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Abstract
2018 was the year of the "scammer," in which many Black women rappers took on "scamming" aesthetics in their lyrics and music video imagery. Typified by rappers such as City Girls and Cardi B, the scammer archetype is characterized by the desire for financial gain and material possessions and the emotional disregard of men. This paper investigates how Black women rappers, in employing these themes in their music, subvert existing expectations of gender by using the identity of the scammer as a restorative figure. The objectification of men in their music works in counterpoint to the dominant gender system and reasserts a new identity for women - one in absolute financial and sexual control, not only "taking" but "taking back." Through the imagined scamming of men, Black "scammer" artists introduce new radical modes of womanhood that go beyond the male gaze. These artists profess a rhetoric of empowerment and autonomy towards the women who consume their music and in doing so reimagine power and authority in ways that leave a long-lasting cultural impact.
Introduction
In January 2018, Jatavia Johnson was convicted of felony identity theft. Prosecutors claimed that Johnson, known more familiarly as JT of the rapper duo City Girls, had amassed a collective debt of more than one thousand dollars from illegal transactions made on stolen credit cards. After accepting a plea deal, Johnson was sentenced to twenty-four months in prison with a release date slated for March 21, 2020.1
For an up-and-coming music artist, a conviction could have nipped Johnson's career in the bud; however, it in fact did the opposite. In the midst of signing City Girls' joint record deal with Quality Control Music and Capitol Records, the revelation that Johnson was facing up to ten years in prison did not deter Quality Control's COO Kevin "Coach K" Lee from signing Johnson and Caresha "Yung Miami" Brownlee. In fact, it gave all the more reason to sign them. In an interview with Vulture, Brownlee comments on the record deal, saying "[Coach K] was like, 'These girls are authentic. This is real what they're rapping about. This is a story.' And they always say people love when you have a story to tell. They feel like they can relate to you."2...