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If I Ruled the World- Nas + Lauryn Hill (1996)

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If I Ruled the World- Nas + Lauryn Hill (1996)

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"It wouldn't be no such thing as jealousies or be felony
Strictly living longevity to the destiny
I thought I'd never see, but reality struck
Better find out before your time's out, what the fuck"

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If I Ruled the World (Imagine That) (feat. Lauryn Hill)

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If I Ruled the World (Imagine That) (feat. Lauryn Hill)

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"It's nasty when you set us up
Then roll the dice, then bet us up
You overnight the big rifles, then tell Fox to be scared of us
Gang members or terrorists, et cetera, et cetera
Americas reflections of me
That's what a mirror does"

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"Black rage is founded on blatant denial
Squeezing economics, subsistence survival
Deafening silence and social control
Black rage is founded on wounds in the soul."

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"I love my mom
I hate my boyfriend
Do you love my mom? (Love my mom)
Do you hate my boyfriend? (Boyfriend)
But I love my mom"

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SIYA | "Real MVP" (Official Video) (Directed by Mike Ho)

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"You live in the dark, boy, I cannot pretend
I'm not fazed, only here to sin
If Eve ain't in your garden, you know that you can

Call me when you want, call me when you need"

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Lil Nas X - MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) [SATAN’S EXTENDED VERSION]

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"You shoulda filled that black revolver blast a long time ago
And if those mirrors could talk it would say, "You gotta go."
And if I told your secrets
The world'll know money can't stop a suicidal weakness"

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Queer Rap is Not Queer Rap-Eric Shorey  

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Queer Rap is Not Queer Rap-Eric Shorey  

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Pitchfork 2015

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Still, the reason these queer hip hop artists are held up to a different standard has little to do with their generic classification and their talent and way more to do with homophobia and racism. By many metrics, these artists are better than what passes for, ostensibly, their mainstream competition, but their success is not proportional. With all this talk about how to talk about these artists, it's easy to forget the quality and subtleties of the music itself. It's also important to remember that discussions of rap by queer or gay artists tend to be unfairly focused on queer and gay men. Says Contessa Stuto: "These writers are writing pieces that promote patriarchy; when they even interview a female subject it's always about fucking girl power, on the assumption this is a male centered issue [to begin with]." The term "gay" rap in particular usually refers to people identified as male and ignores the vast diversity of sexual identities available (as if sexual identity was a stable category to begin with)-many of the "gay" artists culled into this category barely identify as "gay". In fact, it is this very conundrum that some of these artists are toying with. Rapper Big Dipper comments: "I try to play with gender, to present sometimes feminine looks on my body which is big and burly and hairy, to strip down to underwear-something normally saved for muscle twinks-and to rap honestly about my life." These kinds of genderqueering nuances are lost on audiences who are more interested in the pure shock value, aesthetic audacity, or humor of this brand of art.

In the three years that have passed it's become way easier to talk about these issues now that the supposedly-applicable artists have more considerable (and entirely impressive) bodies of work, many of them veering much more towards the avant-garde than the accessible. From Le1f's somewhat Björkian soundscapes in his mixtape, to Mykki Blanco's aggressively experimental industrial rap on Gay Dog Food, to Zebra Katz's minimal masterpiece , to Cakes' deeply personal EP, to Big Momma's hyper-violent and transgressive album , it might seem hard (if not impossible) to see these works as massively divergent from the narrative of mainstream hip-hop. (The term "art-rap" has been thrown around as an alternative, an unfortunate specification that implies that the rest of rap isn't art.)

The situation puts many gay artists and their audiences in a tough bind. Those who are genuinely interested in the artists must be careful not to fetishize these rappers based on their sexualities, all the while recognizing the artists' ingenuity within the rap genre at large. The artists themselves can and do display righteous indignation when they are addressed in a creepily pejorative or demeaning way, which dampens interest in what becomes unfortunately and incorrectly known as a "scene" too sensitive for its own good. Straights less familiar with radical queer politics (preferred gender pronouns, the ever-changing list of what words are considered derogatory, etc.) could be quickly put off.

That being said, the conversation about "when a gay rapper will achieve mainstream success" is quite simply insulting, and comparisons between gay and straight rap (as if they were two distinct genres) simply don't make sense without implied bigotry. From Cakes, on this point: "What is straight rap? This question is a carry! If I rented you a loft space in gentrified Bushwick would the heat feel any different if I was a straight or gay landlord?" Similarly, the fact that LGBT rappers from a diversity of gender identifications and sexualities can't be talked about without the simultaneous invocation of other non-heterosexual artists speaks to a larger problem in our culture. In the words of rapper Dai Burger: "Straight or gay it's all sexually driven. So long as you got the bars, I'm all ears for it." How, then, is one to balance the desire to both appreciate the complex narrative of a queer artist's life in the scope of their work while simultaneously not relegating them to the role of victim of systematized prejudices?

The best solution to the problem of "gay rap", is to stop thinking about the classification itself and start listening harder to the (often outstanding) quality of the music being produced. Start booking queer artists alongside straight ones and pay them just as much. Ultimately, this is asking listeners to put aside whatever thoughts and feelings they have about queer sexuality, if only momentarily, to better evaluate certain aspects of these works. If that eventually means more thinking about the similarities and differences between texts by queer and straight artists rather than endless condescending comparisons of "fierce" or "brave" gay musicians, so be it. This task seems easier said than done in the almost obsessively taxonomic landscape of the internet, and yet it shouldn't actually be harder to pay more attention to the lyrical content and production values of music created by queer people. Anything else is just bigotry.

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Still, the reason these queer hip hop artists are held up to a different standard has little to do with their generic classification and their talent and way more to do with homophobia and racism. By many metrics, these artists are better than what passes for, ostensibly, their mainstream competition, but their success is not proportional.

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Hip-hop has been standing up for Black lives for decades: 15 songs and why they matter- Deena Zaru and Lakeia Brown

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Hip-hop has been standing up for Black lives for decades: 15 songs and why they matter- Deena Zaru and Lakeia Brown

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ABC News 2020

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Decades before "Black Lives Matter" became a global hashtag touted by celebrities and leading politicians, hip-hop artists were profiled, targeted and vilified for broadcasting those same systemic injustices that plagued Black America -- a reality that for decades was shut out of mainstream media.

In the early 1970s when hip-hop was born in the Bronx, New York, poverty and brutality plagued Black communities, but discussions on race and racism in America were considered taboo and, in the media, the Black experience was stigmatized and suppressed.

Detroit rapper and activist Royce da 5'9'' said that amid this void, hip-hop artists in the '80s "pushed the envelope in terms of exercising their First Amendment right" and became "the voice of the streets."

"It was that voice that America couldn't control ... it was that voice of the streets that they didn't know what the next line is gonna be and that scared them," he told ABC News. "Because we spoke our own unapologetic truth. We spoke about environments that were overlooked, that didn't have a voice, you know, that didn't have a say, that didn't have pretty much anything."

Compton, California, rapper Day Sulan, who was arrested last month during a police brutality protest, said that even when the debate on racism in America is no longer in the national spotlight, it will always be at the center of hip-hop.

"If Black lives matter, hip-hop is Black people, it's something we started, something we originated so it's not just a hashtag," she told ABC News. "Hip-hop is gonna continue that movement and it's never gonna stop because that's what we are, that's what we stand for."

From legends and icons to underground trailblazers, hip-hop artists weaved a rich, uniquely American art form that not only documents inequities and racism in America, but the movements and leaders that rose up in the face of oppression.

From 1982 to 2020, here are 15 memorable records and lyrics that reflect hip-hop's roots in activism:
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, "The Message" (1982) "A child is born with no state of mind/ Blind to the ways of mankind/ God is smiling on you, but he's frowning too/ Because only God knows what you'll go through/ You'll grow in the ghetto living second-rate/ And your eyes will sing a song of deep hate."
When "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five was released in 1982, Chuck D, who would become a hip-hop icon himself, was only a teenager. But the future Public Enemy emcee told ABC News that he was "stunned by it."

"When 'The Message' came out, there was nothing like it. Nothing. Ever. Like that. So the change, it came overnight," Chuck D said. "It was a non-danceable record. That's the thing that blew a lot of people away was like, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five made some very danceable hip-hop music, but when that record came out, it totally changed everything."

Asked what the title of the song meant to him, Chuck D said, "It means pay attention to the words of hip-hop instead of just the beat."

"The Message," which features only Duke Bootee and Melle Mel from the group, was the most prominent hip-hop song at the time to feature social commentary. In the last verse, Melle tells a gut-wrenching story about a young man who drops out of school, ends up in jail and dies by suicide after getting repeatedly raped behind bars.

The song was named in 2017 by Rolling Stone as the best hip-hop record of all time and has been archived by the Library of Congress.
NWA, "F--- Tha Police" (1988) "F--- the police comin' straight from the underground/ A young n---- got it bad 'cause I'm brown/ And not the other color so police think/ They have the authority to kill a minority."
When NWA released its debut album, "Straight Outta Compton," in 1988, featuring songs like "Gangsta Gangsta," "Straight Outta Compton" and "F--- the Police" -- a bombastic anthem against police brutality -- white America was outraged.

The Parents Music Resource Center launched a public campaign against the group and its use of profanity, while the FBI targeted and investigated its members -- Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Arabian Prince, DJ Yella, Dr. Dre and MC Ren.

But for Black Americans who experienced the disenfranchisement and brutalization of their communities, songs like "F--- the Police" were "liberating," Royce da 5'9'' said.

"To me like, as a young kid, I was just like, 'Wow, they curse really good. They curse better than my dad, they say 'F--- the police,' that's crazy,'" he added. "I didn't know you can get on a song and say that, you know, right. It was like, almost liberating -- liberating in a way to a young kid who isn't used to really having a voice or being heard or people or feeling like anything about him matters."

In 2017, NWA's "Straight Outta Compton" was archived by the Library of Congress.
KRS-One, "You Must Learn" (1989) "Teach the student what needs to be taught/ 'Cause Black and white kids both take shorts/ When one doesn't know about the other ones' culture/ Ignorance swoops down like a vulture."
Arguably one of the most successful politically and socially conscious emcees of all time, KRS-One is a teacher. For decades, the Bronx native and standing member of Boogie Down Productions, has used his voice to educate -- eloquently rhyming about social ills like police brutality, poverty, lack of education and racism.

"When I came out with my music at that time there was a major crack cocaine epidemic in New York," the Bronx rapper told CNN in 2015. "The music that I would do would speak to these issues, would speak to why are we living in these conditions. It's like no one has any power to lift us from these conditions."

"You Must Learn" provides a history lesson in religion, war and education, as well as the rich contributions of Africans Americans in this country.
Public Enemy, "Fight the Power" (1989) "Our freedom of speech is freedom or death/ We got to fight the powers that be."
When film director Spike Lee approached Public Enemy to write a song for his upcoming movie, "Do The Right Thing," Chuck D named it after a 1974 protest song he had heard as a child -- "Fight the Power" by the R&B, soul and funk group The Isley Brothers.

"'Fight the Power' is very important because that's the song that influenced me. When I was 14 years old, 15 years old, that record came out and it resonated with me," Chuck D said. "And it was the first record I heard they had a curse word. ... And that was riveting in itself and had a lot of meaning and youth rebellion in the song."

But according to Chuck D, the song would not have been as successful had it not been featured in the film.

"We had allies who are just as rebellious," the rapper said, crediting Lee with the song's success. "'Fight the Power' really doesn't exist in the same way if you don't have a lot of Black movies, and everybody went to see this one Black movie by a Black filmmaker -- Spike Lee ... so that right there just dissolved a lot of the difficulties. It might have had more difficulty if it was a standalone song on its own trying to penetrate the marketplace; we would have found resistance."

The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2018 and music by Public Enemy's 1990 album "Fear of a Black Planet," which includes the song, was archived by the Library of Congress in 2004.
Queen Latifah, "U.N.I.T.Y." (1993) "I walked past these dudes when they passed me/ One of 'em felt my booty, he was nasty/ I turned around red, somebody was catching' the wrath/ Then the little one said, 'Ha ha, yeah me, b----,' and laughed."
In a male-dominated industry riddled with misogyny, many female emcees work tirelessly to carve out a space.

Before becoming a prominent Hollywood actress and producer, Queen Latifah demanded respect and asserted herself as hip-hop royalty. "U.N.I.T.Y." challenged everyone to make room for the queen, and gave women permission to be powerful, graceful and strong, and to expand, not shrink.

"U.N.I.T.Y." won the Grammy for best solo rap performance in 1994.
Tupac, "Me Against the World" (1995) "The question I wonder is after death, after my last breath/ When will I finally get to rest through this oppression?/ They punish the people that's asking questions/ And those that possess steal from the ones without possessions."
The life of iconic rapper Tupac Shakur can be described as a lesson in politics, justice and Black activism. Seen as both a hero and a villain, Tupac was one of hip-hop's most powerful and outspoken voices for social justice and radical change.

Sulan said that Tupac is the "No. 1 influence for why I am the activist I am."

"He really helped a lot of my mindset, my growing up watching his interviews," the 22-year-old artist said. "He was just one of the people that really used his voice for the right reason to show people like what real is like. ... He said, 'I'm gonna spark the mind of somebody who's gonna change the world if I don't,' and he really did."

Tupac was locked in a prison cell when "Me Against The World," one of his most personal and introspective albums, was released. The song of the same title was a soulful, poetic display of raw, honest and dark lyrics rooted in vulnerability and trauma.
Nas, "One Mic" (2002) "Police watch us, roll up and try knockin' us/ One knee I ducked, could it be my time is up?/ But my luck, I got up, the cop shot again/ Bus stop, glass burst, a fiend drops his Heineken."
The multi-platinum Queensbridge, New York, native is a powerful narrator who masterfully strings together street tales of desperate neighborhoods.

In a world of abundance and overindulging, "One Mic" demonstrates the power of one: one mic, one prayer, one breath. Nas' powerful and passionate delivery is a cry for immediate action, ending each refrain with "the time is now."

"'One Mic' is how I've been feeling," Nas told MTV in 2002. "'One Mic' has been on my mind for a long time. I knew that people weren't being for real and truthful from the heart with the music that was coming out. 'One Mic' represents my every emotion, everything that's in my mind."
Kanye West featuring Jay Z and J Ivy, "Never Let Me Down" (2004) "Racism still alive, they just be concealin' it."
In his debut album, "The College Dropout," Kanye West teamed up with Jay Z, spoken word poet J Ivy and Tracie Spencer on vocals for a melodic and poetic song about being true to yourself and to your roots.

Jay Z raps about being true to himself and to his fans from day one in his music and West raps about his family's history in the civil rights fight and how this has become an intrinsic part of him: "I get down for my grandfather who took my mama/ Made her sit in that seat where white folks ain't want us to eat/ At the tender age of 6, she was arrested for the sit-ins/ And with that in my blood I was born to be different."

The song, which was originally recorded for Jay Z's seventh studio album, "The Blueprint²: The Gift & The Curse," ends with a powerful delivery by J Ivy of his poem, "Never Let Me Down."
Talib Kweli, "Eat to Live" (2007) "Anyway, grandma say Jesus will be here any day/ Good -- 'cause with nothing to eat it's gettin' hard to pray."
Talib Kweli has built his career on exposing injustice, racism and rampant systemic flaws. "Eat to Live" is an important song that addresses food deserts, malnutrition and the consumption of non-life-giving foods.

Science has linked poor eating habits with health conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes, which are both prevalent in Black communities.

This issue has been brought to light amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disproportionately been killing Black Americans. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, individuals who suffer from health conditions like obesity and diabetes often experience worse outcomes when contracting the virus.
Meek Mill, "Dreams and Nightmares" (2012) "I used to pray for times like this, to rhyme like this/ So I had to grind like that to shine like this/ And the matter of time I spent on some locked-up s---/ In the back of the paddy wagon, cuffs locked on wrists/ Seen my dreams unfold, nightmares come true."
Before the Philadelphia rapper rose to the national spotlight in 2017 as one of the most prominent criminal justice reform advocates, Meek Mill recounted his struggles and his triumphs in "Dreams and Nightmares," the first track on his 2012 album bearing the same title.

In the first part, "Dreams," Mill recounts his rise in the rap game through reflective lyrics, but halfway through, his tone becomes angry and bombastic depicting his "nightmares."

When the rapper was sentenced to two to four years in prison in November 2017 after a pair of arrests that violated his probation from a 2008 gun and drug case (including popping a wheelie on a motorcycle), his case sparked outrage among criminal justice reform advocates and reinvigorated a national debate on mass incarceration.

While he was in prison, "Dreams and Nightmares" became an anthem of the #FreeMeekMill movement. The song was blasted by protesters and was chosen by the Philadelphia Eagles as their anthem during Super Bowl Lll to show solidarity with the rapper.
Lauryn Hill, "Black Rage" (2012, re-released in 2014) "Black rage is founded on blatant denial/ Squeezing economics, subsistence survival/ Deafening silence and social control/ Black rage is founded on wounds in the soul."
In 1961, famed author and activist James Baldwin said, "To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a state of rage almost, almost all of the time."

More than 50 years later, in 2012, musical genius Lauryn Hill, whose debut album was the first hip-hop album to earn a Grammy for album of the year, affirmed Baldwin's sentiment with "Black Rage."

The poignant song was re-released among the Ferguson, Missouri, protests in 2014, and the themes remain today. The unaddressed inequities that resurface decade after decade is another example of why Black rage exists.
Kendrick Lamar, "Alright" (2015) "Uh, and when I wake up/ I recognize you're looking at me for the pay cut/ But homicide be looking at you from the face down."
Soulful and introspective with an ever-present political charge, Kendrick Lamar has mastered Black storytelling in rap music.

"Alright" is a powerful, poetic glimpse at the Black experience, one that transcends pain and oppression. The message is hope and faith, and while the story's imagery is dark, light emerges through Kendrick's courage, beauty and pride.

"Alright" won a Grammy for best rap song at the 2016 awards and Lamar's "To Pimp a Butterfly," which features the song, won a Grammy in the best rap album category that year.
Meek Mill featuring Jay Z and Rick Ross, "What's Free" (2018) "Tryna' fix the system and the way that they designed it/ I think they want me silenced/ Oh, say you can see, I don't feel like I'm free."
Meek Mill enlisted industry powerhouse and billionaire Jay-Z to discuss modern-day freedom on this track.

While Meek draws on his personal experiences and hardships with the judicial system, Jay talks about narrowly escaping the system, building wealth and civil liberties.

Last year, the two rappers, who have used their fame, access and fortune to affect change, co-founded Reform Alliance, an organization committed to prison reform.
Rapsody, "Nina" (2019) "I'm from the back woods where Nina would/ Sing about the life we should lead/ A new dawn, another deed, I try to do some good/ I felt more damned than Mississippi was."
Rapsody's "Nina" is a tribute to Nina Simone and begins with the legendary singer's rendition of "Strange Fruit" - a poem by Abel Meeropol published in 1937 protesting the lynching of Black Americans.

The Grammy-nominated North Carolina rapper references Simone's first protest anthem, "Mississippi Goddamn," a response to the 1963 assassination of American civil rights activist Medgar Evers in Mississippi amid his fight against Jim Crow laws.

"Nina" is one of the songs on Rapsody's album "Eve" -- an ode to the history of the civil rights movement and the Black women who broke barriers, including Queen Latifah, Aaliyah and Maya Angelou.

"There's a beauty and a strength that all of them have because to break the barriers that they had to do, you had to be unwavering, you had to have this undeniable, undying fight within you," Rapsody told ABC News in August 2019.
Lil Baby, "Bigger Picture" (2020) "F---ed up, I seen what I seen/ I guess that mean hold him down if he say he can't breathe/ It's too many mothers that's grieving/ They killing us for no reason."
Politically conscious rappers aren't nearly as popular today, but the message always finds its way to the music.

Popular rapper Lil Baby released "Bigger Picture" after the recent death of George Floyd and the racial protests that followed. The anthem, which demands a stop to police brutality, garnered more than 65 million audio and video streams in its first two weeks, according to Nielsen Music.

In an Instagram post, Lil Baby said that the proceeds from the song will benefit organizations like the National Association of Black Journalists, the attorneys for the family of Breonna Taylor, who died at the hands of Louisville police, the Black Lives Matter movement and The Bail Project.

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Hip-hop has been standing up for Black lives for decades: 15 songs and why they matter

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Decades before "Black Lives Matter" became a global hashtag touted by celebrities and leading politicians, hip-hop artists were profiled, targeted and vilified for broadcasting those same systemic injustices that plagued Black America -- a reality that for decades was shut out of mainstream media.

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"And when I attempted suicide, I didn't die
I remember how mad I was on that day
Man, you gotta let it go before it get up in the way
Let it go, let it go"

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"People hate you 'cause you're different and focused
People hated me so I flipped it
And turned my emotions to something y'all could sing to
'Cause some of y'all have been through the same shit I've been through"

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Do Rap Songs About Mental Health Help Reduce Stigma?-Newport Institute 2021

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Do Rap Songs About Mental Health Help Reduce Stigma?-Newport Institute 2021

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When we think about hip hop artists, we don't usually think about anxious or depressed rappers. Rap artists have a reputation as being tough and invulnerable. But some rap stars are changing that perception-and helping to reduce stigma-by writing rap songs about mental health.

In fact, a recent study found that the number of rap songs about mental illness has more than doubled over the past 20 years. During that same time period, depression, anxiety, and suicide rates have risen to historic highs among young people, rap's biggest audience.

Because of their outsize influence on this age group, rap celebrities may have the power to shift societal attitudes around mental health and encourage more open discussion of mental health issues.

Emotional Songs About Rappers' Personal Struggles

Some of the genre's most popular rappers have performed emotional hip hop songs and rap songs about mental illness that speak directly to their own experience. Kanye West, one of the most prominent artists to write rap lyrics about mental illness, rapped about his personal struggles and bipolar disorder diagnosis in the albums "Ye" and "808s & Heartbreak." On his album 4:44, Jay-Z references his therapist and talks about relapsing. Stormzy raps about his depression in the song "Lay Me Bare":
So low sometimes
Airplane mode on my phone sometimes
Sitting in my house with tears in my face
Can't answer the door to my bro sometimes.

Kid Cudi, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, and Lil Wayne are also among the many artists who have performed rap songs about mental health. And the rapper Logic's biggest hit was called "1-800-273-8255"-the number of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

New Research Analyzes Rap Lyrics About Mental Illness

For the new study, published in December 2020 in JAMA Pediatrics, researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill looked at 125 of Billboard's top-ranked rap songs between 1998 and 2018. As a result, they found that the proportion of rap lyrics about mental illness has significantly increased-from 32 percent in 1998 to 68 percent in 2018.

The researchers' findings included the following:

94 of the 125 songs referenced negative emotion

57 of those emotional hip hop songs contained references to mental health

35 songs referenced anxiety

References to depression or depressive thinking doubled from 16 to 32 percent

Rap songs talking about suicide or suicidal ideation increased from zero to 12 percent over the 20 years

26 songs used a metaphor to describe mental health struggles, such as "fighting my demons."

Moreover, many of the songs talked about common stressors in everyday life, like living conditions, relationships, and other life circumstances.

Why Rap Songs About Mental Health Matter

Rap fans are primarily teens and young adults: Global data shows that 16- to 24-year-olds are four times more likely than any other demographic to cite hip hop/rap as their favorite music genre. Consequently, rappers-like other celebrities-have an enormous influence on teen and young adult behavior. And that can have both positive and negative impacts.

As the researchers pointed out, rap songs about mental heath that talk about getting support and treatment can help raise awareness and encourage young people to seek help. But references to harmful and destructive behavior, particularly suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts-such as the Notorious B.I.G's "Suicidal Thoughts," which ends with a gunshot-may make listeners feel worse and even incite copycat suicidal behavior, a phenomenon known as the Werther Effect.

Another relevant aspect of the study is the fact that 78 percent of the artists who wrote rap songs about mental health over the last decade were Black men, with an average age of 28. That's significant, the researchers noted, because these rappers serve as role models for Black youth, a group that is at high risk of suicide. Between 2001 and 2017, the suicide rate for Black adolescents saw extremely troubling increases-rising by 60 percent among males and 182 percent for females.

How Music Affects Mental Health

Music and mental health have been closely linked for centuries. Music therapy became more formally recognized in the 20th century when community musicians went to veterans' hospitals following the World Wars, to play for military veterans suffering from PTSD. Research shows the benefits of music therapy not only for trauma but also for depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia.

In terms of how music affects mental health, listening to, singing, or writing emotional songs can help clients process difficult emotions, release trauma, and feel more connected to self. In addition, the psychological effects of music on the brain can be healing: The rhythm, repetitive quality of music engages the neocortex, activating the nervous system's relaxation response and reducing anxiety and impulsivity. At Newport Institute, music therapy is one of a variety of experiential therapies that are incorporated into each young adult's treatment plan along with evidence-based clinical modalities.

It's true that rap songs about mental health aren't typically calming or relaxing. However, they can ultimately support young adult well-being by validating their experiences and letting them know they are not alone. Most important, these emotional hip hop songs can help assure young people that there is no shame in struggling, or in asking for help. As the rapper DMX puts it in his song "Slippin'": "To live is to suffer. But to survive ... Well, that's to find meaning in the suffering."

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Rap Songs About Mental Health | Newport Institute

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When we think about hip hop artists, we don't usually think about anxious or depressed rappers. Rap artists have a reputation as being tough and invulnerable. But some rap stars are changing that perception-and helping to reduce stigma-by writing rap songs about mental health.

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A Review of Hip Hop-Based Interventions for Health Literacy, Health Behaviors, and Mental Health- Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 2018

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A Review of Hip Hop-Based Interventions for Health Literacy, Health Behaviors, and Mental Health- Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 2018

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Cendrine Robinson, Elizabeth L. Seaman, LaTrice Montgomery, and Adia Winfrey

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Megan Thee Stallion Spoke About Feeling Pressure to “Be Strong” After Being Shot- Emily Dixon

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Megan Thee Stallion Spoke About Feeling Pressure to “Be Strong” After Being Shot- Emily Dixon

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Marie Claire 2020

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Megan Thee Stallion said she felt pressure to "be tough" after she was shot in both feet in July.

"I feel like I have to be strong for everybody," Megan told GQ.

"I want Black women to be louder," she told the magazine. "I want us to be sassier. I want us to demand more, be more outspoken, keep speaking and just keep demanding what you deserve."

Megan Thee Stallion reflected on the traumatic aftermath of being shot in both feet in July, speaking about the pressure Black women face to be "strong" and protect others despite their own pain. In her cover interview with GQ, she spoke about the shooting, as well as the cruel disbelief and mockery she faced on social media.

Megan said Tory Lanez, who she named as her attacker the following month, attempted to bribe her and her friend into silence directly after the shooting. "[At this point] I'm really scared," she told GQ, "because this is like right in the middle of all the protesting. Police are just killing everybody for no reason, and I'm thinking, 'I can't believe you even think I want to take some money. Like, you just shot me.'" She spoke about telling police, "I got cut," fearing officers would brutalize them if they discovered the gun. (Lanez' lawyer denied he offered Megan or her friend money to GQ.)

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Megan also spoke about feeling unprotected in the wake of the shooting, as many on social media denied her trauma or made memes out of it, and the expectation of strength she felt. "Like damn," she said, "I have to be tough through all this? All the time? It was like, who really checks on us or who protected us? You just go your whole life with that mentality. And then when something actually happens to you, when you properly should have protected yourself, your first instinct was not to protect yourself, it was protecting other people.... So it was like, 'What do I do?' 'What do I say?' Like, 'Is anybody going to believe what I'm saying?'"

"I saw something that said, 'Check on your strong friends.' And, like, a lot of people, they don't do that because they think, Oh, this person is just so strong, so I know they got their stuff together," Megan continued. "I feel like I have to be strong for everybody, and I don't want my friends or anybody around me to feel like it's a pressure on me, 'cause I feel like they all start freaking out." She told GQ she asked her friends, "Why didn't you call me?" adding, "Now they're like calling me every five minutes."

Asked about the message she hoped to impart to her fans, Megan said, "I want Black women to be louder." She continued, "I want us to be sassier. I want us to demand more, be more outspoken, keep speaking and just keep demanding what you deserve."

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Megan Thee Stallion on the Pressure to "Be Strong" After Being Shot

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Megan Thee Stallion said she felt pressure to "be tough" after she was shot in both feet in July. "I feel like I have to be strong for everybody," Megan told GQ. "I want Black women to be louder," she told the magazine. "I want us to be sassier.

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This is the small creative assignment that Dr. Fischer asked us to prepare that I did not have a chance to share. I based mine off the Freedom School questionnaire prompt about which HipHop artists did I think are shaping the future of HipHop. It is a small picture collage of the artists whose work and influence, I believe, are shaping HipHop and Pop culture. I labeled it HipHop Futurism.

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Developing Critical Hip Hop Feminist Literacies: Centrality and Subversion of Sexuality in the Livesof Black Girls -Elaine Richardson

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Developing Critical Hip Hop Feminist Literacies: Centrality and Subversion of Sexuality in the Livesof Black Girls -Elaine Richardson

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EQUITY & EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION 2013

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Developing Critical Hip Hop Feminist Literacies Centrality and Subversion of Sexuality in the Lives of Black Girls

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Women in Hip-Hop Navigate Objectification, Owning Their Sexual Power- Adriana Guzman and Gizem Bilen

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Women in Hip-Hop Navigate Objectification, Owning Their Sexual Power- Adriana Guzman and Gizem Bilen

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The Hoya 2020

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In 1973, 25 dollars and a mission to go back-to-school shopping pushed adolescent Cindy Campbell to host an event that would inadvertently lead to the genesis of hip-hop.

Campbell planned and hosted what is now known as the "Back to School Party," which featured the first hip-hop star and "Father of Hip-Hop" DJ Kool Herc, who is also her older brother. Campbell's influence is often forgotten, but without her ambition and drive, hip-hop would not have been born that year.

Forty-seven years later, Megan Thee Stallion, a successful female rapper and artist with two number-one hits in a year, is using her platform to bring attention to violence against Black women and the need to protect them in a The New York Times op-ed.

Women occupy - and have occupied - a complicated role within the world of hip-hop, where hypermasculinity has long been ubiquitous, according to Professor Ellen Gorman, who teaches "Race, Rap and Power" in the English department.

"The notion of a kind of Black masculinity stems all the way back to slave tropes of the Black male, where Black men are responding to that conditioning and the referential notions of them as 'boys.' So then their response [in hip-hop] is pushing back in a machismo way," Gorman said in an interview with The Hoya. "The hyper-machismo, the hyper-sexuality in rap and hip-hop - all that requires and depends on the subjugation of women."

Female hip-hop artists and groups like MC Lyte, TLC and Queen Latifah are some artists who have attempted to counter the treatment of women as sex objects with lyrics about men being untrustworthy and no good. Others like Lil' Kim have leaned into their sexualization as a way to own their sexual power, according to Gorman.

In their music and performances, female rappers have broached topics traditionally accepted for men - but not women - to discuss, according to Professor Robynn Stilwell of the department of performing arts, who teaches courses on race, popular culture and American music and cinema.

"I think there is a certain power in saying, 'Well, you talk like that, we're gonna talk like this,'" Stilwell said in an interview with The Hoya.

Female artists have weaponized themes often used to objectify women by transforming them into a source of pride, according to Stilwell.

"Where I do think there is empowerment is in taking aspects of women's sexuality that aren't talked about or talked about with some sort of disgust and actually making them a positive," Stilwell said. "I think that's actually really powerful."

Women hip-hop artists often try to normalize taboo topics and the female experience by creating a space in which women are able to rap about things that affect them. This empowerment is not without critics, however, who claim that these women are not representing the traditional ideal of femininity. But this claim is only leveraged against women whenever women succeed, according to Stilwell.

"I mean, you only have to look on social media whenever a woman makes a point, and especially if she really lands a point, then the response is always incredibly sexualized," Stilwell said. "It always comes with, at the minimum, some sort of denigration of her femininity, assuming she wants femininity."

There has been an observable rise in the commercial popularity of female rappers, and perhaps some changes induced by the #MeToo movement, as well, according to Professor Anna Celenza of the department of performing arts, who teaches about American music history and the music industry.

"A lot of women, especially the big names including Cardi B, have very recently, especially after the #MeToo movement, taken control of their sexuality presented in hip-hop," Celenza said in an interview with The Hoya. "Therefore, women have become more involved with hip-hop."

This notion of taking control of one's sexuality is not actually as new as it may seem, however, and is ripe with its own complications, according to Gorman.

"Lil' Kim gets a lot of heat from scholars and even a lot of music critics who say, 'Owning your sexual power - that never works.' Because at the end of the day, it's the male gaze. To say you're a bitch means you're succumbing to a sexual power that's never yours to own anyway," Gorman said. "That's a conversation that's always ongoing still, and especially with Beyoncé."

Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B and Rico Nasty are some figures in the hip-hop world who are trying to complicate that thinking about female desire, but the backlash against "WAP" this summer is evidence of the fact that society is not so welcoming to that conversation about women's sexual power, according to Gorman.

"'WAP,' obviously, really freaked people out," Gorman said. "And that showed us that I think we have a long way to go in terms of thinking about female desire, outside of some kind of religious patriarchal notion of what women are allowed to have."

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Women in Hip-Hop Navigate Objectification, Owning Their Sexual Power

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In 1973, 25 dollars and a mission to go back-to-school shopping pushed adolescent Cindy Campbell to host an event that would inadvertently lead to the genesis of hip-hop. Campbell planned and hosted what is now known as the "Back to School Party," which featured the first hip-hop star and "Father of Hip-Hop" DJ Kool Herc, [...]

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Women in Hip-Hop Cannot Thrive While Misogynoir Exists- Taylor Crumpton

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Women in Hip-Hop Cannot Thrive While Misogynoir Exists- Taylor Crumpton

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Harper's Bazaar 2020

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"It was just the worst experience of my life. And it's not funny. It's nothing to joke about. It was nothing for y'all to start going and making fake stories about," said Megan Thee Stallion on Instagram Live, holding back tears as she addressed her shooting injuries. "I didn't put my hands on nobody. I didn't deserve to get shot."

The men in the hip-hop community have failed Megan Thee Stallion. On social media she was mocked and memed, diminishing the gravity of the violence enacted upon her. It points to a larger problem: the sadistic nature of misogynoir in hip-hop, an industry stained by the blood of violence against Black women by its forefathers.

Hip-hop, a genre born from the overt abuse and brutality Black communities have suffered by law enforcement, upholds the patriarchy. It's one of the few spaces where Black men can emulate the power ideals of whiteness. It's a developed framework that justifies Chris Brown's existence on Billboard's chart despite his physical assault of Rihanna in February 2009; instead of being held accountable by his peers, he was welcomed into a fraternity of success and masculinity built on the dehumanization of Black women. It's often said that Black women are fighting two wars based on the intersections of race and gender. Misogyny is institutional oppression against women at large, but misogynoir is the dehumanization of Black women perpetuated through individual, societal, and cultural violence toward Black women. Until men in hip-hop show genuine support and investment for Black women in hip-hop, Black women will never be granted justice, not even in death.

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As Black women took to the streets to protest the death of Breonna Taylor, social media and blogs reduced their calls for justice to a superficial meme, a trend void of the richness and complexity of her life. When news broke about Megan's attack, Twitter erupted with misogynistic memes from Black users centered on her ass, boobs, and knees, implying that the loss of her sexual appeal mattered more than her actual life. Her face was superimposed on Ricky Baker's (played by Morris Chestnut) when he is shot in the film Boyz N The Hood and Madame Vera Walker's (played by Della Reese) when her pinky toe is shot in Harlem Nights. The migration of memes across social media platforms reinforces the devaluation of Black women in celebrity and hip-hop culture, where their full humanity is reduced, sexualized, and rendered one-dimensional.

One of the most compelling emcees and lyricists of her generation, Megan Thee Stallion is hip-hop's biggest star. She has accomplished world-wide success and renown for her explicit lyrics that put women in power, catering to their satisfaction and fulfillment as she raps about her "player ways" and "skimpy clothes." She's the "Houston hottie with a model body," yet through a patriarchal lens, men in hip-hop seek to reconstruct her lyrics of empowerment as justification for objectifying her body as a holding place of male desire, rage, and violence.

Who hears a Black woman's cries of fear and pain if their personhood is stripped away?

Who hears a Black woman's cries of fear and pain if their personhood is stripped away? If Black women are no longer regarded as human, then their bodies are deemed deserving of disproportionate amounts of pain. If Black women are no longer granted femininity, then their bodies are subjected to transphobic attacks in an attempt to validate the violence they endure. Cam'ron responded to Megan's attack by reposting an Instagram post that said her shooter "saw that dick and started shootn..IDC what no one say." His commentary reflects a double standard in hip-hop's misogynistic framework, one that awards male rappers for protecting themselves against an aggressive assailant but blames women for behavior that results in gun violence. 50 Cent, who survived being shot nine times (he references the attack on his hit "Many Men (Wish Death)" from his debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin), posted a meme about Megan's injury, which he later apologized for and deleted after her Instagram Live session.

Megan Thee Stallion didn't deserve to get shot. Liza Rios didn't deserve to be hit by Big Pun. Dee Barnes didn't deserve to be attacked by Dr. Dre. Steph Lova didn't deserve to be harassed by DJ Funkmaster Flex. Linda Williams didn't deserve to be punched by Damon Dash. Lil Kim didn't deserve to be in a violent relationship with The Notorious B.I.G. Drew Dixon, Sil Abrams, Sheri Sher, and others didn't deserve to be sexually assaulted by Russell Simmons. (Simmons has denied the allegations.) Misogynoir is an intracommunal pandemic.

It's not the responsibility of Black women in hip-hop to address the racialized and sexual violence towards their community.

Oppressive structures are maintained by the erasure and intentional neglect of individuals who are disregarded and marginalized. In a white supremacist society, hip-hop is unique because of its existence as one of the few influential structures where cisgender heterosexual Black men can be in positions of power, but their silence toward Black women is reflective of the patriarchal systems they have upheld. Hip-hop has provided a space for Black men to build empires and legacies; Def Jam Recordings, Roc-A-Fella Records, and Bad Boy Records have affirmed Russell Simmons, Jay-Z, and Diddy's places as worldwide ambassadors for hip-hop culture. Where was Jay-Z following Megan's attack? She signed to Roc Nation management and collaborated with Beyoncé on the "Savage'' remix, but he said nothing. Where was Diddy? He featured her on his COVID-19 Dance-a-Thon, but he also said nothing. Though some men like Wale and 21 Savage showed their support, the majority of voices in hip-hop who displayed comfort and support for Megan Thee Stallion were Black women, who historically have shown up for themselves when no one else would.

Before the age of 25, Megan Thee Stallion had publicly lost her mother and grandmother. Yet during her ascension to stardom, and through her grief, she still continued to reach out and support "Hotties" with engagements on social media, charitable donations to her hometown of Houston, and a CashApp campaign. On her July 27 Instagram Live, her first appearance since the shooting, she continued to show that resilience, assuring us, "A bitch is alive and well. Strong as fuck. I'm ready to get back to regular programming with my hot girl shit....I can't keep putting my energy in a bunch of you motherfuckers."

It's not the responsibility of Black women in hip-hop to address the racialized and sexual violence towards their community. Black men in hip-hop need to participate in the disinvestment of misogyny in the culture, instead of silence. In order for Black women in hip-hop to live and thrive, the structure of misogynior must be abolished.

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Women in Hip-Hop Cannot Thrive While Misogynoir Exists

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"It was just the worst experience of my life. And it's not funny. It's nothing to joke about. It was nothing for y'all to start going and making fake stories about," said Megan Thee Stallion on Instagram Live, holding back tears as she addressed her shooting injuries.

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The Hip-Hop Generation Fights Back: Youth, Activism and Post-Civil Rights Politics- Andreana Clay

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The Hip-Hop Generation Fights Back: Youth, Activism and Post-Civil Rights Politics- Andreana Clay

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NYU Press 2012

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From youth violence, to the impact of high stakes educational testing, to editorial hand wringing over the moral failures of
hip-hop culture, young people of color are often portrayed as gang affiliated, "troubled," and ultimately, dangerous. The Hip-Hop Generation Fights Back examines how youth activism has emerged to address the persistent inequalities that affect urban youth of color. Andreana Clay provides a detailed account of the strategies that youth activists use to frame their social justice agendas and organize in their local communities.

Based on two years of fieldwork with youth affiliated with two non-profit organizations in Oakland, California, The Hip-Hop Generation Fights Back shows how youth integrate the history of social movement activism of the 1960s, popular culture strategies like hip-hop and spoken word, as well as their experiences in the contemporary urban landscape, to mobilize their peers. Ultimately, Clay's comparison of the two youth organizations and their participants expands our understandings of youth culture, social movements, popular culture, and race and ethnic relations.

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From youth violence, to the impact of high stakes educational testing, to editorial hand wringing over the moral failures ofhip-hop culture, young people of color are often portrayed as gang affiliated, "troubled," and ultimately, dangerous. The Hip-Hop Generation Fights Back examines how youth activism has emerged to address the persistent inequalities that affect urban youth of color.

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Urban Guerrilla Poetry: The Movement Y’en a Marre and the Socio-Political Influences of Hip Hop in Senegal -Marame Gueye

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Urban Guerrilla Poetry: The Movement Y’en a Marre and the Socio-Political Influences of Hip Hop in Senegal -Marame Gueye

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Journal of Pan African Studies 2013

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As someone who faces challenges with the upkeep of their mental health, like many others, I turn to music as a way to cope, heal, and rest. As a woman of color, I have found that HipHop explores the topics of mental and physical health in a way that incorporates the intersections of race, gender, and sexual identity and how they deeply impact mental and physical health. For people of color struggling to find role models who they can relate to within health contexts, HipHop artists who understand their influence and the importance of creating a dialogue about health education are necessary. With HipHop now in the mainstream spotlight more than ever, it is a profound experience to see numerous HipHop artists openly discuss their mental and physical health journeys. The active de-stigmatization of mental and physical health issues and struggles within HipHop comunicates to people like me that they are not alone in their health journeys and that it is not "weak" to feel or look a certain way.

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HipHop plays a massive role in the socio-political education of our society. To deny this would be largely inaccurate and offensive to the work of Hiphop scholars and the creation of HipHop scholarship. In an era where Black and other POC continue to be targeted, harassed, and killed by racist practices across all institutions, HipHop serves as a legion of voices calling attention to socio-political injustice. As we have seen at protests, HipHop is at the forefront with its multitude of “protest” songs that rally masses and incite education and activism. HipHop, like any other culture, is flawed. However, HipHop has been a driving force in the fight for modern civil rights, as seen in its role of encouraging and uplifting the Black Lives Matter movement. HipHop exists as a uniting force in a society that has been so divisive and unjust to marginalized groups.

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In the modern era of HipHop, the intersection of HipHop, gender, and sexuality is more prominent than ever. With queer artists like Lil Nas X bringing sexuality themes to mainstream HipHop and artists like Megan thee Stallion discussing misogynoir, the importance of gender and sexuality expressions within the culture is undeniable. HipHop, also undeniably, has a reputation rife with homophobia, sexism, and misogyny. Despite this, HipHop has become a place where members of the LGBTQ community and women can thrive and place themselves at the top of the game while also criticizing the reputation that surrounds HipHop. The success of queer artists and women alike proves that HipHop is a culture of progression and empowerment, active in socio-political change and reclamation of spaces.