RA2: Morgan

Title: "From Fly-Girls to Bitches and Hos"
Author: Music writer, and fan of Hip-Hop, Joan Morgan
Date: 2007
Topic: How sexism is used against women by Rap artists throughout their music lyrics, and why it shall be understood by the pointed out victims.
Analysis of Argument
Exigence: To give a deeper explanation of the rap misogyny that tends to hurt women by the vocabulary being used by rap artists specifically like “Bitches & Hos” referring to the women of society who once were respected by the male population not disrespected like they do up to date.
Intended Audience: General public, women of all kind, but primarily African-American women “Sista Friends” because they are the ones that grew up facing sexism more than any other race by being part of the African-American Rap generation.
Purpose: To inform other women about the truth behind the sexism usage in modern day music and to make it more understandable to the offended crowd.
Claim: Morgan claims Rap misogyny is a symptom of crisis throughout the black community, for which it should be confronted and understood by other sexism victims as to be a step for the lyric writers to heal their pain that both expresses and inflicts their emotions.
Main Evidence:

There is a usage of all three rhetorical appeals in this article. The author describes the modern black community, and how she is part of it as an African- American woman. Morgan mentions the struggle’s women like her have to face on a daily basis due to the lack of respect they receive by the black men in the Rap industry in this century. For example, she states “We have come to a point in our history, however, when black-on-black love- a love that’s survived slavery, lynching, segregation, poverty, and racism- is in serious danger.”(602)This is a serious problem for young black women because they are slowly losing their good aspects for black men due to the way they treat and identify their women. This is a crisis taking place for the black community in particularly, but as well to the general female public; however, she explains the pain and masquerading machismo young black males carry inside them and for which that is the reason sexism is is used in their lyrics to be able to express themselves.

The knowledge to this argument is based on how black males find themselves intending to love while they face battle in a war zone. For example, Morgan states “According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the leading cause of death among black men ages fifteen to twenty-four is homicide. The majority of them will die at the hands of other black men.”(602)This is an explanation why black men could be so angry and full of pain due to the experiences of life that they have to live by. As they experience terrible moments their pain ads up until it causes them to express it by writing it in songs which the tone could be offensive to others due to their anger.

Morgan also comments on her own feelings about the concerns she has regarding to the ways rap artists specifically like Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Ice cube, and The Notorious B.I.G define the women in the nation throughout their songs. She wants to get some answers to some questions she has. Morgan asks “I need to know why they are so angry at me. Why is disrespecting me one of the few things that make them feel like men?”(603)She is really desperate about finding out the reasons why her black male peers repeatedly insult women by calling them “Bitches or Hos” through their music even though she understands they are full of pain and anger.
My Response:
I believe anger and pain being carried inside someones body could be the reason for acting in a different way with society. Women were certainly disrespected throughout the lyrics of many rappers, but we never know what that person has been through for him to act in that manner. I agree with Morgan because I am part of the Hispanic community and we have many similarities to the black community. For example many of us men experience some of our friends deaths, drug abuse through out our family members, and we also live in a battlefield with our own people: Brown against Brown. We have a couple similarities and this can cause men to act in a angry way towards a crowd which is most often women for an unknown reason.