The Evolution of Misogyny in Hip Hop

     The first research paper that I every wrote at Fredonia was for my Into to the English Major class as a freshman, titled I'm Killing These Bitches: Misogyny and the Golden Age of Hip Hop. It was a fifteen page long look at the history of Gangsta Rap and Horrorcore Rap, as well as the latent belittling messages in mainstream rap of the time that manifested itself in problematic events like the rise of the Five Percent Nation as well as the common reaction to the trials of R. Kelly and Tupac's manager, who both received  overwhelming support from the hip hop community as well, despite the former taping himself having sex with and urinating on a 14-year old, and the latter raping multiple women.
     These days, although club music has gotten noticeably less subtle in the realm of male fantasy-fulfillment, the radio is now filled with artists who's songs demonstrate a newer and more insidious approach that seems summed up by this: "You can say that you love women all you want, all while still subjugating them."
    Case in point: MC Lyte (the first female rapper to drop a record on a major label) made headlines declaring FETTY WAP to be the "Most Feminist MC" out right now. Lyte is an absolutely phenomenal figure when it comes to hip-hop, but how can we really call someone whose breakout hit was about having a woman cooking enough crack for him to be financially supported off of it a feminist MC (Trap Queen also features the gem: "I'll run into ya house, and I'll fuck your ho")? Not only that, but for someone like Lyte, who's aware that there are a plethora of female and non-binary MCs out there, why give it to Fetty? Her reason was that ""He may have a very unique way of presenting his ideas, but he does love women."
   What about Drake? He surely adores vaginas, mouths, and butt-cheeks, as his discography is a testament to, but women? Probably not. His most recent hit, Hotline Bling, is a ridiculous and frustratingly catchy anthem to male insecurity and slut-shaming, with Drake crooning about how she always "Used to always stay at home, be a good girl", that shes "Got a reputation for (herself) now". She doesn't cover herself in enough clothes, she drinks champagne and dances without Drake's prior approval, all while Drake eagerly awaits her call so that his insecurities can be absolved.
   Even the current biggest male voice in the pop scene, The Weeknd, has had a shocking amount of success considering his first three projects, Thursday, House of Balloons, and Echoes of Silence, were masterworks in the realms of masculinity, self-fashioned 'Nice Guys' obsessed with friendzones, and victim-blaming. Female MCs have finally gained a slice of critical appeal, but the only two current stars getting radio play, Iggy Azaelea and Nicki Minaj, have only achieved it by crafting both their bodies and their songs to match the male fantasy of the gorgeous, successful, ridiculously curvaceous woman who finds time to be both a powerful and perfect human as well an insatiable nymphomaniac.
   We have occasional radio songs with pop appeal that deal with progressive ideals of tolerance, like Macklemore's Same Love, J. Cole's Crooked Smile, or even Kendrick Lamar's i, but how progressive can it be to have every single thoughtful rap hit come from a straight, cisgender male? Party anthems are the go-to thoughtless music we still raise kids on, and though the target audience has gotten broader, the content is no less shallow.  The less the public tolerates overt misogyny, the more embedded the message has gotten. Radio Hip-Hop is no longer killing women for sport, simply abusing them as a hobby.