"The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house." Audre Lorde ( from Yearning bell hooks,1991)Hip Hop was born during one of the many nadirs of the modern Black experience, just as the Spirituals were born during slavery. During the mid-70s through the 1980s as Reganomics took hold the rage, pain and frustration of Urban American gave birth to Rap. "When you're all wrapped up and frustrated you gotta try and get it out..." (Jazzmatazz, 1993).Certainly this was not unique to the Black experience. During slavery African Americans sang Sprituals: the code of the Underground Railroad. And Black Folks created the Blues: the cultural mother of Jazz, R & B and Rock n' Roll. This Blues homespace spoke through the powerful, throbbing Mississippi voice of Muddy Waters declaring manhood in an age where all Black men were "boys" and women "gals."Sitting on the outsideJust me 'n my mateI made the moonCome up two hours lateWhatn' that a man?Mannish Boy Muddy WatersFrom these roots, Rap evolved as the voice of the poor, the outsider, the imprisoned and built a homespace in America's urban ghettos. It is this voice one hears in Queen Latifah's rhythms-- the voice of a Sister standing her ground in a society where women of color have always been third best.The ladies will kick it, the rhythm is wickedThose who don't know how to be pros get evictedA woman can bear you, break you, make you...Ladies First, Queen Latifah (Tricia Rose Black Noise 1994)It is this voice one hears in GURU's vivid portrait of povety and crime in New York City.This is a New York Transit thingDon't wear too much gold and hide your diamond ringsAnd don't smile at anyoneCause people out here like to travel with handgunsTransit Ride GURUYet during the late 1980s, Rap began to mutate from a movement fueled love of Hip Hop to a multimillion dollar industry moved by love of the almighty dollar. And as the music industry took notice of Hip Hop's money making power, rappers became less concerned with speaking the voice of social commentary and more concerned with who's the biggest gangster, who has the biggest gun and the most money. Hip Hop devolved and Black women's voices were both silenced and distorted.Mainstream media is notorious for it's sexist imagery -- scantily clothed women are used to sell everything from chocolate candy to automobiles. Thus Rap only mirrors popular culture. Yet I doubt that there has ever been a movement in the history of America, except during slavery and Reconstruction to rival Rap's debasement of Black women. We have been looked upon as whores, b-----es, golddiggers etc. with no other value than as sexual commodities by Black men -- we, women of color, who already struggle in nation that renders Black and Brown women at best invisible (Pope, 1991-1992).Copyright Valjeanne Jeffers-Thompson 1997, 2009 all rights reserved
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