Now I ain't sayin' she a Gold Digger

     This week in class we spoke about misogyny and how rap music has been one of the main promoters of this hatred toward women. Some argued that it wasn't only rap music that demonstrated misogynistic views. They said country and other types of genres do the same except with different words. Others argued that the lyrics have no meaning because they are just for money and fame purposes. I understand both sides of the argument but I believe it goes beyond that. The fact that most "gangsta rap" music has such lyrics which degrade women in so many ways is not easily justified by the fact that other artist do it too or that it is for fame and money. The main point is that it insults women in a general way. If there is anything out there that defines sexism better than misogyny then maybe this type of music is not so bad. Unfortunately, in my personal view I think there isn't. So what I decided to do was look up famous rap songs that many people, myself included, like a lot. Then I looked up the lyrics and to no surprise found many insults toward women and just awful sayings about us.
     The famous Kanye West is known for many great hits but many people ignore the fact that some of his songs are on the "top most misogynistic songs" list. In the song, Jamie Foxx, who sings in Kanye's song, starts the song like this: "She take my money when I'm in need. Yeah she's a trifling friend indeed. Oh she's a gold digger way over town. That dig's on me." I found this very interesting because I can sing every word for this song and never once looked at it in a bad way for me. Now that I analyze the song it disturbs me because it makes us women seem as we cannot succeed on our own and must look for rich men to live off their money. However, I do believe that most people do not look at the songs lyrics and just like it because of the beat. The problem here is that if we do not create awareness of this as an issue then us women cannot complain about sexism. It is contradicting for women to listen to this type of music and then complain about our situation in society. We must put a stop to it. 


Links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vwNcNOTVzY
           http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/kanyewest/golddigger.html