Since the beginning of the new millennium, hip hop has become the most profitable music genre in the US music industry. Despite the fact that key moments of the history of hip hop are attributed to women’s agency and creativity (e.g., the first label that recorded rap records was run by a female CEO; it was a female rapper who won the first Grammy for Album of the Year with a hip-hop record), patriarchal and hegemonial structures have been evident on the levels of representation, gate-keeping, and historiography throughout the last 50 years. Lately, it seems that the number of female rappers has increased, but they are still embedded in gendered historical conventions. Ever since the exploitation of the subgenre of gangsta rap, the music industry has privileged a certain image of women that reenforces the misogynist lyrics and visuals. On an academic level, this predominant image has been criticized extensively (Rose’s Hip Hop Wars), but at the same time, the role of female protagonists in the history of hip hop at large has been marginalized as well (Shuker’s invention of the subgenre of female rap; George’s thesis on emasculation). Against this backdrop, my paper addresses the historiographic processes, both in the music industry and in academia, by discussing four documentaries about the history of hip hop. Ladies First: A Story of Women in Hip Hop, Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World, Hip Hop Evolution, and My Mic Sounds Nice: A Truth about Women and Hip Hop are largely based on eyewitness accounts by artists and academics but differ in their degree of focus on, integration, or marginalization of female rappers. My close analysis of who is presented as an authority and how s/he tells her/his story, as well as who is excluded and what is omitted, will deliver insights into the narratives, affects, and reasonings that have sedimented into a fragile and imbalanced memory culture.
The conference will take place from 13.03. - 15.03.2024 at the University of Copenhagen.