More reflections

I don't feel that there is very much positive representation of woman in mainstream hip hop. I think that if there's going to be an end to hip hop's misogyny then there most definitely has to be put to death the term...Sex sells. I can rarely recall any of my favorite artists using anything less than bitch and hoe. Even the videos depicts women scantly clad in basically very tight clothes or barely any clothes at all. Thus the term video vixen was adopted not long ago. It is unfortunate that stars like Nicki Minaj, who I like, had to have surgical alterations done to their bodies to boost record sales. I would like to appreciate an artist lyrically rather than physically. Sometimes there are even instances where female hip hop artist make use of male models in the videos and then get just as naked as the models are. Nicki Minaj, Lil Kim, and Trina, just to name a few, may simply be at fault for some of the disregard that the women suffer because of their actions themselves as artists.-Arquita Hill

HipHop is and has seemingly always been a male dominated industry. Female emcees such as Queen Latifah, MC Lyte and Roxanne Shantae demanded respect without wearing tight clothes or having to be overtly sexual. In today's hip-hop culture that is all we see from female artists. Artists such as Rasheeda, Lola Monroe and Nicki Minaj's whole images are based upon sex appeal. The majority of their rhymes are also about sexual topics. While I will agree that such artists like Nicki Minaj posess an insurmountable amount of creativity, they could stand to take a lesson from the females who set the precedent of what a female emcee is. I think female emcees have to work harder to get ahead but their rhymes and image could stand to have more depth and substance. It is fine to be sexy, that is apart of being a woman, but every rhyme does not have to be sexual. Where are today's conscious female rappers, well besides Lil' Mama (bless her heart, she tries).-Mari Edwards