Joan Morgan Doesn't Need Hip Hop To Make Sense Of Her Feminism Anymore

For a long time, hip hop and feminism were deemed incompatible. But the American journalist Joan Morgan introduced the term 'hip hop feminism' in 1999 on publishing her influential collection of essays, When Chickenheads Come Home To Roost: A Hip-Hop Feminist Breaks It Down. 

While born in Jamaica, Morgan grew up in the South Bronx, New York. She embarked on a career in cultural journalism at The Village Voice, before moving on to other esteemed publications. She received an award for her coverage of the Mike Tyson rape trial.

The black feminist writer bell hooks previously critiqued a hyper-masculine hip hop scene that objectified, and negated, women of colour. However, Morgan specifically addressed the contradictions of being a hip hop fan and a feminist – what she refers to as "this complicated relationship". Two decades on, and her inherently intersectional hip hop feminism is a global school. 

 "I don't really take a lot of ownership in how it exists in the world. I really do see it as a large conversation."

"I'm always a little amazed, actually," Morgan reflects from an Uber, mid-conference, in Miami. "You write something and all you know is that you've written it and you hope that you've written it in a way that has communicated what was in your head and your heart, really. So I really thought that that was gonna be the swan song. I mean, I wrote it so I never had to talk about hip hop and feminism again! And so the fact that it took that turn is really quite surprising and wonderful and affirming to me. But it's funny like – I definitely take credit for coining [hip hop feminism], but I don't really take a lot of ownership in how it exists in the world. I really do see it as a large conversation."

Morgan is bound for Sydney's All About Women festival, held in conjunction with International Women's Day. She'll lead the session 'Hip Hop & Feminism'. 

Community activist Tarana Burke initiated the Me Too movement against the sexual harassment and assault of women back in 2006. Yet, hashtagged as #MeToo, it gained traction in 2017 as mostly privileged white women spoke out against Harvey Weinstein. Lately, there has been heightened discussion, too, about toxic masculinity in hip hop, centring on artists like 6ix9ine and the late XXXTentacion. Still, serious allegations of sexual predation have been directed at the R&B star R Kelly since at least the 2000s, as investigated in Lifetime's recent documentary series Surviving R Kelly, executive produced by dream hampton. Finally, the music industry and law enforcement are responding – since The Music's interview with Morgan, Kelly was arrested and charged with ten counts of aggravated sexual abuse against four victims, three of whom at the time were underaged. 

"I think it's just a moment that's found its political and social footing in the United States," Morgan says. "I have always thought R Kelly was guilty of all the things that he was accused of. But I think it's a moment that also meets #MeToo. It's a good decade after the accusations and so there's a way that we are much more comfortable calling out our celebrities or acknowledging that they are fallible than we were in, like, let's say, 1991. Dream's documentary was incredibly well done and powerful, but I also think that it's meeting a particular cultural-social moment in the United States. You know, they've had 20 years of things like hip hop feminism. We've become much more versed in what the culture looks like. We've raised generations of young women now who have that as part of their language."

Morgan considers the rise of one of hip hop's most trailblazing women in her latest book, She Begat This: 20 Years Of The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill. "For me, the reason to write the book was less about being a diehard Lauryn fan – I did appreciate The Miseducation… and everything that it meant – but it was really an opportunity to talk about an album that was so incredibly significant at the end of the 20th century," she explains. 

Morgan examines how Hill became a symbol for young black women. "I still think that we put Lauryn on a pedestal – much to her detriment and ours. I think that – looking back and not being a 30-something-year-old listening to Lauryn, but looking back as a 53-year-old – we put a lot of pressure on a 23-year-old girl to save hip hop that was patently unfair."

 "I don't really need hip hop to articulate my feminism anymore. I've definitely grown past that."

The author, now in academia, is currently pursuing a PhD. Ironically, Morgan isn't necessarily absorbed in contemporary hip hop – though she enjoys the Bronx-bred Cardi B, especially as "a personality". "I don't really need hip hop to articulate my feminism anymore. I've definitely grown past that." 

Mind, Morgan is curious about the impact of hip hop feminism beyond the US, welcoming cross-cultural exchange. "I remember going to Cuba for the first time and really being able to sit with Cuban hip hop artists and people who are deeply invested in hip hop culture in Cuba and understanding that it took a very different resonance for them – because of everything: their lives, their political situation, their social situation, their relationship to the United States, and imperialism. So I am really looking forward to learning what hip hop has meant in Australia to people."

All About Women is on 10 Mar.