I followed the link and read the whole article, it was very well written and very balanced. My first question was "so what are the women doing about it?" and hey presto the author had the answer a few paragraphs down.

I do take exception though that the rap is only aimed at black women, that is bullshit, it is aimed at women full stop. I think to make the distinction of black and white is wrong just because it is black men rapping and it comes from a black culture.

I would imagine there are quite a number of white women that have suffered because of rap so to say it is only a black thing is wrong. Rap is not only targeted at a black audience it has a large white audience too. So it is quite racist to say it is only black women who are affected.

A very interesting article though Icono.

Jennifer:

Since it's a black site, maybe the author was putting it in the broader context of domestic violence among blacks.

I see Jennifer's concern, and your point.  And like you, I dont consider it music either.  And while it is a predominantly Black male phenomenom, there are Women Rappers and White ones as well.  Perhaps the only difference between the sexes is where the violence is directed.

What amazes me are all the woman who dance, buy CD's and downloads, and sing a long (rap a long?) to this music. Don't you realize that they're talking about you, women?

Okay, I'm going to start out by saying I am somewhat biased as I write music for a rapper. By write, I mean I score original pieces of music for him using real instruments. And it IS music.

While the point is often made that certain elements of rap and hip hop are misogynistic and certainly violent, often times these articles make mention of the same artists over and over, just as the linked article does. There ARE some rappers who ARE misogynistic, violent and antisocial, but it doesn't mean we all are.

But using this article to say ALL rap and hip hop is such would be akin to using a an article focusing on satanistic allusions in heavy metal to say all heavy metal is satanistic. It is a simplistic argument that barely stands up.

I don't like a lot of the elements of some hip hop myself. I don't like a lot of the constant drug references or the way some hip hip supports materialism (the 'bling' culture is sickening). I don't like the way some of it supports gun ownership, or its antisocial aspects.

So you don't like hip hop or rap. Hey, that's okay. But judging the whole genre on the strength of a single article could hardly be called balanced.