research and articles

How have female hip hop artist like Nicki Minaj , changed the alternative representations of females in the hip hop industrie today?


 http://www.nordicom.gu.se/common/publ_pdf/42_263-276.pdf


http://pa.oxfordjournals.org/content/61/2/237.abstract
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/oct/05/women-gender
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2011/02/female-music-industry-insiders-talk-being-in-the-boys-club.html
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/hs/mckinley/2007/03/mtv_portrays_female_as_sex_obj.html
http://blog.muzu.tv/2010/01/20/female-domination-of-the-brit-awards/


http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2010/apr/12/nicki-minaj-female-rapper?INTCMP=SRCH


http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/nov/28/nicki-minaj-interview-hermione-hoby?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487


http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/feb/18/female-mcs-ms-dynamite-lady-chann?INTCMP=SRCH

Nicki Minaj and the rise of the titillating female rapper
"The female body is rarely a site of empowerment except when it is being objectified to define female strength through heterosexist sexiness, which, displayed for male satisfaction, creates little real power for women. Because female rappers' value lies in their ability to perform masculinity as well as be sexually objectified, when a femcee is not performing the role of the sexually available coquette nor the female thug, her power and agency are nonexistent.""

"The opening shot of Minaj's face quickly cuts to her bouncing chest, while the camera pans slowly over Trina's exposed thighs as she struts around the set, proclaiming their five-star status.  "

"However, her image and positioning mark her out as different to her male counterparts. On the Rhymesayer's artist page, Psalm One is surrounded by male artists in thoughtful, pensive, or playful poses. She is pictured in a shoulder-baring tube top, with one hand clasped across her throat – an image that positions her as feminine, vulnerable, and coquettish. "

A funky new era: why women MCs are ruling UK clubs again?
"British female rappers have always been a breed apart. While their male counterparts have tended to wear their debt to US hip-hop greats with pride, the likes of Ms Dynamite and Stush have shied away from the sexually explicit shock tactics employed by Americans such as Lil' Kim and Trina. "

"Stush, the chipmunk-voiced chatterbox who first came to prominence in 2002 with the grime classic Dollar Sign, laughs at the thought of copying the Americans. "Over here, if you came out with that talk, you'd just get people going, 'Oh, that girl's a slag, man!' All the guys would switch on you, you'd get no respect.""

"Chann, for example, made her name last year with the funky house/dancehall hybrid Your Eye Too Fast. Over garage producer Sticky's Fugitive Riddim, a bucking bronco of a beat, she delivers a rambunctious ­verbal whipping so ferocious that you fear for the poor, cowering man's life. "Me ah the Chris Brown! You ah the Rihanna!" she hollers. Chann is just as boisterous in ­person, her 19-to-the-dozen chatter punctuated only by the occasional uproarious laugh. "Hahahaaaa! Obviously, it wasn't funny as such, but I have to use metaphors!" she guffaws. "I just thought, I'm switching it! And yeah, if I was in that situation and Chris Brown tried to do that to me" – she smacks her fist into her palm – "Nah. I'd go Chris Brown on him."

'We can beatbox just as well as the boys'http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/nov/01/popandrock.urban?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

 "Being a woman in hip-hop isn't about wearing a little pair of shorts and shaking your arse for guys," she says. "It's about empowering yourself by performing something you believe in."



The first track on the album is called "I'm the Best" and, as opening salvos go, it's a pretty irrefutable claim. On it, she raps: "I'm fighting for the girls that never thought they could win" and: "I am here to reverse the curse that they lived in." Minaj is fully aware that "a lot is riding on this album".

But recently," as she says, "I've switched it up and just tried to show people a whole different bunch of sides to me. I would be lying if I said I don't like to look sexy. But then there are some days when I don't want to look or feel sexy. So it just plays into how women are so multifaceted. Men don't understand that because they wake up and they're the same person unless you're a KenBarb [a Nikki-ism for a gay guy] and you can understand the girls.