From the President closing his addresses with “God bless South Africa and her people” to Kendrick Lamar describing hip-hop as his “b*tch”, gendered signifiers have long been used to describe non-living ideas and objects. But who decided that South Africa and other countries are women? What about hip-hop makes it feminine?
Metaphorical gender is the assignment of gender to sexless, abstract objects. For example, ships, countries, and hurricanes are always referred to as women, whereas tools are often masculinised. Unlike languages such as French or German, English does not use grammatical gender: the gendering of various nouns regardless of a lack of biological sex. Antidote’s Blog asserts that English speakers use metaphorical gender for poetic effect and to highlight the heightened emotional connection that humans have with these objects. This is the manner in which rappers have turned to describing hip-hop as a gendered object.
American rapper Common released I Used to Love H.E.R in 1994. The song details his introduction to hip-hop and his concern for its turn into a commercialised entity, losing its “purity”. “I met this girl when I was 10 years old / and what I loved most, she had so much soul.” The girl in question is hip-hop, and in order to convey this loss of purity, Common refers to her being sexually involved with multiple men and turning to showbiz. He goes as far as describing her body derogatorily. For something that he claims to love, he sure was comfortable degrading “her” for the actions done unto her by rappers. Common’s song would go on to inspire a plethora of songs that use a woman as a metaphor for hip-hop. Kendrick Lamar’s “Gloria” describes the genre as his “woman and [his] right hand”, all while repeatedly calling her the heavily divisive word: “b*tch”. Although the word is part of many people’s lexicon, many still agree it is offensive in its intention.
Hip-hop has long been under scrutiny for its offensive treatment of women. In a genre that generally offers more commercial space to men, women are often the topic. Many rappers have had their careers put under fire because of their misogynistic treatment of women. With lyrics and visuals that often derogatarily objectify and sexualise women, one can almost argue that lyrics have no real-world effect. But many rappers, like Dr. Dre, have been under fire for their violent behaviour towards women. However, this should not come as a surprise.
The way we see these feminised entities certainly has the ability to spill over into the way we see women entirely. With hip-hop, it becomes more evident as lyrics directly insulting women are rife. Dionne Warwick famously confronted rappers Snoop Dogg and Suge Knight to call her a “b*tch” to her face and scolded them over their misogynistic lyrics.
Language has the power to shape the way we see the world. When we assign femininity to things that we exploit, such as land or insults (as seen in hip-hop), what are we saying about women? Although hip-hop, especially Common’s era and influence, has been labelled as “conscious” and an “advocate of justice”, it is not without its blind spots. But how revolutionary can a woman-hating institution be?
