why negative images of women are used in videos

Music videos are an artist way of advertising themselves and their product, which is the music. Music videos can inundate our minds with the images that can essentially shape our attitude. Some women are paying with their bodies as a survival strategy. Out of this emerged the stereotype of black women as promiscuous and oversexed, and this shape some black women sexual morality. Some started to look at themselves as society viewed them, and some had no control over their bodies. Some black men wanted black women to have a subordinate role in the home, while some women wanted men to be sole economic providers. They have been, unable to meet each others expectation, these same obsession are demonstrated in hip hop culture. Some women want men to be the economic provider, so they use their sexual power to receive economic gain from men. While some men within hip hop want to be passive and manipulate women by offering money and power to them.



Most of the Rap artist feel that the only way to sell their songs and videos is by using negative images of women, also through nasty videos because it would attract people to buy. They degrade women in order to become successful. Hip hop is a genre of music that most people consume, according to Chuck D of the legendary Rap group Public Enemy, he said “major record label pressure hip hop artist to produce music that embraces sex and violence to make it sell more. Negative images of women are used by hip hop in videos so as to become more famous and attract people to but their music videos. The female body is valuable, they are also sexual attractive to men. Images of women are used to convey meaning to gender and other value. The black women that appear in most of these videos feel that their worth is based on soliciting attention from men and using that attention for their financial gain. They are used in most videos as material success link.

Negative representation of women in video is an activity that hip hop has glamorized by an association with materialism and success in the form of flashy dress, money and fine cars. In one of 50cents popular song, “P.I.MP”, earned $18 billion the year it was released. The song talks explicitly about sending women out to solicit sex for money.

In conclusion, the theme and meaning of this genre has shifted to what exactly took place to rock and roll back in the 70's, 80's and early 90's where several organizations fought some artists and requested their government to band their music in their societies. It doesn't mean it hasn't started with some sexist hip hop artists, but soon to become and world wide known sex market that might concern lots of audiences. Incidents like Akon's rumour about raping an under-aged girl on stage, and R. Kelly's incident of having sexual intercourse with a young girl are all predictable events judging by what is being displayed onto our everyday music channels. The form of expression in music has changed and somewhat listeners, or sometimes artists tend to tranform that expression to something more abstract and materialistic. As unfortunate as it may sound, this is the truth about hip hop in recent years, we don't judge, we'll let the judging be up to you.