Salt N Pepa Add Real Flavour


Salt N Pepa Add Real Flavour
Letter by Sophie Jongman, June 2004
Hip-hop has been evolving over almost three decades, and is a
militant
form of
music ('Hip-hop takes the rap',
May SR).


Nowadays MCs fight each other in lyrical battles where they
attack one another on a personal basis. In the early days of
hip-hop, bands such as Public Enemy saw the system as their main
enemy and gave solidarity to their black sisters, for example in
their album Fear of a Black
Planet. There were respected political
female rappers such as Roxanne
Shante, Salt N Pepa, Queen Latifah and Wee Papa Girl Rappers,
and it was the plethora of female rappers that added to the
excitement of early hip-hop.
It was massively popular, and so the market got hold of the
hip-hop phenomenon.

Whereas the female rappers wanted to talk about
all the good things and the bad things about sex, the market made
products out of women's bodies in the videos. Gangsta rap evolved
and destroyed good artists such as Tupac Shakur, as Brian
Richardson pointed out in Socialist Review. Yet the women in
hip-hop did not challenge the sexism in the industry. Missy Elliott
was saying that women were somehow 'ahead of the game' for being
paid in the sex industry.


50 Cent, in his song 'Wanksta', says that being a gangster is
not cool - he should know, he was shot nine times and now walks
with a limp. His song 'P.I.M.

P.' was massively popular probably
because of the catchy kettledrums and rhythm rather than the
lyrics. The lyrics show the attitude of a pimp to the women he
'owns', and how recognisable that attitude is in relations between
men and women in general.
Many mainstream hip-hop artists of late - JayZ, Nas, Ja Rule -
make references to revolution and being warriors (the influence of
the anti-capitalist and anti-war movement perhaps?).

However, the
attitude to women as the 'ho business' definitely has to be
challenged for hip-hop to again be as inspiring as it was
originally.
Sophie Jongman
Gillingham

[ Comment, Edit or Article Submission ]



.

 

.