Alternative Representation Of women in Hip Hop Music

Missy Elliott-Work it

Missy Elliott is one of the greatest female rappers of all times. She is talented and very successful female artist, she can often be referred to as a multi-faced entertainer as she writes, raps, sings, and produces all her songs. Her music videos are consistently innovative and intriguing as they are very creative and wild. She’s also one of the most versatile hip-hop artists of all time as no other female rapper has ever been able to match Missy's level of success, she has released thousands copy’s of her albums and each one of them has something that will appeal to her audience.

Missy Ellie challenges the stereotypical representation of women through the use of her music videos, the ideology contracted behind her music signify the new found power amongst female artists in the hip hop genre in contemporaryy society today. This reinforces the ideology of women not being able to match a man’s job role but she challenges such parochial society we seem to be living in, as women are degraded and sexually objectified to appeal to the male gaze however her music challenges those stereotypes and values as she is seen to be taking control, as she is shown to be dominate through the use of her lyrics which can be explicit and vulgar which is catered to suit an adult audience. Her lyrics give a funky fresh meaning to the word "bitch", as she even defines herself as one in her very successful single "She's a bitch".

She adds strong characteristic and values of female representation in her music, and this gives women a positive representation, although she is shown to be wearing shorts or sleeveless top in some of their shots she is not sexually objectified unlike the other female artists we see in music videos who are often referred to as ‘Bitches and hoe’s’ of men, as men are showing to be p.i.m.p.s as they are represented as aggressive, controlling and showing to be using women as a symbolic status of power and wealth as women are often referred to as the 'Icing on the cake'

Missy is seen to be wearing clothes that are not so revealing and not showing too much body which may connotes that she is not interested whether if she appeals to the male audience or not as her music should convey her talent though her voice which also suggests that her music is more important and should be the main attraction, however this does not satisfy the male gaze. This is a clear statement that she is not being fetishizated as there does not seem to be any phallic symbols illustrated in the mes-en-scene and her music.

Even though Missy is one of the greatest female hip-hop artist of all time alongside other female artists such as Nicki Minaj and Lil Kim, its arguable that the hip-hop music industry is a male dominated world because women are stereotypically put into their female job roles, this reinforces the fact that women have been sexually objectified thought out history and we are still in a patriarchal society. However this videos gives out a positive representation of women.

Other hip hop female artists include Nicki minaj and lil kim ect.