The views and opinions expressed in the following editorial are those expressly of the writer of this piece and do not necessarily reflect those of HipHopDX.
“She said she thought Hip Hop was only guns and alcohol. I said ‘Oh hell naw!’ but yet it’s that too. You can’t discrimi-hate because you done read a book or two.” – Andre 3000, “Humble Mumble.”
In her new book, All That Is Bitter & Sweet, actress Ashley Judd explains her perspective on Hip Hop, calling it a “rape culture.” She goes on to say that it is the “contemporary soundtrack of “misogyny.”
Excerpt: “As far as I’m concerned, most Rap and Hip Hop music–with its rape culture and insanely abusive lyrics and depictions of girls and women as ‘ho’s’–is the contemporary soundtrack of misogyny. I believe that the social construction of gender–the cultural beliefs and practices that divide the sexes and institutionalize and normalize the unequal treatment of girls and women, privilege the interest of boys and men, and, most nefariously, incessantly sexualize girls and women–is the root cause of poverty and suffering around the world.“
For someone who grew up with the culture, these claims seem preposterous and they have a scent of racism that is seemingly easy to discern. After all, misogyny is not unique to Hip Hop so what’s her problem? It’s the bitter side of the book, perhaps. How could a culture that raised us be spoken of in that manner? Speak of family members and you’ll get a similar reaction. How dare someone be so disrespectful?
Sure, those have to be the first thoughts that come to mind. Others echoed similar thoughts in the Hip Hop community. 9th Wonder, Talib Kweli, ?uestlove and others have also sent replies to her through different platforms.
“At least I got my answer as to why [Ashley Judd] didn’t give us so much as a nod on her last visit,” ?uesto noted. “I’d rather Ash Judd just called me a nigger,” 9th added. “Ashley Judd has basically called all of us criminals and savages in one fail swoop.”
The rage poured on.
But, soon all of that anger somewhat wears off and what we’re left with is a reflection. Nevermind who said it. We have to reflect in the same fashion as Ice Cube did on Death Certificate. But, to look in the mirror, to look inward, it seems, has always been difficult for most. It forces us to analyze ourselves. It makes us responsible and accountable for our actions and words. Perhaps we must look at our culture and respect that, while it is not “rape culture,” it does contain some of what Judd judged it as. Emcees often call women hoes, yes. That’s part of why Lupe Fiasco says he used to hate Hip Hop, according to his first verse on “Hurt Me Soul.” Emcees also often depict women in ways that would make any of us keep our daughters from entering the music video doors. While it is not what the culture as a whole is responsible for, much of what we have had shown in the mainstream has not been so flattering.
Therein lies the problem. The mainstream is what we are known for. Folks who do not listen to Hip Hop because of this Ashley Judd stance base their knowledge about the genre on what they see and hear in the mainstream. As Dessa of Doomtree pointed out when I interviewed her last year, it’s unfair to expect others to understand the culture when all they are exposed to is the Top 40.
“I think, initially, my dad was apprehensive about it because what he’d seen from Rap didn’t look like something that he thought I’d be interested in, because of the views that it purveyed, because of the way it treated women and because of the violence and the materialism that was so often involved,” she said. “I wasn’t mad at him. I think a lot of people, when they talk about how Hip Hop appears in the mainstream, they get real mad that people aren’t digging deeper. I’m like, ‘Dude, if I heard music from Yemen and I didn’t like it, the last thing I’m going to do is see if there’s an underground Yemen musical community.’ You know?”
In reflecting, we must understand that others perceive us based on what they see or hear in the television or radio. So, there is still a stigma attached, even as we’ve grown to become a successful genre/culture. We can’t be too surprised that this perception exists. For outsiders, it’s easy to speak ill of a culture that has Gucci Mane as a top biller, a rapper who most recently was arrested for violating probation after allegedly throwing a woman out of a moving car for refusing to sleep with him. An outsider will only see that Chris Brown is topping the R&B and Hip Hop charts after physically beating Rihanna, in a song featuring Lil Wayne who also has a track on the charts (“6 Foot, 7 Foot” 
) where he says “hoes gonna be hoes.” No, these artists are not responsible for the culture as a whole, but because we as a people put them at the front of our class, they are not just a part of the culture; they are the faces of it.
“Y’all sit and scream and cuss, but there’s no one to blame but us.” – Ice Cube
As a person who wakes up to Hip Hop every day, of course I know there’s much more to the beauty of the culture. If you are reading this, you surely know that, also. But, others don’t know that, don’t see that and don’t care to. Instead, they’ll form their opinions on what they have seen and walk around with ill informed judgments. But, we are the ones that allow them to do this. We are putting this at the forefront of the culture.
Back in 2007, I interviewed Pigeon John for HipHopDX and he expressed some strong feelings of the genre’s dominant figures, ones we tend to put at the top of any emcee list.
“If you ask ‘Who are your favorite emcees?’ Usually, it’s ‘Jay-Z, Biggie, Nas, Tupac…’ And if you look at them, they are all black, all affiliated with drugs, crime, pimping and so forth. In history, when you look back [and ask] ‘Who’s the King of Rock?’ or ‘Who’s the King of that Jazz element?’ Sooner or later, it’s going to be ‘Who was the King of that Hip Hop movement?’ And all of them were drug dealers, pimps, and the stereotypical black male. That’s very dangerous and that’s happening right now. And dudes that don’t affiliate themselves with that don’t have any street cred and really don’t get affiliated with the top five or 10 emcees.”
All of the emcees mentioned aren’t just mentioned as greats, they are deservedly mentioned as legends. However, Pigeon, who is half white and half black, went on to explain that an outsider won’t see Hip Hop for anything more than what’s shown on MTV or BET.
“When I see a video or when I see videos of the same kind of thing, I understand that these are young black people trying to make it. Sometimes they exaggerate a little to make it. My worry is when [others] see that. My [white] cousins in Nebraska [for instance], there’s not a lot of black people out there, so their example of black people is movies and videos. It’s almost like we’re training [others] to be like ‘This is how we act, this is how all of us act.’”
Of course, any type of generalization is met with negative backlash. So, when Ashley Judd makes these types of comments, it’s hard not to question her motives, beliefs, prejudice and more. But, she was speaking from a perspective that we cannot just shut out or ignore. We have to understand that it is an opinion many have and an opinion we sometimes allow to rise by what we promote as the best of our culture within the mainstream. Yes, it’s a part of who we are as a culture, but there’s much more to it that should not be wiped out. There’s the incredible artistry, the unbelievable lyricism, musical ingenuity and creativity. All of that cannot be muted.
Judd has since apologized for these comments, admitting that she now has more knowledge about a diverse side of Hip Hop. Still, her comments served a purpose. While she allowed us to vent, she also allowed us to take a look at ourselves and at how we continue to portray our culture. So, yes coming up beyond these kinds of stereotypes is a must. “But before we can come up, take a look at us.”
Andres Vasquez is a Los Angeles-based Hip Hop journalist and an educator who has contributed to HipHopDX as a staff writer for more than five years.
she dont know what the hell shes talking about..theres all types of styles of hip hop from violent to uplifting.shit what does she like??every type of music talks about sex and other things so whats her point?
This is deeper than hip hop but I’m going to take it where it went…If you put out a shit product and call it your own you need not be mad when someone calls you on it… 85 Percent of people that listen to Rap music get it from the radio, BET & VH-1…They are all owned by the same company…. We can’t expect Ashley Judd to understand the other layers of the culture when we don’t promote them…Rap is everything that she said it is but it’s also so much more… Tell these artists to stop selling out and put out some good music….I’ve been a hip hop head since 1979 and I still rep it…..If your offended by what she said then maybe we need to change the face of what we put out there… Rick Ross, Eminem, Lil Wayne, Kayne, Jay z, Drake and and those other wack artists don’t rep for me and I don’t listen to those catz
@D-Train
Thank you! FINALLY! someone is looking beyond the one paragraph and seeing that there is a bigger issue here…the faces of hip-hop promote EXACTLY what Judd talked about, that’s not saying that all rappers do, but how come you don’t see Talib or any of these intellectual cats getting radio play or MTV vids? It’s because we promote the thugs and violence, how else do you expect an outsider to react!! This is ALL she sees, if you only follow the mainstream hip-hop then that is what is portrayed. instead of being angry at her, why don’t we figure out how to change our image, b/c her perception was not that far off of what main stream rap portrays
It was also offensive to say Snoop and Diddy were red flags for HIV awareness. It’s like she’s saying they’re promoting HIV or are HIV positive or some shit. We know that she’s had incest too and her family is on some country music shit so were they listening to some rap while she was gettin screwed??? Now she’s a bitter and judgemental old bitch hating on hiphop, for what? Her own family had a rape culture. F##k this ho!!
Does she work undercover for FOX or something? I can pick apart every kind of music with a biased opinion. What a self righteous statement. I’ve heard of cliches about everything, and guess what? It doesn’t affect my opinion. When you’re thinking the way she does, you always can get your satisfaction based on an ignorant mind. You can tell these kind of people all the pro’s, it won’t change their opinion. It’s like they are living behind a wall.
WOw…this site always seems to represent just one side of the story..how about the lyrics of DMX when he says “if you got a daughter older than 15, ima rape, take her..” have ANY of you especially you Mr. VASQUEZ bothered to even read more than that ONE paragraph..you are meticulously analyzing one paragraph out of a 200+ page book…How about all the reverse racism in rap? additionally, if we want to stop having outsiders view hiphop as misogynistic and violent, then let’s stop promoting it..the most popular artists are not the conscious rappers like Talib, they are the 50 Cents, Jay-Zs, DMXs, Biggys, the gangsta rappers..for a more balanced view on this try reading more thoroughly researched and well written piece
http://allhiphop.com/stories/editorial/archive/2011/04/12/22670160.aspx
ok,,now let the haters hate on me for sayin my piece
I agree she was way off and every type of music or movie has filth attributed to it but still…………..
Our most popular rap dudes are thugged out, throwing hoes out of cars Big meech Larry hoover type cats
or like Kanye worship Paris fashion and white women
We need a middle man to strike gold. a rapper with a family and some values an shit cuz I got kids and I can’t promote Lil Wayne, Ross, or none of these bafoon sounding ass niggas. I wish Common didn’t go hollywood
One day maybe. I see you on this, and even tho I’m probly never gonna end up at the top I’m aiming to set the example wit songs like this : http://thecota.bandcamp.com/track/adrian
Ppl don’t understand that hiphop is a lifestyle, and wit that comes the fact that there are many many more aspects and ways to live that lifestyle than anyone could list or generalize.
we’re still talking about the Ashley Judd situation??? wow….what she said is very biased, so why still argue about it?? smh
Remember when chuck D was the shit, RUNDMC..
Golden era hip hop, the actual begining of rap mixed up in the mainstream culture?
So it took real talent like Rakim to get the recognition.
This is what the white power structure wanted to happen ever since Tupac Shakur was up in the media. The duming down of lyrics and more crap to peddle to the black community, leaving you death dum and blind to the knowledge of yourself!
All Cultures do the same thing we just talk about it period
For one reason or another some people are just not gonna like Hip-Hop
Rock& Roll chicks are treat worst they are just not talking
We can waste time telling them why the things that are said in the songs but lets not express life in a song & see will anything change…. It wont, ppl in the bottom hustle by any means, some girls put themselves in the position to be considered a hoe, “I had my heart broken by a woman name tammy “but hoes gone be hoes” so cudnt blame tammy”. do you know the situation to say she not a hoe? that made no sense to use that
& they dont want to hear about drugs, its bad that Pac(who wasnt a drug dealer or talked about selling drugs personally) & Biggie(who said he sold drugs to by shit for his baby), Music is supposed to relate to the listener & if the listener hears music thats talking bout his life when he stuck, it may inspire that person that they can make it out too
exactly. People who aren’t a part of the culture can’t relate; so they imitate. That’s why you get all these suburban gangstas runnin around actually doin the shit they hear Ross and Gucci talkin about bc they think that thats how those stars got there. Not true. They got to the top IN SPITE of having to sell drugs and bust guns and shit. When you grow up in the culture, you see those things as temptations bc that’s how ppl in the ghetto make money most of the time. Those from the outside just see it as something that’s “cool” to do. It’s recreation to them; it’s work to us.
As far as women go, there’s sexism in ALL music, and it’s not always just males. Music is a VERY sexual medium in most instances; dance and song is always centered around intimacy in some way.
Perspective is the key; we gotta remember that each song is just one person’s perspective…
I feel what the author is saying, but it’s not the reason I was on Ashley Judd for what she said.
I’m sure ppl have called her out for her family being involved in country music, and how it treats women and minorities; and I’m sure she said that those artists who perpetuate that stereotype in country music (though the faces of the genre) aren’t representative of the whole. This is where I have a problem with the gal.
Why wouldn’t she give rap (or any genre she knew little about) the benefit of the doubt I’m sure she gives to country music? For a woman who I’m sure has been offended by generalizations made about her family bc of their connection with country music (or her position as a celebrity), I can see how she can ignore the hypocrisy of generalizing another group or culture based upon those in the forefront of it. As a feminist, I’m sure she doesn’t view Lindsey Lohan representative of all white women; how would she feel if Diddy went on Leno and said “white actresses are drugged up party freaks?” She’d come out and be as offended and outraged as 9th, Talib, and everybody else who’s spoken out.
I can’t deny what she said has a lot of truth in it, but we all know by now that the performers and artists we see in the mainstream of all genres of music are NOT representative of those genres as a whole. If she just spoke of specific rappers and instances, then there’d be no problem; but when you generalize, you’re gonna piss those guys off who are exceptions to the stereotype (and a lot of times, THAT’S A LOT OF PEOPLE! lol).
Chris Brown shudnt be in this, Domestic Violence is going to exist in every culture, dont point & say “thats hip hop” when a dude hit female. Im apart of this “hip hop culture” & Im 100% against rape, but if a girl is willing to fuck a group of men shes a hoe in our language & she a slut in her language. But 1 thing you got me on is Gucci & Chris Brown. Gucci is a dumbass, he dont represent the black community just cause he make music some ppl like.
Just listen to the wanksta records ya’ll made and looks at your rap sheet. THE TRUTH HURTS, DON’T IT!!!
Funniest to me is that we are talking about an entertainment art form, and why is it that the movie industry always gets let off the hook with regard to images and content as if “well it’s acting it’s not real”. I could argue the same notion about lyrics and images in Hip Hop!
niggas still talkin about this shit, ayo dx I honestly don’ no why your bothering it’s not gonna change anyones perception. There are prejudiced ideologies and will always be for as long as humans exist…thats what human’s like doin beatin down on each other cause we to stupid to function as a unit………
What is this Ashley Judd damage control bullshit?? If I don’t like a certain genre of music I just don’t comment it on it. Her and people like her feel they need to go OVERBOARD and say something crazy like “rape culture” about something they have ZERO knowledge about.
Hip-hop /Rap came from the fucking streets OK! So if the stories and language offends you, then maybe you should help FIX the source of the problem. But that’s not going to happen is it? No, it’s easier to look the other way and let these kids grow up in ignorance. Rappers don’t start rapping at 30 + they start as kids. Wayne, Soulja, Cool J, Nas, NWA ALL were teenagers speaking on hood life.
Speaking on hood life is different from promoting hood life. Rappers used to create the balance themselves.
I was listening to Illmatic today.
Nas wasn’t telling you this is how you should live. Which most of these rappers are promoting today. He was telling you how it is in my hood.
There is a big difference.
Starting with Biggie and Jay Z rap made this turn from narrating how it is in the hood to this fake Superfly image.
You should go watch “Bastards of the Party.” It will tell you how the movie Superfly turned a bunch of people who was fighting for the rights of black people in Compton to exploiting Compton for their own benefit by selling drugs and destroying the community. Mainly the black panthers in that area.
There is overt misogyny in hip-hop, and I would never defend abysmal artists like Gucci, 50 or Wiz Kauliflower, so Ashley does have a fair argument. What I take umbrage with is white women who detest and loath hip-hop due to its objectionable content but give Eminem a free pass. Hypocrisy is more exasperatin’ than straight-up bigotry, and it’s a sin most whites are guilty of, the Em example provin’ the point. I’ve never met a Black guy who doesn’t appreciate death metal, but’ll listen to Suffocation ’cause there are a couple brothers in the band.
Blacks don’t listen to something because there’s a “brother” in the band, we listen to what sounds good to our ear. All through the 80’s blacks listen to just about everything whites listened to and we didn’t go out of our way to shit on white people’s music or white people period.
As for todays bastardization of the artform, blame big money labels. Blame BET and MTV for not balancing what’s put out in the ether. Before you had NWA and Tribe Called Quest on the radio and TV. Now it’s all Money Rap. Even gangsta rap is dead. Everybody is trying to follow the Interscope/AfterMath model and it’s NOT working. Plus the Internet is the worst thing that could of happened to the music industry PERIOD! No artist is going to work hard to have their shit stolen from them. Enjoy the garbage folks.
PREACH, MY NIGGA….
Thank goodness for the digital age and the invention of digital players that fit in your inside pocket and can hold thousands of songs, now I don’t need to listen to any of the BULLSHIT on the radio or TV.
I’m Straight, but fuck a gucci man.. Chino XL fuck you too.
all you mutha fuckers fuck you die slow my fo fo… lol
the shit
Judd and this writer can go jump off a cliff. I refuse to look at hip-hop as the culprit for what’s bad in this country or the world for that matter. Hip-hop is love and ever since old white money put it’s corporate hands into it, it went downhill. This is more of placing the “black man” in the crosshairs of the blame rifle. Do these fools even understand how and why rap came from the ghetto?
nice.
nice
If White money put it’s hands on it then you should know what they are selling you isn’t the truth.
Wake up. Your almost there.
At the end of the day Rap Music is the best fucking music I have ever heard in my life. From the party origins, to the Afrocentric movement, to the NY renaissance, to the gangsta rider music, nothing is like this shit. And I’ve been around for a while now. Run DMC, Beastie Boys, NWA, Tribe, Fugees, Nas, WuTang, Jay Z, Snoop, Pac, Biggie, Cool J, DMX, Mob Deep, 50 Cent, Wayne, T.I., Eminem, Busta, Missy Eliot, MC Light, Fresh Prince, etc. YOU CAN’T FUCK WIT IT!
On behalf of the Hip-Hop Community, We would like to thank: Gucci Mane, Waka Flocka, Rick Ross & Soulja Boy for Fucking all this up for Hip-Hop. Of course everybody’s going to think Hip-Hop is Bad when all They hear is: BURRRR! WOOOOO! ARRNN (Rick Ross Voice), BITCH IM BUSTIN AT EM!
fuck. Wayne, Drop C4. ‘Ye & Hov, Drop Watch The Throne. OutKast, Get Back together & 2pac & Biggie, Stop Being Dead for a minute and do one last crazy album, with Dre and Puff!
lol, puff? get rakim back out here to show em how its done
when the reality is that prostitution is dam near an epidemic out here, when is it safe to say that hoes will be hoes, no.
memo
I respect all music, especial black music what i identify with but these manufactured artists with their fat slave master, big marketing and programming exects, do the math…
the lyrics will clean up as soon as the politicians and such stop turning a blind eye and start helping to fix the problems thats generated when the socioeconimics spread the classes too far apart, and as much as one flourishes, how can you not expect the other one to faulter deeper and deeper down? equal but opposite. how can she be mad at people for making (as far as we feel) the best out of a situation?
Best article I’ve read on HipHopDx. Here’s my problem with generalizations made about Hip-Hop. Are elements of misogyny in it? Yes. And to a certain level that happens in Rock and Roll. I hate to have someone try to say “I listen to Springsteen, Bob Dylan, or Billy Joel” and try to justify their favorite musical genre as being better than Hip-Hop, because certain artists dont respect women.
Misogyny is prevalent in every element of pop culture. Maybe not lyrically but its there. There’s a multi-billion dollar porn industry, where’s Ashley Judd’s comments about that? Or how about the million of reality shows that just glorify loose sexual behavior? Why is Kim Kardashian on every cover of the magazines at your grocery store or pharmacy, when the only reason we even acknowledged her, is because she banged Ray-J on tape and had it “leaked”. Our politicians and leaders cheat on their wives and hire escorts, you gonna blame Hip-Hop for that too.
People been taking shots at Hip-Hop since Clinton (God bless him) and even before that. With every wave and every new genre that evolves, someone has a problem with it. “Hoes will be Hoes” is the truth. But no one is a hoe because music makes it acceptable. There was extreme misogyny and hedonism in Ancient Rome, Hip-hop wasn’t around then.
It’s damned right blatant racism to primarily focus on the negative aspect of an art form and generalise as if thats all there i
Does she think this is hip hop so there is no need to come with some intelligence when throwing acusations around the place, what fucking ignorance
State some of your ideas for the root causes of our so prblems,misogny and whatever else that troubles you, if you want to help, help other wise stay the fuck out of something you don’t understand and doen’t concern you!
I don’t hear to much positive rap music being played on the radio.
If anything it’s not racism on her part.
99% of the rap music you hear on the radio promotes a negative image. This site does it itself.
Like Nas said: He writes about life and it’s happenings.
“For someone who grew up with the culture, these claims seem preposterous and they have a scent of racism that is seemingly easy to discern.”
That’s not true. Rap wasn’t always filled with rappers working for the KKK. There was a time when rap music inspired young black males to learn about their history instead of how to destroy their community and do the work of the KKK. Promote the killing of Black Men.
Instead of wondering why the rappers who do promote a positive image don’t really get played you need to look at who is pushing rap music.
Most of these record companies are owned by white people.
You need to ask yourself why are we the only ethnic group in America that has it’s own ethnic group screaming for them to be the worst of our society which gets promoted on the air waves.
There is white music that tells white people to be bad asses but you won’t hear it getting played on your major radio stations.
Why is that.
Ashley Judd clearly isn’t hip hop’s target audience, but she knew enough to name drop both Snoop and Diddy, who are easy targets because of all the money they’ve made off mostly negative music. Is Snoop is going to be 50 and still saying shit like, fuck a bitch? The hip hop culture just needs to find new ways to say the same old things.
Rap is Bullshit!!!!!!!!!!!
HHDX should define misogyny because based off some of these responses which are Stockholm Syndrome 101, many here don’t understand it. I think they are the offspring of these bi*ches and ho*s and will thus defend any man’s right to disrespect and degrade Black women. 9th and questlove won’t dare disrespect their personal cash cows and call a spade a spade, so their emotional responses have no merit or weight…
Took a week lol
Man, and i loved the sex scenes Ashley Judd was in lol. Seriously, why did she go after Hip-Hop and not also Death Metal or Rock in general? Because she would be one of the most hated people if she did.
Rock is just as crazy (if not crazier) as Rap, but since it’s such a big part of mainstream it gets a pass. For example, Green Day (a rock band) has an album out called “Awesome As Fuck”. How come they can get away with putting cuss words on album titles but if a rapper puts the word “bitch” or “ass” on their’s, he/she would be forced to change it? Nothing but double standards.
All these so called evil white people running the industry are only cutting the checks. It’s the artists themselves who are refusing to grow artistically. People used to think they had no choice, that labels only wanted the gangsta shit. It’s 2011 now and the gangsta shit hasn’t been relevant for years now. Finding new ways to be creative proves how rea of an artist you really are. Not just some piss ant whose first words out as a child were, “yo bitch, roll me that blunt.”