Every year, there are millions of hip hop artists who do not get
recognized. Majority of the artists who are not acknowledged are women. In the
hip hop industry, it seems like men are the only rappers who are able to come
up with rap songs and have power. If we take a look back into the 1980s and
1990s there were remarkable women who showed the world that women are capable
of becoming rappers. TLC, an R&B/hip hop girl group, is an example on how women
were able to show the public that women have potential in the hip hop business.
The music video, Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg,
created and sung by TLC can show us that women rappers do not have to dress in revealing
outfits to be acknowledged and that women have empowerment.
Women rappers are split
into four categories: “Queen Mother”, “Fly Girl”, Sista with Attitude”, and
“Lesbian” (Keyes p. 401). TLC are considered “Fly Girl” because in the
mid-1980s, a lot of “female MCs began contesting the ‘fly girl’ image because
they wanted their audiences to focus more on their rapping skills than on their
dress styles” (Keyes p. 404). Basically, they shied away from dressing up in skimpy
clothing, so it would not interfere with their artistic skills. At the
beginning of Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg,
Left-Eye Lisa is wearing baggy clothing and as the viewer continues to watch
the video all three members wear loose-fitting clothes. According to T-Boz from
TLC, she stated, “We like to wear a lot of baggy stuff because for one it’s
comfortable, and two, many of our fans don’t have so-called perfect figure; we
don’t want them to feel like they can’t wear what we’re wearing (quoted in
Horner 1993: 16)” (Keyes p. 405). TLC’s decision to wear baggy clothing shows
how much respect they have for themselves and their fans, who are women. They
want their fans to know that women should be comfortable with their own body
and should wear what they want. In any music video, the focus should be about
the lyrics and message of the song and not about what the artist(s) is
wearing.
Music videos have helped women’s empowerment over the
years because of women like T-Boz, Chili, and Left-Eye Lisa. At the start of Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg, Left-Eye Lisa
shouts out T-Boz and Chili’s names. Having these nicknames is “a form of
reinvention and self-definition” (Osumare p. 36). Male rappers have names, so
why shouldn’t women rappers have nicknames to show the public what they are
worth of? TLC’s nicknames give society a chance to see who they are and what
they are capable of. Although TLC dresses in baggy outfits in the music video,
they get their point across in their music video and tell the public that as
women they have needs too. The lyrics in Ain’t
2 Proud 2 Beg says “everybody needs some good lovin” and expresses that
women have sexual needs just like men. Also, their bold actions such as:
Left-Eye Lisa using a condom as an eye patch and Chili and T-Boz wearing
condoms on their clothing is a way to promote safe sex. TLC takes the time in this
video to tell the public that having safe sex is important. Throughout Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg TLC shows that women
rappers are capable on improving society and showing that women should not be
afraid of who they are.
We
should thank TLC, Queen Latifah, and others for setting the bar for the next
generation of women rappers. The women rappers of the 1980s and 1990s were able
to show the public that African American women do not have to be seen as
bystanders and sexual objects. It is a difficult for a woman of color, but with
their strength and determination from their roots they are able to stand tall
and show the world women can rap too.
JKW
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