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Abstract:
This study examines the manifestation of subordinate men's masculinity in popular culture by analyzing the construction of Black masculinity in rap music. The data for this research comes from a content analysis of lyrics from playa rap-a genre of rap music characterized by its focus on consumption, adornment, and sensual pleasure. Playa rap's promotion of an alternative form of masculine embodiment points to the limitations of hegemonic masculinity as a lens for understanding subordinated men. Some argue that while playa rap may seem at first glance to endorse non-hegemonic modes of embodiment, others argue that its lyrics actually promote an embodiment that is in service of the hegemonic goals of controlling women and displaying capitalistic success. While playa modes of embodiment may ultimately have hegemonic goals in mind, the path they travel reveals the particular constraints Black men face when asserting male dominance. In other words, the research takes masculinity in rap as produced, not primordial.
Keywords: Black masculinity; rap music; non-normative gender
I get manicures to keep my cuticle suitable/ Player/ Don't hate me because I'm beautiful.
"Anything Goes" Ras Kass (Soul on Ice) (1996)
This study examines the construction of subordinate men's masculinity in popular culture by analyzing the production of Black masculinity in rap music. Specifically, it explores the conditions that shape the construction of masculinity in rap. It also examines the unique desires and longings that rappers' express due to their status as subordinate men. The distinctiveness of subordinate men's masculinity is illustrated by analyzing the embodiment-how we relate to our bodies-that is expressed in rap music.
The research begins from the assumption that the masculinities rappers construct are influenced by the dominant culture. Double consciousness is useful here for thinking through the impact of the dominant culture on subordinate groups. Double consciousness refers to the way Blacks constantly view themselves through their own eyes and through the eyes of the dominant culture (DuBois, 1996[1903]). Rappers evidence double consciousness by designing masculinities not only to satisfy their own desires, but to meet their White audience's stereotypes about Black men. Thus, rappers answer to at least two audiences, the White suburban buying public who make them commercially successful and the working-class Black community to whom they hold themselves responsible.
The...