Female Artists In Hip Hop Industry

“Hip hop started out from the heart…” (Hill, 1998) as a creative channel to enable shared experiences across the nation. It made culture accessible to any marginalized group as well as placing them at the forefront of music. The musical expression has largely been focused on black masculine identity, and the exploitation of women in enforcing their subordination. From its early start during the 1970s in New York City to the mid-1990s when the genre had finally broken the mainstream, Lauryn Hill maintained a strident feminist stance against the patriarchy. She empowered both men and women as she deconstructed these social structures while embodying traditional black spirituality through her experiences in womanhood. What set her apart from the other female rappers at the time, was the ability to maintain a time of connectedness through her music rooted in black diaspora history and culture. Responding to the needs of the people is timeless and it is for this reason that her album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill calls for a twentieth anniversary world tour. Her artistic significance has not diminished even two decades later as the same issues surrounding gender and race are still prominent in music today.

The iconic lyricist goes on tour to celebrate the legacy of her album in its twentieth anniversary. Stopping in many big cities, she was sure to hit Toronto especially following Drake’s sampling of her big hit Ex-Factor on his single Nice for What; which celebrates femininity and the power that comes with being a strong woman. Regardless of her carefully mixed conscious lyrics, unmistaken flow, and R&B foundations, her song stands against the hyper-masculine aesthetics that dominate the music industry. Located at the Budweiser Stage by Ontario Place, Hill’s show in Toronto was packed with people. The demographic being mostly women from their late twenties to early thirties, which was to be expected for an older artist’s show although definitely a contrast compared to the young crowds at most hip hop or R&B shows today. The venue is situated on an island where the stage frames a beautiful lakeshore view creating a juxtaposition of greenery framing the city skyline. Before entering the stage area, crowds are surrounded by overpriced vendor food and alcohol with domestic beer selling for sixteen dollars a can. These kinds of prices are targeting the most privileged who can afford such luxuries. For an artist that is seemingly for the people and who goes against any kind of cultural monopoly, the show is excluding a large demographic of her fan base as the restrictions appeal to the socially advantaged. Coming from my background as an upper middle class cis-white female, I can connect with her female energy however I cannot fully identify with her message as a woman of color might be able to. Hill differentiates herself from the mass as taking the responsibility to be an artist that touches a specific chord and to challenge the norms, while others can be self-indulgent in their craft. This seems contrarian in its approach to such an event where people are repeatedly profiting off the nostalgia that is associated with her music rather than the actual content itself. The initial excitement at the beginning of the night slowly dwindled to annoyance when Hill took to the stage almost an hour into her initial set time, leaving less than an hour to perform some of her hits. Once she finally got around to singing her songs, fans were disappointed by her new renditions where some of them almost unrecognizable in their harmony. Not to mention Hill’s obvious annoyance towards the sound technicians where she would stop a song midway through to express her contempt. Wanting to leave the show on a good note following her performance of Doo Wop (That Thing), she redeemed herself as the vocals were finally clear enough for the crowd to sway along with the lyrics. In an age where people are going to events for the sole purpose of its social status it seems hypocritical for Hill to profit off such a system. To make such a strong claim for as wide an event as this one would ignore a lot of the activity taking place, however it is something that must be scrutinized.

Miseducation means the opposite of what we are taught, education does not necessarily indicate an academic learning; however lessons can be learned from life outside of the classroom. Hill stresses this for many black women, music becomes their classroom and they learn to identify their intersectionality through lived experiences. She contributes to this narrative of collective solidarity meeting communal action as her music expresses the African American woman’s voice in personal and collective understanding. Through the act of looking we come to understand our sense of self. Through our first practices of looking, we understand who we are as subjects as Jacques Lacan states in his mirror stage theory. Girls and women alike learn how to maneuver through the world as they identify with her experience and seeing how that influences their sense of self and ego.

As the first female artist to be nominated for and to win the most Grammy’s in one night for her album lifted boundaries not only for other female artists within the industry but for any woman in a role of power. She “refused the pop-culture make-over” as Hobson describes, where she preferred her natural hair and dark skin to some of her contemporaries who played on gender ideals. Beyoncé contrasts her portrayal of black female desirability with her blonde weave or other variation on white beauty standards for her brand to access the normative consumers. The male gaze in cinema describes the projection of men’s fantasies onto women in film and other visual media. However the same can be said for any type of visual entertainment, where image has as much of an influence on the music industry as the content.