Acknowledging Hip Hop's Problematic Past In Hopes Of A Positive Future

Can feminists dig hip-hop in 2018? Inherently 'street', the male-dominated music culture derives much of its credibility – and power – by challenging institutions.

In the late '80s, a dichotomy emerged between 'conscious' and gangsta rap – the latter actually providing incisive socio-political commentary. Gangsta rap radicalised America's urban stereotypes. But this new hardcore form saliently exploited a hyper-masculinity borne out of racial oppression – which, in turn, objectified and nullified black and ethnic women as 'bitches' and 'hos'. Even the language of beefs would hinge on emasculation, with 'haters' tagged as 'bitches'. Controversy is marketable to youth – especially to middle-class white youth. As such, gangsta rap – and, with it, black struggle – was inevitably commodified. The most surreal moment came when in 2006 Three 6 Mafia won an Academy Award for their trap banger, It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp, from the film Hustle & Flow.

Gangsta rap has proven contentious across the political spectrum. Among its earliest critics was the Civil Rights activist C Delores Tucker – subsequently dissed by that free speech advocate Tupac Shakur. But, in the #MeToo and #TimesUp epoch, urban music is again under scrutiny as the ascendant mode of pop – the current flashpoint Floridian cloud rapper XXXTENTACION (aka Jahseh Onfroy). The 20-year-old, who has a troubled legal history, is awaiting trial on serious domestic violence charges involving a pregnant woman.

Regardless, he was included on 2017's XXL Freshman Class cover – as voted by fans. Onfroy has also signed a deal with Caroline Records (part of the Capitol Music Group) for a reported US$6 million – and his debut album proper, ?, is blitzing the charts here and in the US behind his emo-hop single SAD!. He's even secured a notable album guest in the conscious rapper Joey Bada$$. Onfroy's effusive press blurb hails him as "the post-millennial Generation Z's answer to Kurt Cobain," although Cobain deplored misogyny. The rapper has sought to ameliorate the fall-out from his case by way of philanthropy – the song Hope dedicated to victims of the Parkland shooting. Yet, while TMZ is all over Onfroy, music outlets are boycotting review coverage.

The dialectic is familiar. As pioneers of "reality rap", NWA are today lauded for protesting racial profiling and police brutality with Fuck Tha Police off Straight Outta Compton. But the Compton supergroup descended into rampant misogyny on 1991's N*****4Life LP. Earlier that year, Dr Dre assaulted Denise "Dee" Barnes, the host of the hip hop TV show Pump It Up!, at a record release party. Barnes unwittingly found herself caught up in NWA's feud with former member Ice Cube, whom she'd interviewed – to Dre's fury. Barnes sued but later claimed that she was "vilified" in the industry.

In 1999, Eminem noted the incident on the Dre-featuring Guilty Conscience, off The Slim Shady LP. However, it was omitted from 2015's NWA bio-pic Straight Outta Compton – of which Dre and Cube were both producers, with Pump It Up! cameraman F Gary Gray as director. Barnes penned a remarkable essay for Gawker, discussing how she was "a casualty of Straight Outta Compton's revisionist history." Dre publicly apologised. NWA were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Since then, Eminem and Odd Future's Tyler, The Creator have engendered outrage with their horrorcore narratives…

The R&B world, too, has its toxicity. The Chicago R&B auteur R Kelly has long been accused of sexual predation of young women – as investigated by journalist Jim DeRogatis. In 1994, Vibe published what it purported to be a marriage certificate for Kelly, 27, and his protege Aaliyah – who was 15, not 18, as stated (the union was annulled). In the 2000s, Kelly faced court on child pornography charges after a video surfaced allegedly showing him having sex with, and urinating on, an underage girl. She didn't testify – and he was acquitted. The episode became a pop culture joke – Macklemore referencing it on Thrift Shop. The singer, specialising in Bump N' Grind R&B, continues to release music and tour.

In 2012 Kelly published his autobiography, Soulacoaster: The Diary Of Me, revealing that he himself had been sexually molested as a child by a woman. Kelly has written sympathetic songs for female R&B vocalists: Sparkle, Changing Faces and Kelly Price. Sadly, if he's encountered little backlash, it's because, as DeRogatis and others have concluded, his alleged victims are young black women. In 2009 Chris Brown assaulted his then-girlfriend, Rihanna. Disturbingly, this galvanised his status as R&B's bad boy. Brown's latest album, Heartbreak On A Full Moon (featuring Kelly and Jhene Aiko on the Shakur-sampling Juicy Booty), hit Top 5 in Australia.

Black feminists have consistently critiqued hip-hop – from bell hooks to Roxane Gay to Barnes. Conversely, Australia's conservative Collective Shout has campaigned against touring artists such as Tyler, The Creator, Snoop Dogg and Eminem – despite accusations that in, a peak #WhiteFeminist move, they're singling out (black) hip-hoppers over (white) rock acts who are as problematic. Happily, artists do change. The Beastie Boys – hip-hop's OG white superstars – disavowed the sexism of their Licensed To Ill phase. Eminem had his awakening on Revival – the working-class Detroiter not only taking on President Donald Trump, but also grappling with his own misogyny.

At the 2018 iHeartRadio Awards, Em performed an extended version of Nowhere Fast, alongside Kehlani, lambasting the NRA for obfuscating gun control – so not gangsta. Alas, Revival has been deemed a flop; Shady's (white) Stans blaming that on his Trump missives and guest female vocalists. And Tyler, The Creator has mellowed – possibly coming out on 2017's Flower Boy. The Californian is now respected for actively supporting LGBTQI-identifying colleagues like Syd.

In recent years Kanye West, Drake and The Weeknd have normalised a male vulnerability in urban – writing about… feelings. The definition of 'hard' itself is in flux. Nevertheless, the culture still pivots on inner-city malaise (racism, poverty, sex, drugs and violence) – and a latent misogyny remains. The fiercest debates in hip hop are generational, between ol' skoolers and the mumble rappers Eminem dissed on Chloraseptic. Indeed, the movement has spawned young nihilistic, DGAF rebels like Lil Xan and 03 Greedo – each iconoclastically dissing Shakur. 

Urban's female stars are resisting – Beyonce slamming the patriarchy with her baseball bat on LEMONADE. Rihanna called out Snapchat for running an ad on its platform that mocked domestic violence by asking users if they'd rather "slap Rihanna or punch Chris Brown" – and the company lost $1 bill in stock value. That's cultural power. And the Bronx rapper Cardi B is on a mission. Sure, she over-generously defended her fiancé Offset of Migos against levels of homophobia – ride-or-die-style. But she's also granted her most pointed interview yet to Cosmopolitan, discussing #MeToo. The self-proclaimed "stripper hoe", "gangsta bitch" and feminist suggested that hip-hop's video vixens should be acknowledged in any activism.

"A lot of video vixens have spoke about this and nobody gives a fuck," she says. "I bet if one of these women stands up and talks about it, people are going to say, 'So what? You're a ho. It don't matter.'"

Shots fired, snowflakez.