Sunday, December 1, 2013

My Beautiful, Dark, Twisted Affair with Misogyny, Hip-Hop, and Post-Feminism

Kanye West is a well known bad boy that is rude and sees himself as above others, saying whatever he wants at anyone's expense. Chris Brown on the other hand is also known as a bad boy but he literally is violent and physically takes his anger out but is appealing in videos and on award shows. So what's the difference between these two bad boys? Kanye's behavior as being a jerk seems unforgivable to most and makes most people unattracted to him and his music. Chris physically beats his girlfriend up, Rihanna, but most have forgave him and still enjoy his music. So really, who is worst? We all saw Kanye's rude interruption of Taylor Swift during her speech that caused controversy and showed his true colors. People see Kanye as being an ass all the time and hear it through his music and his body language. Chris Brown is more appealing in his music and this makes fans forget about his violence off the stage. Here is an example of Kanye's outburst at the music awards that shows his character.

Below is Kanye interrupting Taylor Swift at the music awards:

People will always argue that people enjoy the "good girl/boy" or "bad girl/boy" persona and its what makes hip hop what it is. Some go to the extent of saying that Rihanna's music and her videos show her bad girl side and she had this violent relationship coming. In her music video "We Found Love" she shows her unhealthy relationship which seems to be Chris Brown, but fans say that she materializes the violence and makes it look sexy and appealing.

Below is Rihanna's music video "We Found Love":


When Kanye disrespected Taylor, people were so angry and seemed to hold this rude act against him until this day. But Chris's violence towards Rihanna seems to be forgiven and forgotten for the most part. Some do say it's because Taylor is the good girl who didn't deserve that and Rihanna is known to be the bad girl so its not as big as a surprise. With all the violence and attitude that comes with hip hop music its hard for women to identify themselves on were they fit in to it all. Do we want to be known as the "bad girl" like Rihanna or do we want to be the "bad bitch" like Nicki Minaj calls herself? These are all personas, and the problem with trying to identify ones self with being what type of style of music is that these attitudes start to shape our identity. Rihanna glamorizes her unhealthy relationship in her video above, and makes fans think that these actions may be fun but in reality no one wishes for a violent and horrible relationship.

Kanye's rude interruptions and attitude is what makes fans identify his music and we all cant disagree with the fact that sometimes his rude actions keep us entertained and keeps him consistent. Rihanna will always have sexual and crazy music videos but that is her way of expressing herself. People need to stop trying to identify themselves off of artists work because everyone is different and hip hop is here to be relatable not on how to live our lives.

14 comments:

  1. Very interesting post. I can agree I am one that likes Chris Brown but does not like Kanye.

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  2. Very interesting post. I can agree I am one that likes Chris Brown but does not like Kanye.

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  3. I really enjoyed your blog. The examples you have chosen coordinate with your blog very well. I am one of those people that loves Chris Brown and despise Kanye West

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  4. Very interesting post. You use many very good examples to prove your point that people have forgiven Chris brown because he seems niceut people still don't like kayne because he is rude on and off screen

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  5. I agree with your final point. We cannot just idnetify with the acts in hip hop and music in general because many times they cannot identify with us. In my opinion Kanye may be a jerk at times but he should definately be forgiven over Chris Brown. Brown beat a girl, Kanye just interrupted someone and was a mean guy soemtimes. Its very clear to me who did more wrong-doing

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  6. This is an interesting post. I believe that people should not be turned away from an artist's music because of who they are. The music and the person should be able to stand alone, but that's just my opinion. Yeezy taught me!

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  7. I can agree with the fact the at many times in hip hop there is a lot of confusion between the identity of feminism in hip hop. From girls wanting to be treated like a princess from Chris brown lyrics, to beat downs from him, to girls wanting to be a rebel rihnna and a boss ass bitch.

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  8. I liked this blog a lot. I do not respect Chris Brown as a person but i do as an artist, much like the way i feel about Tiger Woods as a golfer compared to him as a person. I think what Kanye did was extremely disrespectful but still not even close to what Chris Brown did.

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  9. I am a firm believer in live and let live. I'm not saying forgive and forget but simply don't dwell on things. Chris Brown and Yeezy are both Assholes, we all know this. I wouldn't necessarily agree that Chris has been completely forgiven because people still hold a grudge to this day. However, it may seem more likely that he is forgiven by the masses because the victim forgave him. It's hard to hold a grudge when the person directly affected isn't even doing it. Long story short, yes they both are assholes, but we enjoy their music. So if anyone still feels some type about them just don't listen to them.

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  10. Interesting blog. I liked how you compared Kanye and Chris Brown. Made the article easier to understand.

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  11. I really loved reading this blog! I love the reference to Kanye interrupting Taylor Swift at the award show. It was a really good example of displaying his rude persona.

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  12. I enjoyed the reading. It was very interesting. I like the comparisons that you made. I also agree with marcus that you should let go of the past

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  13. You're blog was interesting. I think Kanye and Chris are both assholes. But it wouldn't change whether I listen to their music or not. Their music shows the true person in the artist

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  14. I really liked your blog. I think both Kanye and Chris Brown are rude. They very different then others. I like that you added them in your blog.

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