By 
Joan Morgan captured the aspect of misogyny in hip-hop artists in a compelling way. When she explained to me her semi-abusive relationship with her boyfriend of many years, I sensed how she might have been feeling. I felt this way because I caught myself doing the same things as him. It is not that I have disrespected my girlfriend in a scandalous or belligerent way, I unconsciously say things that I do not mean, but without meaning to say them as they are said. What I’m explaining is that the words I say like, “well, I guess you’re just being a punk” or “shut up crybaby” when she’s upset when I did something is harsh, but I don’t mean how it sounds. I understand how women feel when they say that men don’t have emotions towards the “little things”, though; I just don’t get how most of this “stuff” is relevant. Ms. Morgan also touched on how men see women only as sexual tools.
This statement is true; however, there is a vast majority of men of all races (not just black) who demean women on television and in real life situations. Myself, I don’t fall into the category of chauvinism because of the love I have for all women. These rappers who are on the rise and in the industry now are all into the misogynistic approach to rap. The reasons are because of how women behind the scenes act with rappers. What I mean is that most of these girls who are doing this are young and looking for some money from rappers. Gang Starr’s rapper Guru said it best when he wrote, “You guys need to be careful today / Beware the games these women play / ‘Cause some of them break the rules and some don’t play fair / You just might get caught out there.” / If you don’t know” – Games (The Big Picture – 2000) written by Big L & Guru.
The realization of this has given rappers the opportunity to place women in the “bitch, slut” category. Being a rapper and producer as well, I don’t see how I should position my style to fit the favorable characteristics of the mainstream audience. It seems that now if a person wants to sell any units in the rap industry, that person would have to make a record that has some formal correlation to misogyny in music or it won’t sell. Very few of the elite, platinum rappers like Jay-Z, Eminem, Lil’ Flip or even Nas can’t say they haven’t written a song that doesn’t fall into this category. However, artists like Common, Mos Def & Talib Kweli, and Jurassic 5 have not received all of the mainstream praise due to their Afrocentric lyrics that do not condone the actions of their constituents. Because of this, these rappers have not received their status as “grand emcees”. While I oppose the commercialism that rap has seen in the last ten years, one of the most influential emcees that I highly respect is a semi-misogynist. Nas’s material has a base of greatness that fills me with inspiration. I think his feelings towards women come from the way they treated him while he was climbing. There’s no excuse for her words though, but she talks about how young women in life are exploited, “A young, wild, beautiful girl/You like thug styles/link rockin/then mink coppin/You get hit in the hundred dollar sink / drink poppin / Head’s gonna take you shopping / a filthy doctrine” – Black Girl Lost (Written – 1996) written by Nas and Jojo Hailey.
I understand how Ms. Morgan thinks men don’t respect women, but some women destroy men’s mindsets when they do most of these extreme actions. I think some women are rebellious, but the vast majority are respectable. Joan Morgan has a deep respect for her female counterparts, she knows her flaws and maintains her feminist mentality. I believe her words and people should pay attention to them. However, I still believe Cee-Lo Green’s famous quote “Well I say / You are my, beginning my end / You are my sister, lover and friend / God is your inner light / It shines through your beautiful skin / What they say about you is not true / There is no me if there is no you / I hope you understand / You have to respect yourself before I can” – Beautiful Skin (Still Standing – 1998) written by Goodie Mob.