Reference no: EM132591822 , Length: 300 Words

Assignment - The Feminine and/in Rap Music: Intersectionality & Agency in the Mix

Prompt - In the reading for today, Shanara Reid Brinkley writes the following: "One of black feminism's most important contributions to academic and activist thought is the theory of intersectionality. Rather than articulating parts of identity as additive, black feminist thought defines oppression as multiplicative and intersectional. Beyond the immediate intersection of race and gender for black women, intersectionality requires that we interrogate other intersecting identity positions, including class, sexuality, religion, and able-bodiedness. Taken seriously, intersectionality, as cr itical theory, can often produce some uncomfortable information to explain and disclose." (p.256)

One of the tenets of hip hop's aesthetic politics is to disclose "uncomfortable information" about the social realities of the underprivileged and marginalized communities of the United States; and yet as examples from the Stapleton reading show, rap music also replicates issues of marginality through valorizing materiality, sexism, and violence. Drawing on these two readings and at least one more from the week, discuss how the artists we've discussed through Week Six use their music to disclose this uncomfortable information and address their social realities especially as they pertain to marginalization within their community, the industry, and the general public.

I'm inviting you to think about intersectionality as more than an academic concept: how do you see it manifest in these artists' lives and their music? In contemporary popular culture? Are there ways in which intersectionality expressed through music, rather than through academic scholarship, could prove more effective? How do we relate these issues to the course and the history of black popular music generally? Finally, realizing the power that audience demand has on an artist's "star text," industry trends, and public opinion, how can we as critically engaged audience members who understand the importance of intersectional identities act responsibly to address the issues that intersectionality discloses?

Be sure to write in a convincing, well supported manner, including using quotes from the readings to support and contextualize a well-structured and informed response to the blog prompt, blog reading and listening examples, and any confluences you see with course themes more generally.