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Dialogues@RU is published
annually
by the
Writing Program at
Rutgers, The State
University of New Jersey
Volume 4
Fall 2005
By Melissa Connerly
While Connerly is right in saying that Lil' Kim has made some seriously misguided decisions and that she took her "Jezebel" style a bit too far, it is clear that there were other motives behind her choice of lyrics other than the desire to change the image of the African American woman in hip-hop. In order to illustrate this point, permit me, for a moment, to recap the three forces that Connerly posits as having considerable influence on the lyrics that African American men write to objectify women: (1) the commercialization of the rap and hip-hop industries, which forces artists to come up with lyrics that sell, i.e. ones that rhyme for the sake of rhyming and make the overwhelmingly male audience that listens to them feel like they are in a position of power; (2) the actual need felt by most male rappers to have power over women in a society where white men retain the majority of privileges and wealth; and (3) the further commercialization of music channels, such as BET, which sensationalize their program content in a cut-throat competition for higher ratings. But while such forces may tempt artists to stereotype African American women, they hardly justify the decision to do so. Artists have to be able to survive in the industry without resorting to negative stereotypes, or there would be no variation in hip-hop or rap content. Queen Latifah, in resisting stereotypes, is a prime example of such variation. So we see that Lil' Kim's decision to shock and awe was instead influenced by the aforementioned commercial pressures. She had the choice available to her to resist these pressures, but it appears that the revenue earned from her sensational content has certainly been as much of a driving factor in her career as it has been for male artists; unless, of course, we want to say that men are necessarily more money-driven and power hungry, and therefore more susceptible, to this kind of temptation. Thus by moving away from the concept of embrace, and more towards what realistically seems like a strategic decision on Lil' Kim's part, we see that embracing one's negative roles, in this instance, becomes no more than mere co-optation into the system that one is trying to fight.
Queen Latifah also clearly has a commercialized incentive to take on her respective "Mammy" role. But even though she is pressured into adopting this position, I would not go so far as to say that she is necessarily forced. Connerly writes of the singer's Hollywood role in Bringin' Down the House that she operates "under a set of principles that [white society sets], which she cannot fully see or fully understand, so that she does not realize there is anything wrong with playing the typical African American female." But while the film is laden with stereotypes that associate Queen Latifah with being "ghetto fab," she is anything but the servile "black maid" or "Mammy." In fact, she continuously refuses to accept this role, relying instead on her stylistic humor to get her audience to recognize, with a certain level of incredulity, that racism is still very much alive today, even among the supposedly educated or well to do. So although some of the stereotypes in the movie actually compromise Queen Latifah's efforts to change the public image of the African American woman, she is making a conscious choice not to embrace all of them. Moreover, this same choice exists in the world of hip-hop where African American women struggle to change the negative image male artists have created for them. Queen Latifah chooses a style that is critical of existing social attitudes, addresses them head on, rather than merely accepting them at face value as Lil' Kim has been inclined to do.
While men and women each have their own battles to fight in the hip-hop industry, it is evident that both sexes are heavily influenced by the commercialization of the music industry and the prejudices of white patriarchal society. But both male and female artists can and do resist such pressures. It is in this regard that I agree with Connerly's point that Lil' Kim's open acceptance of her role as "Jezebel" was probably not the best way to go about changing the image of women in the industry. Indeed, this idea of "embracing" adversity may appear rather plausible on the surface. However, we need to go further in assessing the extent to which each artist had really embraced their roles. I should say this is more than to merely puzzle over what is meant by the word "embrace." It is to ask how much Lil' Kim and Queen Latifah were forced into accepting their respective roles, what other options they had available, and why they made the choices that they did.