Ashley Judd is a...

Ashley Judd just released a new book. Who cares, right? Well, in that book, she condemned the YouthAIDS organization for including Hip-Hop performers such as Snoop Dogg and Diddy in their AIDS fundraising and awareness campaigns, calling Hip-Hop “rape culture” and “the contemporary soundtrack of misogyny,” and stating her belief that the “social construction of gender… is the root cause of poverty and suffering around the world.” Because this is a Hip-Hop blog, we will forgo our much bigger point of contention that the cultural classifications of gender, while undeniably a huge problem, is a distant second to that of race with respect to poverty and suffering in the world. Instead, we will focus on the seemingly endless scapegoating of Hip-Hop music in the fight for gender equality.

First, let us state unequivocally that we do not deny that a lot of Hip-Hop music contains extremely misogynistic lyrics and imagery. It is hard to rationalize statements such as “bitches ain’t shit but hoes and tricks,” short of claiming that the words “bitch,” “hoe,” and “trick” are synonymous and the statement is simply a boastful exhibition of Snoop Dogg’s extensive vocabulary. Similarly, you would be hard-pressed to convince anyone that Nelly made an honest mistake by swiping his credit card in the butt crack of barely-clothed young lady instead of the butt crack-shaped ATM located at his banking institution (the First National Bank of Ballin’). Of course there is misogyny in Hip-Hop, but the same can be said about virtually all contemporary music.

Derogatory and violent lyrics directed toward women can easily be observed in Rock music. AC/DC’s “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” features lyrics advertising the speaker’s low, low price for killing the listener’s nagging girlfriend.  Equally objectionable are Metallica’s “Die, Die My Darling,” Guns ‘n’ Roses’ “Used To Love Her, (But I Had To Kill Her),” and The Grateful Dead’s “Good Morning, Little Schoolgirl” (seriously, listen to that song!). Even Rock's most revered act, The Beatles, have "Run For Your Life", a John Lennon song containing less-than-veiled death threats directed toward a girlfriend.

Beyond Rock, Raggae is notorious for having sexist themes. Folk singer Martin Sexton made “Candy.” The 50s Doo Wop group The Toppers made “Baby Let Me Bang Your Box” (it’s not just about a piano). Even the Trance group Disco Biscuit glorified the second oldest profession on “M.E.M.P.H.I.S (Makin' Easy Money Pimpin' Hoes In Style).” Most relevant to the current discussion, though, (and easily the most cited genre by Hip-Hop advocates when raising the “but look at them!” defense) is Country music. It is no surprise that Ashley Judd, a recovering Country music singer, would suffer from willful blindness regarding the source of her own bread and butter. However, one need only listen to one of the biggest Country music performers of all time, Johnny Cash, to hear lyrics describing the most extreme forms of violence towards women. “Delia’s Gone” tells the story of torturing and killing a woman who the narrator said he would have married under different circumstances. Similarly, on “Cocaine Blues” Cash sings about killing a woman and even refers to her as a “bitch!” Dun dun dun! And if we get into the belittling and sexualizing imagery used to portray women in other forms of music (as well as pretty much every form of expression ever) this blog would never end!

Furthermore, while some Hip-Hop performers choose to use extremely sexist lyrics (admittedly, probably a greater number than in other genres), others refrain from glorifying and even challenge promoting such negative ideas, and yet they are usually ignored entirely by Hip-Hop’s antagonists. Talib Kweli “Balck Girl Pain” venerates women and denounces violence toward them. Lupe Fiasco’s “Hurt Me Soul,” rejects a number of negative themes in Hip-Hop, misogyny among them. Tupac’s “Keep Ya Head Up” is one of the most well-known Hip-Hop songs of all time, but opponent’s would rather cite “I Get Around”. Nas’s “I Can” was number 12 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, yet Bill O’Reilly of course cited the much less popular “Made U Look.” People that wish to villainize Hip-Hop use the facts that fit with their opinion and just disregard the rest.

Again, in no way are we defending the misogyny that exists in Hip-Hop (there is a lot of it and it truly is deplorable). We are simply challenging the far too common practice of immediately turning every discussion of misogyny and sexism into one of Hip-Hop music (remember Don Imus?). We are challenging the classification of Hip-Hop as misogynistic music when, as a whole it is so much more.  And we are challenging ignorant people, like Ms. Judd, that have little to no knowledge of Hip-Hop but are quick to stereotype and condemn it nonetheless. That’s prejudice, Ms. Judd, and now you’re as bad as those you hate.