“game over” yet: fantasizing - Scripps College Community

KILLING US
SOFTLY:
A HIP-HOP FEMINIST’S
QUEST FOR LOVE AND
RESPECT WITHIN
HIP-HOP CULTURE By Daysha Edewi
16 [in]Visible Magazine
She had this sparkle about her, like the way broken glass scintillates
off the pavement. Was she beautiful? No. Her eyes sagged into her face
like two potholes from all the ugly events she had witnessed in the world.
Her hair, unkempt and scruffy, loomed over her gaunt-looking face, and
her tattered t-shirt and ‘80s faded jeans dangled off her petite frame. Was
she beautiful? No. But when she spoke, her voice caused bright red roses
to bloom through the dirty cracks in the sidewalks of city streets. Did she
need beauty? No. She had a voice, and boy did she know how to use it. What
was her name? Hip-hop. And I have been in love with her for as long as I can
remember. Hip-hop has wiped the tears off my cheek during my greatest moments
of despair and has held my hand through my deepest fears. The love
I have for her is unconditional, and she has made a huge contribution to the
woman I am today. But over the past few years we have come to a crossroads
in our relationship. She called it “artistic liberty,” but there is something
about hearing the word “bitches” and “hoes,” and other negative female
epithets multiple times that just does not seem so creative or artistic.
“I like a long-haired, thick redbone,” rapper Dwayne “Lil’ Wayne”
Carter croons over the sensual beat of “Every Girl in the World” by the Young
Money crew. As groups of young people bop their heads to the hypnotic beat,
or clusters of females gyrate their hips to the smooth baritone voices of the
Young Money crew and countless other rappers, the degrading and dehumanizing
lyrics of today’s rap artists towards women often brush against the ear
without a second thought. Now what exactly is a redbone, you’re probably
wondering? The term refers to a “light skinned female/male mixed with
black and another race.” Seems harmless enough right? But when this “redbone”
beauty ideal of straight hair and fair/racially ambiguous skin tones,
also depicted as the “tragic mulatta” figure in T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting’s
book Pimp’s Up Ho’s Down, is perpetuated as the preferred type of beauty
within hip-hop culture, it creates tension for the darker-hued, non-European
looking female members of hip-hop. While chatting with a friend of mine
about my qualms with the language and content of hip-hop favorites like
I LOVE HIP-HOP
AND I ALWAYS
WILL. BUT I
LOVE ME MORE.