One of the biggest genres of music that everyone keeps up to date with and listens to probably 80% of the time is rap music or trap music. These two genres that are super similar most of the time have become mainstream and are played all the time. Whether it’s on the radio or at parties or social events you will definitely hear Travis Scott, Dababy, Roddy Rich, Polo G, or Young Thug at least once.
And we eat up their music too! Like wholeheartedly memorizing every word so when the time comes we can jam out to them with our friends and impress them with out ability to rap along word for word. But do you ever truly listen and decipher what words you are saying when you are rapping along to these songs? You might and then just never dwell on the words that are actually being said. Words that are loaded with violent language, that in most cases, are directed at and toward women. Mostly in relation to some drug substances too.
And as a woman, sometimes I ask myself why I enjoy listening to this type of music. Like my mom says, “sometimes the beat is just so good,” that you can’t help but want to listen. But other times, I find myself taken back by how graphic some songs truly are. And rap and trap music are not the only genres of music to use misogynistic words. Any and every genre of music has a song that is loaded with terrible rhetoric describing women in less then ideal circumstances.
Some songs that do this are “Love Game” by Eminem, which uses graphic language to describe beating a woman. “Follow You Home” by Nickelback also does this, depicting terrible scenarios of technically stalking someone and not leaving them alone. “Run for Your Life”by the Beatles is also really bad if you pay attention to the lyrics. The opening line is literally, “Well, I’d rather see you dead, little girl than to be with another man.” Like that is so concerning that these can be said and no one bats an eye lash.
If you listen to all of “Run for Your Life”, it gets increasingly more violent and a tad scary and of course it is set to upbeat catchy music that kind of shields the severity of the words being said. Some rap songs that describe women as just bodies that are meant for pleasure are: “Out West” by the Jackboys and Travis Scott, which literally in the first 20 seconds depict graphic sexual acts,” Antidote” by Travis Scott also puts women in sexully explicit language that makes then seem universally promiscuous when that is not the case at all.
It is really interesting to look back at songs and artists we look up too and then hear their body of work back too hear what exactly they are saying. Why is misogyny so prevalent in music? Is this a societal and social issue does it really influence boys and men to act certain ways towards women? Does it change the way in which girls perceive themselves? These are some things to think about next time you hear a song that hss violent or graphic lyrics targeted at women.