ‘Oh hell naw!’ but yet it’s that too. You can’t discrimi-hate because you done read a book or two.” – Andre 3000, “Humble Mumble.”
In her new book, All That Is Bitter & Sweet, actress Ashley Judd explains her perspective on Hip Hop, calling it a “rape culture.” She goes on to say that it is the “contemporary soundtrack of “misogyny.”
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Excerpt: “As far as I’m concerned, most Rap and Hip Hop music–with its rape culture and insanely abusive lyrics and depictions of girls and women as ‘ho’s’–is the contemporary soundtrack of misogyny. I believe that the social construction of gender–the cultural beliefs and practices that divide the sexes and institutionalize and normalize the unequal treatment of girls and women, privilege the interest of boys and men, and, most nefariously, incessantly sexualize girls and women–is the root cause of poverty and suffering around the world.“
For someone who grew up with the culture, these claims seem preposterous and they have a scent of racism that is seemingly easy to discern. After all, misogyny is not unique to Hip Hop so what’s her problem? It’s the bitter side of the book, perhaps. How could a culture that raised us be spoken of in that manner? Speak of family members and you’ll get a similar reaction. How dare someone be so disrespectful?
Sure, those have to be the first thoughts that come to mind. Others echoed similar thoughts in the Hip Hop community. 9th Wonder, Talib Kweli, ?uestlove and others have also sent replies to her through different platforms.
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“At least I got my answer as to why [Ashley Judd] didn’t give us so much as a nod on her last visit,” ?uesto noted. “I’d rather Ash Judd just called me a nigger,” 9th added. “Ashley Judd has basically called all of us criminals and savages in one fail swoop.”
The rage poured on.
But, soon all of that anger somewhat wears off and what we’re left with is a reflection. Nevermind who said it. We have to reflect in the same fashion as Ice Cube did on Death Certificate. But, to look in the mirror, to look inward, it seems, has always been difficult for most. It forces us to analyze ourselves. It makes us responsible and accountable for our actions and words. Perhaps we must look at our culture and respect that, while it is not “rape culture,” it does contain some of what Judd judged it as. Emcees often call women hoes, yes. That’s part of why Lupe Fiasco says he used to hate Hip Hop, according to his first verse on “Hurt Me Soul.” Emcees also often depict women in ways that would make any of us keep our daughters from entering the music video doors. While it is not what the culture as a whole is responsible for, much of what we have had shown in the mainstream has not been so flattering.
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Therein lies the problem. The mainstream is what we are known for. Folks who do not listen to Hip Hop because of this Ashley Judd stance base their knowledge about the genre on what they see and hear in the mainstream. As Dessa of Doomtree pointed out when I interviewed her last year, it’s unfair to expect others to understand the culture when all they are exposed to is the Top 40.
“I think, initially, my dad was apprehensive about it because what he’d seen from Rap didn’t look like something that he thought I’d be interested in, because of the views that it purveyed, because of the way it treated women and because of the violence and the materialism that was so often involved,” she said. “I wasn’t mad at him. I think a lot of people, when they talk about how Hip Hop appears in the mainstream, they get real mad that people aren’t digging deeper. I’m like, ‘Dude, if I heard music from Yemen and I didn’t like it, the last thing I’m going to do is see if there’s an underground Yemen musical community.’ You know?”
In reflecting, we must understand that others perceive us based on what they see or hear in the television or radio. So, there is still a stigma attached, even as we’ve grown to become a successful genre/culture. We can’t be too surprised that this perception exists. For outsiders, it’s easy to speak ill of a culture that has Gucci Mane as a top biller, a rapper who most recently was arrested for violating probation after allegedly throwing a woman out of a moving car for refusing to sleep with him. An outsider will only see that Chris Brown is topping the R&B and Hip Hop charts after physically beating Rihanna, in a song featuring Lil Wayne who also has a track on the charts (“6 Foot, 7 Foot”
) where he says “hoes gonna be hoes.” No, these artists are not responsible for the culture as a whole, but because we as a people put them at the front of our class, they are not just a part of the culture; they are the faces of it.
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“Y’all sit and scream and cuss, but there’s no one to blame but us.” – Ice Cube
As a person who wakes up to Hip Hop every day, of course I know there’s much more to the beauty of the culture. If you are reading this, you surely know that, also. But, others don’t know that, don’t see that and don’t care to. Instead, they’ll form their opinions on what they have seen and walk around with ill informed judgments. But, we are the ones that allow them to do this. We are putting this at the forefront of the culture.
Back in 2007, I interviewed Pigeon John for HipHopDX and he expressed some strong feelings of the genre’s dominant figures, ones we tend to put at the top of any emcee list.
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“If you ask ‘Who are your favorite emcees?’ Usually, it’s ‘Jay-Z, Biggie, Nas, Tupac…’ And if you look at them, they are all black, all affiliated with drugs, crime, pimping and so forth. In history, when you look back [and ask] ‘Who’s the King of Rock?’ or ‘Who’s the King of that Jazz element?’ Sooner or later, it’s going to be ‘Who was the King of that Hip Hop movement?’ And all of them were drug dealers, pimps, and the stereotypical black male. That’s very dangerous and that’s happening right now. And dudes that don’t affiliate themselves with that don’t have any street cred and really don’t get affiliated with the top five or 10 emcees.”
All of the emcees mentioned aren’t just mentioned as greats, they are deservedly mentioned as legends. However, Pigeon, who is half white and half black, went on to explain that an outsider won’t see Hip Hop for anything more than what’s shown on MTV or BET.
“When I see a video or when I see videos of the same kind of thing, I understand that these are young black people trying to make it. Sometimes they exaggerate a little to make it. My worry is when [others] see that. My [white] cousins in Nebraska [for instance], there’s not a lot of black people out there, so their example of black people is movies and videos. It’s almost like we’re training [others] to be like ‘This is how we act, this is how all of us act.’”
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Of course, any type of generalization is met with negative backlash. So, when Ashley Judd makes these types of comments, it’s hard not to question her motives, beliefs, prejudice and more. But, she was speaking from a perspective that we cannot just shut out or ignore. We have to understand that it is an opinion many have and an opinion we sometimes allow to rise by what we promote as the best of our culture within the mainstream. Yes, it’s a part of who we are as a culture, but there’s much more to it that should not be wiped out. There’s the incredible artistry, the unbelievable lyricism, musical ingenuity and creativity. All of that cannot be muted.
Judd has since apologized for these comments, admitting that she now has more knowledge about a diverse side of Hip Hop. Still, her comments served a purpose. While she allowed us to vent, she also allowed us to take a look at ourselves and at how we continue to portray our culture. So, yes coming up beyond these kinds of stereotypes is a must. “But before we can come up, take a look at us.”
Andres Vasquez is a Los Angeles-based Hip Hop journalist and an educator who has contributed to HipHopDX as a staff writer for more than five years.
