Quitting Hip-Hop
Quitting Hip-Hop is about a woman named Michaela Angela Davis who can no longer reconcile her love of a great rap beat with the derogatory images of women pervasive in much of today’s music and videos. This article address’ the intended audience of parents and teens, it will inform the negative influence hip hop music videos has on society, and how she gets through the struggles of how she was a part of that influence.
I believe the audience intended to read this article are listener’s of hip hop such as parents and teens because she makes it clear in the article by stating this exact quote, “Today is my day, too. And danger with what’s currently going on in hip-hop is not as simple as a mere generation gap. Increasingly, the male-dominated industry tends to view women as moneymakers (as in the kind you shake).” She also points out she has a young daughter who is exposed to these images that hip-hop is displaying to all viewers. As a parent, Michaela wants to make sure she is aware of what her daughter is listening to and that all parents should follow by example.
The boarder context of the essay is to inform people how hip-hop is sending out the wrong message to the listeners. The producers of the hip-hop music videos show women wearing skimpy cloths and dancing dirty on the hood of cars. Parents should always beware of what the music videos consist of that are available to be seen by only watching a music video of their favorite hip-hop song. “Today’s hip-hop music has been sold off to the greedy industry for a few buckets on ‘ice’ and a stack of ‘cheese,’” Michaela stated in her article. I think what she means by this that the ‘ice’ is money and the stack of ‘cheese’ is “bitches and hoes”.
Her tone comes across as angry and mad but I believe she is just more disappointed in what influences these videos have and young adults and how much it is impacting society without them even acknowledging it. I’m sure she is hurt as well because she is giving up her passion for hip-hop to take a stand and be respected the right way. I admire Michaela’s courage to make a point and be a good role model for her daughter and young sisters out
there!
The article represents how hip-hop can affect our young society. We need to start sending out positive messages to people to build others self-esteem up and have more self respect for ourselves. Im convinced that if everyone came together and took a stand to make a point that we don’t need to stand for derogatory images and horrible messages that the hip-hop industry’s are sending us! Michaela is definitely a role model for young girls and women everywhere, including me.
Bibliography
Davis, Michaela A. “Quitting Hip Hop.” Essences Oct. 2004: 155. Print.
