Article Review 3

Tayler Thornton

WGST 202

T/TH 9:30-10:45

Professor Currans

Blog Topic: Masculinity and Hip Hop

Article Review #3

Marc Lamont Hill (2009) Scared Straight: Hip-Hop, Outing, and the Pedagogy of Queerness, Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 31:1, 29-54, DOI: 10.1080/10714410802629235

A common and treasured African American rapper named Big Daddy Kane reported that he was dying of AIDS. In the rap game if you have AIDS that means that you’re gay. Though this rumor was proved to be false, Big Daddy Kane, still felt the need to make sure that the world knew that he was not gay. He stated in one of his raps, “Like with that HIV rumor they tried to toss, But I'm so good with the women that if I ever caught AIDS, A woman doctor'd find a cure just so she could get laid, So never fear my dear, just come on over here, I practice safe sex, with girls I lay next, In other words, the J-hat's on the head, Cause I'm too sexy for AIDS like Right Said Fred”. In the article, “Scared Straight: Hip Hop, Outing, and the Pedagogy of Queerness”, written by Marc Lamont Hill, he “examines the politics of outing with hip-hop’s public sphere”. He also observes how rappers keep their hegemonic conceptions by outing in their lyrics and how outing in lyrics sustains masculinity. To sum it up, the author views rappers lyrics and how they talk about their heterosexuality.

Outing is “the act of exposing people who were “in the closet”, or secretly engaging in gay, lesbian, bisexual, or otherwise non- heterosexual lifestyles”. Hill supports his article by first examining the politics of outing. In ancient Rome and Greece, outing was used to expose people who went against society’s sexual preference. After talking about the foreign times about outing, he then moved to talk about America and outing reached in World War II. They labeled gay and lesbian people as threats and perverts, which lead to firing hundreds of people because they were skeptical. In his article he stated that Rock Hudson died of HIV/AIDS. Although he was married to Phyllis Gates, and was a masculine heterosexual he could have been hiding his true identity. Later in the 20^th century Ted Haggard, an antigay minister, had been outed by a gay prostitute, stating they had a 3-year sexual relationship. The gay man spoke to the public and said he felt like he was doing the right thing and that he had to expose him for preaching one thing and doing another. What is being said in this part of the article is that even political leaders get caught doing things they fight against.

Hill then talks about rappers’ lyrical outing, stating that rappers are also policing sexuality by outing other known rappers. Being in the rap industry it is better to be known straight then gay matter what. Jay-Z and Nas had a rap battle where rapper Nas attacked Jay-Z about his sexuality. Nas talked about his name saying “Gay-Z” and also talked about his brand saying its called, “Cock-a-Fella” instead of Rock-a-Fella”. The rapper later stated, “Put it together, I rock hoes, y’all rock fellas, Rockefeller died of AIDS that was the end of his chapter, And that the dude you chose to name your company after”? Jay-Z then retaliated by stating, “And since you infatuated with sayin’ that gay shit, I guess you was kissin’ my dick when you was kissin’ that bitch”. Although these rappers were stating venomous words back and fourth with one another, neither rapper believed that the other was actually gay. They both also stated that it was just rap war purpose and that it was to humiliate the other and humor people.

Hill also explores another battle between rappers but this one wasn’t just for fun it was also done to raise questions about ones sexuality. Rapper Eazy E made rumors about Dr. Dre, saying that he wore lipstick during 1982 while in a group called the World Class Wrecking Crew. Eazy E stated, “All of a sudden Dr. Dre is a G thang, But on his old album covers, he was a she thang”. In the video he flashed pictures of Dr. Dre wearing makeup and women clothing. But Eazy E wasn’t the only one who dissed Dr. Dre and his sexuality, passed rapper Tupac also did so by stating, California Love part motherfuckin’ 2, Without gay ass Dre”, and “We shook Dre punk ass, Now he out the closet”. But not only were those the others rappers but Ja Rule also stated lyrics talking about Dre’s sexuality. But soon after Dre died of AIDS related illnesses, which raised a lot of questions about the rappers he was around. But there will always be a rapper rapping about someone else’s sexuality and insulting them, whether its for fun or for real you cant stop a rapper from rapping about you, because after all that was said about Dr. Dre, Hill did not put that Dr. Dre ever responded or retaliated. So it goes to show you he wasn’t worried about his sexuality because he knew who he was.

            In Hills’ concluding paragraph , he questions all rappers’ sexuality. It seems that all rappers are homophobic and don’t like anything about being gay but show signs of gayness within their crew. He states that rappers all male rappers hang around a lot of men, that they give each other half hugs and handshakes, and they use the term “niggas over bitches”, meaning that they are obsessed with male relationships. Hill also states that rappers have some from of homoerotic tendencies when they “run trains” on women, which is a group of men having sex with only one woman in the room. Although the focus is on the one woman, men are still together naked.  It was quite entertaining for Hill to bring up that rappers do all this so called manly things, but when you look at it, is it really that manly? He gave his personal view on the issue by stating that, “Though its outing practices, the hip-hop community, is able to continuously ignore its own complex sexual ethic by keeping the focus on individual, anonymous, and, in the case of the homothug, aggregate queer bodies”. Meaning rappers tend to ignore their gay ways by putting someone else in the front of them to hide what they are doing.

Hills article promotes very good information about my topic, which is Masculinity and Hip Hop. He displays how rappers talk about one another’s sexuality when it’s really their sexuality that needs to be in question. It also talks about that some rappers will or will not retaliate when someone try’s to talk about them in a disrespectful manner. But it also shows that rappers are really scared to be gay in the industry. They try so hard to look masculine and act like a man that it is probably exposing them in real life. Hill also talks about politics in this article, which really doesn’t go with my topic, but it is good to know the history of outing and where it came from. It was good to know that men in politics also have these homo problems, no matter who they are. You would think that a man in politic would never be gay or support it but in this article you see that that isn’t true. Hill gives background information, rapper quotes and battles, and talks about deaths from HIV/AIDS that raised questions about many men. I think that this article ties in with our class because we talked about rappers and their masculinity and how they hide really what’s inside. 

Article Review 2

Tayler Thornton

WGST 202

T/Th 9:30-10:45

Professor Currans

Blog Topic: Masculinity and Hip Hop

Article Review #1

Jeffrey Q. McCune Jr (2008) “Out” in the Club: The Down Low, Hip-Hop, and the Architexture of Black Masculinity, Text and Performance Quarterly, 28:3, 298-314, DOI: 10.1080/10462930802107415

 In the article, “Out in the Club: The Down Low, Hip Hop, and the Architexture of Black Masculinity”, written by Jeffrey McCune Jr., he studies African American men on the down low, and the club and the connection between black masculine performances. The author looks mainly at two points in his article; the first being “The Gate” a gay club, and the other exploring “Homoerotic Activity in a Heteronormative Playground”. The author also focuses on one case study and also looks at the lyrics of some known rapper to further explain his point and view. Overall the author examines an African American man being on the DL and looking at things in a different perspective and getting some understanding of what “The Gate” really means.

What does being on the “down low really mean”? The article describes it as a man who has discreet sex with other men, who engage in low-key queer activity. “DL offers a new school remix of the old-school closet, an improvisation on the coming-out narrative that imagines a low-key of being in the world”. (McCune 298) McCune first explores his article by talking about him growing and “The Gate”. Growing up McCune believed that African American men quieted themselves from down low activities and experienced very little sexual freedom. The thought of a gay black male was slim to none, but McCune soon found in college that it was more than he thought. He quoted from scholar Dwight Conquergood, “that sometimes… you do have to go there to know there” and McCune would soon be there.

“The Gate” is a Friday night black gay club in Chicago, it is a space where down low men can go and be somewhat free from the chained world they live in and fulfill their homo desires. The club is not only know for doing this but it is also known for displaying two type of music: house and hip hop music. House music is more high fashion, where designer and looking fabulous is more important, where as hip-hop music is more laid-back and uniform. Some would say that a persons clothing tells who they are and makes them feel free and comfortable with their self. The author states that the club hip hop side has a bit of a “coolness” to it, meaning that it is a way of survival where black men make do with what they have. The author’s talks about how hip-hop music and coolness play hand in hand to each other. Stating that hip-hop music is a part of the down low world and its history. Hip Hop music at the club provides black men a way for queer men to grip on to queer fantasies. As a man Robert stated in the article, “he can feel the body of another man without feeling ashamed and that there is no need for hiding and hushing”, these are the type of things that “The Gate” does for men. But it also “blends hip-hop and queer roots on the route to non-normative desire and pleasure”. Also meaning that it making black men go down a path that is not normal in society.

The author then actually goes into “The Gate” to fully understand what really happens inside. The author explains is his walking up to the club and paying the cover to get in. He goes inside and sees all sizes, ages, shapes, and colors take up the hip hop side of the club. As McCune makes his way through the crowd he hears a song by the rapper 50 Cent with lyrics that go, “You can find me in da club, With a  bottle full of Bub, But, mama, I got the X, If you into taking drugs, I’m into having sex, I aint into making love, So come give me a hug, if you into getting rubbed”. He then started focusing on the crowd and realized that the lyrics in the song go along with what the people in club were doing. After while McCune ran into Shawn, the man he did his case study on about being on the DL, and remembered that Shawn said he would never be caught in a queer club. When they bumped into each other they spoke and Shawn grabbed McCune’s hand and put it on his private part. Shawn’s actions inside the club did not match his actions outside the club and that hit a bell in McCune’s head. Shawn is in a fraternity at college and plays the ladies man role and pretty boy role as a mask for what he really is. McCune then looks at Shawn’s outfit and sees that his clothing and sees that he has cap on his head, signifying that hip-hop is cover up for queer desire. Hip Hop portrays a very masculine affect on men which means that a man can listen and follow the steps of hip-hop to hide them being on the down low.

McCune ties all of his points together by stating that DL men do not desire to “come out” but they “come in” at “The Gate”. The gate is a home where they can come and be free and honest. They can fellowship with other people like them and fulfill desires they have. But outside the gate they live different discreet lives and aren’t them self. No matter where these men are in a hip-hop club, on the internet, on a chat site, DL men will always find a place where they can just be them and have to hide. The Gate gives them a place where they can come in and not come out. McCune focused on the this one club to show how hip hop provides masculinity for DL men and how it plays a role in a mans life. But not matter how long a DL man stays in the gates of a dark night club, the light will soon come on and they can be free from their self.

This article conveys good information about my blog topic, which is masculinity and hip-hop. McCune provides good evidence about hip-hop and men and hiding how they really are. McCune focuses on DL black men coming into “The Gate” and freeing themselves from the social norm of the world. This article to me also ties into the article written by Michael Messner called, “Becoming 100% straight. McCune explores men being on the down low and hiding behind clothes and hip hop music to be more masculine and not to let anyone find out their secret, but Messner focuses on athletes hiding behind sports to look masculine. In my opinion they both do a great and thorough job of examine sexuality in men and look at it in different ways and two different characteristics of it. McCune takes a more personal approach to the topic and talks about his experience entering “The Gate”. But hip hop will always a part in the masculinity of black men and it just goes to show you that you only know and see what people want you to see. 

Article Review 1

Tayler Thornton

WGST 202

T/Th 9:30-10:45

Professor Currans

Blog Topic: Masculinity and Hip Hop

Article Review #1

Jeffries, Michael P. "Can A Thug (Get Some) Love? Sex, Romance, And The Definition Of A Hip Hop 'Thug'." Women & Language 32.2 (2009): 35-41. OmniFile Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 14 Oct. 2013.

In the article, “Can a Thug (get some) Love? Sex, Romance, and the Definition of a Hip Hop ‘Thug’”, Michael J. Jeffries examines and explains through performances of a rappers the need love, masculinity, and keeping the image of a ‘thug’. The author first explains love through rapper Tupac Shakur and Jay-Z through the break down of their lyrics. He then moves to a rappers’ sexuality and masculinity through rapper Lil Wayne, with interviews from magazines. Lastly the author sums up his article by explaining the term ‘thug’ which is the essentially the image that a rapper wants to portray. Overall the author displays a rappers’ need for romance, public image, and sexuality in hip hop music.

In order to back up his research, he first examines romance by looking at song lyrics from rapper Tupac and Jay-Z and breaking them down into what they really stand for. Tupac Shakur was the most probably the most influential ‘thug’ rapper in the game. He rapped about struggling, his life a child, death, and the harsh society he lived in. But people loved him because they thought he was being honest in his music and true to himself. Tupac made it clear that he was ‘thug’ but he also made it clear that cared for women and was in need of love. Tupac’s song “Me and my Girlfriend” was a hit song, using a gun as metaphor for a woman, a trustworthy companion who he adores above everything else. In rapper Jay-Z version of “Me and my Girlfriend”, called “Bonnie and Clyde”, featuring Beyoncé, he talks about his love for girlfriend Beyoncé and that no one can break them apart. The songs of course  have a comparison but in Tupac’s version he is filling the void of not having a woman in his life with his gun and in Jay-Z version his love is fulfilled. Even though rapper put off a hard shell and image of being a ‘thug’, everybody needs love and these two rappers prove it.

Jeffries then looks at a rappers need for their manly image by examining the songs of and interviews with Lil Wayne. Lil Wayne, a known rapper, has always made his sexuality very well know. The author quoted from Anderson that “These strategies include bravado, highlighting male distinctiveness in feminized space, and degrading both women and gay men”, and Lil Wayne did exactly that. In his song “Lollipop”, Lil Wayne looks at women as a sex object and getting sexual activity from the or him giving them sexual activity know as oral sex, hence the word ‘lollipop’. Lil Wayne made it clear that he masculine and that he did not partake in homo activity. In an interview Lil Wayne praises R&B singer Trey Songz for having women and said, “I’m like Trey Songz, no homo”. No homo-sexual means that he does participate in homosexual activity. Lil Wayne’s meaning for saying that is so that people will know that he does not have feelings for Trey Songz. Lil Wayne always displays his heterosexuality in his music and people respect him for that. Lil Wayne takes pride in his masculinity and portrays it often. In the rap industry being masculine is a must and if it is not portrayed fans and the media will always know and start talking.

Lastly, he brings all of his main points together in the final section of his article by referencing R&B singer and rapper R. Kelly. He explains that R. Kelly sings about love and still being masculine in his songs over his career and that no one “has impacted the meaning od ‘thug’ more than Kelly”. The word ‘thug’ explained earlier in the article, “Serves as a replacement for the condemned and explicitly racial insults of eras past like ‘nigger’ and is used to highlight immoral and/or criminal dispositions and practices embodied by young black men”. R. Kelly gave the world three types of thugs and three different songs. The first song by rapper Fat Joe featuring R. Kelly called “We Thuggin”, represented thugs as a symbol of money, meaning they live a high lifestyle with lots of parties and the ability to ‘ball’. The second song by Jay-Z featuring R. Kelly called “Fiesta”, indicates that being a thug also means talking to and having a lot of women and doing things to make them scream. The last song “Ignition” by R. Kelly, displays his sexuality by implying that he’s having sex with women, meaning that he is heterosexual. R. Kelly successful hit all three sections on the nail, saying that rappers in the industry need women (love), masculinity (no homo), and the manly image of being a thug.

This article displays good information about my blog topic, which is masculinity and hip-hop. Jeffries provides good insight on rappers’ careers and their need to be masculine whether if they are talking about money, women, or their sexuality. Although degrading women and homosexuals might not be a healthy way of flaunting their masculinity they do it. “Thugs need love too, but do not always walk a righteous path to get it”. This article ties into the article written by Michael Messner called, “Becoming 100% straight. Jeffries looks at a rappers need to be a man and be straight and in comparison so does Messner. Jeffries is focusing on rappers hiding behind their music to display a masculine look but Messner focuses on athletes hiding behind sports to look masculine. In my opinion they both do a great and thorough job of talking about sexuality in different ways and two different aspects of it. Jeffries article included a lot of break down of lyrics and what words actual mean in the rap industry and talks about a rapper masculinity in every section, I highly suggest people read this article if they want a better understanding.  

Article Review 2

Article Review 3

                In this article Rebecca L. Stotzer tries to bring to light the abuse of other gender identities besides men and women, namely, the transgender group. This is a challenge because it is a rather obscure demographic and not all people of this nature disclose sensitive information about themselves. Also, we are talking about abuse here. It is already hard to deal with and come forward from abuse and prejudice when a person is a regular male or female, but this adds a new dimension to it. There have been efforts before this article to improve documentation of violence based on perception of gender identity but overall the information is still limited.

                Some of the work that has been done regarding the prejudice against transgender individuals was to dig into the legislature of hate crimes. “The Hate Crimes Statistics act of 1990 the only national system in the United States for reporting hate-based violence, mandates that he Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) track hate crimes based on race and ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and disability. In addition to the lack of consistency by states in reporting these data, another factor limiting the amount of information available concerning hate crimes involving transgender people is that gender identity is not included in the list of federally protected statuses.” (43) Basically, if you identify a gender based crime in court or any other judicial setting, you are out of luck.

                Active attendances of the issues at hand are making progress also. Since this is an issue that is under the metaphorical radar, some studies have been enacted to bring to light an estimate of how many transgender people are afflicted by these hate crimes. “In their in-depth study of types of violence experienced among a national sample of 402 transgender persons, Lombardi, Wilchins, Priesing and Malouf reported that 59.5% of respondents experienced some type of gender identity-based violence in their lifetime.” (44) Also, 29.6% of those 402 individuals have been physically assaulted in some way, weapon or not. (44) Recognition is the first step to remedy. Although 402 individuals is not that many and a lot more are going to be needed to gain enough attention.

                Likewise, as there is a lack of information to transgendered individuals’ favor, there are people opposed to that and are creating programs and groups to raise awareness and get these people prominent voices. The Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations (LACCHR) has been doing just that. They have thoroughly analyzed data from every public aspect of Los Angeles County, including law enforcement agencies, school districts, fair-housing councils, ethnic and religious organizations, and other relevant groups (45). It may be small, but gender is making its way to notoriety in the U.S. hopefully people will be ready to help this matter and get genders on the U.S.’ list of protected statuses. We need to recognize these people as human.

Works Cited:

Stotzer, Rebecca L. "Gender Identity and Hate Crimes: Violence Against Transgender People in Los Angeles County." Sexuality Research & Social Policy (2008): 43-52.

Article Review 1 --Marcus Allen

Theories on the Gender Gap

            Many people are obviously aware of the fact that there is not equality in the world as of now. I’m here to figure out why that is. In many activities and throughout daily life there is a huge gender gap. Many individuals don’t even notice this problem frequently because they are comfortable with the benefits given to them. I plan to show factors that lead to the gender gap, whether physical, mental, or indirectly received or given by societal means.

            Starting with the physical aspects that compose the gender gap, I’ve learned that women are more likely to survive than men. Are males truly the more fragile sex? This can be picked apart starting even from the womb. It was found that premature birth success has a higher turnout with females as they are 1.7 times more likely to survive than males. Further, African American girls are more than twice as likely to survive as white males. (Pinker, 2008) Being a female is like having a better life insurance policy (biological). There is not much light to shed on the reasoning for this, but one widely believed cause is the two X chromosomes females possess. If one of their chromosomes are damaged and produce defects while in gestation they have nothing to worry about because of their handy spare. As males have two different chromosomes they would be out of luck when the factory stopped working right. Also men are much more susceptible to disease, again because of the chromosomes. Women can carry diseases and not be affected. Another thing is that the Y chromosome has been subject to mutation and erosion by time. The Y chromosome has been shedding genes furiously over the course of evolutionary time, and it is now a fraction the size of its partner, the X chromosome (Wade, 2003). The Y chromosome in a way also hinders survival for males around the globe, indiscriminate to species as well. According to Susan Pinker; testosterone increases aggression, risk-taking, and verve. Testosterone is suspected to be involved in every male chronic illness such as heart disease, cancer, and AIDS. Surges of testosterone boost strength, stamina, and spatial problem solving but decrease the body’s immune response.

            I’ve really been taken aback by all of the information I found. I was very surprised about the Y chromosome and how it is dwindling on the brink of extinction. If evolutionary mutations keep occurring at the past and present rates, the decay will eventually cause the end of the human race, starting with males. It was very interesting to learn that Men and women differ by 1 to 2 percent of their genomes, which is the same as the difference between a man and a male chimpanzee or between a woman and a female chimpanzee. I’ve also learned that the gender gap is as old as time itself. That there is evidence about women being less enthusiastic about going to war than men, and more concerned with the provision of food, shelter, clothing and healing to children and men. (Boulding, 1984) Regarding this knowledge I would especially desire to make a larger awareness among every population. Nothing gets fixed without everyone’s help. In this class I have learned many things that I never would have known if I hadn’t registered for this class. This is the same in regards to the gender gap. One of the approaches to the study of problems of women is awareness. Simply put many individuals do not incur the hardships of women nor query them (Somjee, 1989). Education is the answer, start enacting more gender comparative classes so this problem can be solved.

Blog 3 Trans equality --MarcusAllen

http://www.transequality.org/
Above is a link to an organization that fights for recognition and equality for transgender individuals. I really like the site as they post accomplishments, news, videos, resources for help and ways to get involved. I really like the site and I think everyone should take a look!

Blog 2: Article on Transgender Hate crimes --Marcus Allen

This is an article that analyzes the likelihood of hate crimes on campus in contrast to the likelihood of hate crimes anywhere else. The results are astounding and I suggest to take a look.
Hate Crimes on Campus: Racial/Ethnic Diversity and Campus Safety