Most male artists within the popular R&B/Hip-Hop genre during the early 1980’s use emotional and affectionate language when portraying women. However, over time a gradual shift in language appears, in which more objectifying and hypermasculine language is used as an alternative. Artists like Teddy Pendergrass and The Spinners, diverges from hypermasculine normatives by reclaiming their love for a specific woman even if their actions may cause their masculinity to be questioned by others. In 2016, hypermasculine characteristics are internalized by most male R&B/Hip-Hop artists. Artists like D.R.A.M. and Future, reinforce the heteronormative gender stereotypes by utilizing degrading and misogynistic references towards women while also affirming
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First, the study analyzes a small pool of songs within the hip-hop genre, which does not give a holistic view of how most male artists portray women in their music. Secondly, this research study focuses primarily on American R&B/Hip-Hop music. However, the hip-hop genre is universally consumed; therefore examining R&B/Hip-Hop music abroad will also give a more holistic approach towards analyzing the portrayal of women in music lyrics. For instance, Wale is from Nigeria and his approach towards representing women differs from most American male artists in 2016. Thirdly, the ranking of songs on the Billboards chart changes weekly. In other words, when a new week approaches, songs are removed, reorganize and replaced. Particularly in this study, all of the songs are from the first week of August. With this is mind, this study should look at all the top songs within the month of August instead of limiting the data to one specific …show more content…
In this event, the study ignores the voices of women in the American R&B/Hip-Hop genre. To refrain from neglecting the voices of women, a similar follow-up study could examine female R&B/Hip-Hop artists from 1980 and 2016 to observe their language when portraying their male counterparts. Furthermore, with the shift in hip-hop music over time, future research could examine the change in adolescent behavior from the 1970’s, the birth of hip-hop, to 2016. In modern society, there is a rise in the number of songs by internationally-known artists that challenge gender, racial, and heteronormative stereotypes that continues to be reinforced. Still, regardless of how empowering new music may become, if society does not remove manifesting stereotypes we will find that even though words change over time the ideology behind them will remain the same (Adam & Fuller,
First, the study analyzes a small pool of songs within the hip-hop genre, which does not give a holistic view of how most male artists portray women in their music. Secondly, this research study focuses primarily on American R&B/Hip-Hop music. However, the hip-hop genre is universally consumed; therefore examining R&B/Hip-Hop music abroad will also give a more holistic approach towards analyzing the portrayal of women in music lyrics. For instance, Wale is from Nigeria and his approach towards representing women differs from most American male artists in 2016. Thirdly, the ranking of songs on the Billboards chart changes weekly. In other words, when a new week approaches, songs are removed, reorganize and replaced. Particularly in this study, all of the songs are from the first week of August. With this is mind, this study should look at all the top songs within the month of August instead of limiting the data to one specific …show more content…
In this event, the study ignores the voices of women in the American R&B/Hip-Hop genre. To refrain from neglecting the voices of women, a similar follow-up study could examine female R&B/Hip-Hop artists from 1980 and 2016 to observe their language when portraying their male counterparts. Furthermore, with the shift in hip-hop music over time, future research could examine the change in adolescent behavior from the 1970’s, the birth of hip-hop, to 2016. In modern society, there is a rise in the number of songs by internationally-known artists that challenge gender, racial, and heteronormative stereotypes that continues to be reinforced. Still, regardless of how empowering new music may become, if society does not remove manifesting stereotypes we will find that even though words change over time the ideology behind them will remain the same (Adam & Fuller,