University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Women in flow: hip hop, eroticism, & agency

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Women in flow: hip hop, eroticism, & agency

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Content Women in Flow:
Hip Hop, Eroticism, and Agency
By
Alexis C. McDonald
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSKI SCHOOL OF ART AND DESIGN
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF FINE ARTS (FINE ARTS)
August 2020
Copyright 2020 Alexis C. McDonald

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract …………………………………………………………………………………………. iii

Introduction .…………………………………………………………………………………….. 1

Chapter 1: The Vixen Era ………………………………………………………………………. 7

Chapter 2: Black Women and Magazines ……………………………………………………… 10

Chapter 3: Women in Hip Hop ...………….…………………………………………………… 12

Chapter 4: My Art Practice ...………….……………………………………………………….. 23

Conclusion ...………….………………………………………………………………………... 28

Bibliography ...………….……………………………………………………………………… 32

ii

Abstract

“Women in Flow: Hip Hop, Eroticism, and Agency” utilizes contemporary Black Feminist
Theory to reexamine the ways Black female cultural producers in Hip Hop - female rappers and
video vixens - exhibit agency within the Hip Hop industry; establishing a genealogy of female
rappers who broke barriers; while discussing how specific rappers and video vixens exploited the
hypersexualization of Black womanhood for social and economic gains. This paper argues for a
more expansive understanding of how Black women navigate within the hip hop industry in the
name of agency and pleasure. Lastly, this paper demonstrates the linkage between consumption
and creation in regards to how my art practice is influenced by Black female cultural producers
in Hip Hop.

iii

Introduction

“Feminist - a person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the
sexes” these words by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie echo in the middle of Beyoncé's song,
“Flawless.” When I first heard this song I was a freshman in college, flying from Miami to DC to
see Beyoncé perform in the “The Mrs. Carter Show” world tour. Beyoncé hadn’t released new
music in over two years then out of nowhere, without a single promotion, her self-titled album
drops hours before I take flight. I remember getting to the end of “Flawless” and being surprised
by Beyoncé’s overt claiming of feminism. By featuring Adichie’s definition, Beyoncé aligns
herself with the stance that women have the right to be just as ambitious as men and reap the
same social, political, and economic benefits as their XY chromosome counterparts. Feminist
was a word I saw on many women’s laptop cases and tote bags, and I found myself wanting to
claim the title for myself but also not knowing if feminism was an ideology for Black women, or
one that Black women had claimed for themselves.
After hearing Adichie’s Nigerian accent close out one of my favorite songs on the album,
I wasn’t convinced but I was curious. So I signed up for my first Women and Gender Studies
(WGS) course the following semester at the University of Miami. Taking “Introduction to
Women and Gender Studies” opened my mind to what women’s liberation looked like and how
the strides of first-, second-, and even third-wave feminism granted me the luxury of being in a
college classroom. At the time I was studying sports journalism, and my classes in Women and
Gender Studies helped me to understand how my feminist foremothers paved the way for me to
get access to athletes of both genders. While I came to understand the gains that were made by
feminists, in class, at least, the feminist literature we read was mostly by white authors. One of
1

the texts that will always stick with me is Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own .
In her
1
extended essay, Woolf makes the claim that “a woman must have money and a room of her own
if she is to write fiction.” For as forward-thinking as her essay is, Woolf fails to acknowledge
2
the number of enslaved Black women who wrote fiction when they had no say over their own
bodies and personhood, let alone a room and money of their own. Unbeknownst to me, at the
3
time, the theme of agency and personhood would manifest into my art practice.
Unlike A Room of One’s Own , the first book I read that spoke on the unique experiences
of Black women was Ain’t I a Woman by bell hooks. Through hooks, I began to discover Black
4
women’s place in the feminist movement. I also discovered how racist the feminist foremothers
we praise today could be. For instance, one of the most revered feminist foremothers, Susan B.
Anthony stated, “I will cut off this right arm of mine before I will ever work or demand the
ballot for the Negro and not the woman.” None of my classes ever acknowledged the racism that
5
existed within feminist movements. Similar to the awakening I had about Susan B. Anthony, I
turned the last page of Ain’t I a Woman contemplating whether I should give up hip hop in order
to be a Black feminist. I think most Black women have this reaction due to hooks’ eloquent read
and break down of the ways misogyny and sexism is perpetuated in culturally specific genres
like hip hop, ostensibly without the presence of white people.
1
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own (London: Hogarth Press, 1929/35) .
2
Ibid., 4.
3
Julia C. Collins, William L. Andrews, and Mitchell A. Kachun. The Curse of Caste, or, The Slave Bride : a
Rediscovered African American Novel Oxford ;: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Wilson, Harriet E., P. Gabrielle Foreman, and Reginald H. Pitts. Our Nig, or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black
New York, N.Y: Penguin Books, 2005.
4
bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman : Black Women and Feminism, 2nd ed. (New York: Routledge, 2014).
5
“Black Women & The Suffrage Movement: 1848-1923,” Wesleyan University (Middletown, CN), web. Accessed
March 10, 2020, https://www.wesleyan.edu/mlk/posters/suffrage.html.
2

In her third chapter, entitled “The Imperialism of Patriarchy,” hooks writes, “there can be
no freedom for black men as long as they advocate for the subjugation of black women.”
6
Recounting how numerous times male hip hop artists reduce Black women to bitches and hoes,
ultimately promoting our denigration, I strongly considered ending my love affair with hip hop
in the name of feminism. That was until I discovered the writings of author and journalist Dr.
Joan Morgan. She saved my CDs and iTunes library by articulating Black women’s complex
relationship with hip hop, elucidating how the genre could be used to strengthen Black women’s
liberation.
In her debut novel, When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost , Morgan carves out space
for Black women to “fuck with the grays” in the name of feminist inquiry and evolution.
7
Morgan identifies herself and her generation “as the sistas of the post-Civil Rights, post-feminist,
post-soul, hip hop generation,” a generation of Black women who were not sold on hooks’
8
version of feminism. hook’s defines feminism as, “a movement to end sexism, sexist
exploitation, and oppression.” This definition is so straightforward that it had me ready to throw
9
all my music into the trash. Hip hop can be sexist, exploitative, and oppressive; however, there
are parts of it that make me feel empowered and liberated, so rejecting it would feel like betrayal,
like I am giving up a huge part of my culture. Morgan felt the same way when she began writing
When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost. She theorized a feminist politic that understood
6
hooks , Ain’t I a Woman , 117.
7
Joan Morgan, When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: a Hip-Hop Feminist Breaks It Down (New York: Simon
& Schuster, 2017), 59.
8
Ibid., 56.
9
bell hooks Institute. “Feminism Is Fun! By Bell Hooks.” bell hooks Institute. bell hooks Institute, December 14,
2015. http://www.bellhooksinstitute.com/blog/2015/12/12/feminism-is-fun-by-bell-hooks.
3

ending sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression is difficult as a Black woman due to our
relationship with hip hop.
Morgan wrote that, “ironically, reaping the benefits of our foremothers’ is precisely what
makes their brand of feminism so hard to embrace. The “victim” (read women) “oppressor”
(read men) model that seems to dominate so much of contemporary discourse (both black and
white), denies the very essence of who we are.” Morgan calls for a feminist practice that “keeps
10
it real,” recognizing the complexities of a woman who loves hip hop, and who experiences and
11
engages with patriarchy. “We need a feminism that possesses the same fundamental
understanding held by any true student of hip hop. Truth can’t be found in the voices of any one
rapper but in the juxtaposition of many. The keys that unlock the riches of contemporary black
female identity lie not in choosing (Queen) Latifah over Lil’ Kim, or even Foxy Brown or Salt N
Pepa. They lie at the magical intersection where those contrary voices meet - the juncture where
“truth” is no longer black and white but subtle intriguing shades of grey.” Morgan’s version of
12
feminism makes me feel seen rather than ostracized for my taste in music. She advocates for
diverse perspectives on how women engage in feminism in order to eliminate the binary of good
or bad feminists. She understands that some days, the sound of the bass and flow of the lyrics are
the only things that give you the encouragement to keep fighting for equality. When
Chickenheads Come Home to Roost carved out space for me to explore my relationship with hip
hop further and offered insight into why it’s difficult to cut all ties with the genre.
10
Joan Morgan, When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: a Hip-Hop Feminist Breaks It Down (New York: Simon
& Schuster, 2017), 59.
11
Ibid., 241.
12
Ibid., 62.
4

As I re-read the book, I came across the line where Morgan states, “I believe hip-hop can
help us win.” Researching this thesis has made me realize that music, like many fields of
13
cultural production, art included, can be a site for women to discuss pleasure and erotic agency.
In this paper, I will argue that hip hop deserves to be discussed as a transformative instrument
utilized by Black women to demonstrate agency while recalling the viewer to recognize and
remember a history of the Black female body.
Beyoncé and Madonna tend to be figureheads for cultural critics and academics wanting
to think critically about the genres of hip hop and pop, respectively, and the representation of
women in music, more broadly. Through critical analysis, I argue that Black women working in
14
hip hop as either rappers or video vixens have the same racial, political, socio-economic nuanced
implications for women’s liberation as the aforementioned pop divas. However, due to female
15
rappers and video vixens connections to a genre that has been racialized and stigmatized as the
most denigrating music to women, they are often left out of the critical discourse, and their
agency is erased. This paper will reposition female rappers and video vixens as possessing and
wielding erotic agency for social and economic gains, parlaying their participation in hip hop as
a vehicle for upward mobility.
13
Ibid., 80.
14
For studies on Madonna, see:
Cathy Schwichtenberg, The Madonna Connection : Representational Politics, Subcultural Identities, and Cultural
Theory Boulder: Westview Press, 1993.
Camille Paglia, “Madonna -- Finally, a Real Feminist.” The New York Times. The New York Times, December 14,
1990.
Savigny, Heather, and Helen Warner. The Politics of Being a Woman : Feminism, Media and 21st Century Popular
Culture Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire ;: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
For studies on Beyoncé, see:
Tinsley, Omise’eke Natasha. Beyoncé
́ in Formation : Remixing Black Feminism Austin: University of Texas, 2018.
Trier-Bieniek, Adrienne M. The Beyoncé
́ Effect : Essays on Sexuality, Race and Feminism Jefferson, North
Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2016.
Kevin Allred. Ain’t I a Diva? : Beyoncé
́ and the Power of Pop Culture Pedagogy First Feminist Press edition. New
York, NY: Feminist Press, 2019.
15
Video vixen is the leading female model who appeared in hip hop music videos during the early 2000s.
5

In addition to providing the framework for understanding the ways hip hop and feminism
can coexist, Morgan also supplies argues for the necessity in advocating for a Black Feminist
Theory that creates space for Black women’s pleasure. In her essay, “Why We Get Off: Moving
Towards a Black Feminist Politics of Pleasure ,” Morgan positions pleasure “not only as a
desirable goal and a social and political imperative, but also as an under-theorized resistance
strategy for black women in the United States and Caribbean.” Using this positioning, Morgan
16
“challenges the extant canon of Black Feminist Theory that positioned Black women’s sexuality
as an accumulation of unspeakable acts or positioned Black women in binary opposition to
White women.” She warns that, “until we re-interrogate the canonical Black Feminist
17
framework we will continue to inextricably link trauma and violence to Black women’s lived and
historical experience.”
The continuous linking of trauma and violence to Black female agency
18
frames our sexual expression as pathologically allowing for a cycle of shame and silence to
persist. Once we begin to disarticulate this linkage, we can start to imagine new paradigms where
Black female sexuality exists outside and despite trauma. Leveraging Morgan’s argument for a
conscious shift towards a politics of pleasure for black women, I will examine how black women
in hip hop have capitalized on their erotic agency for social and economic gain. Finally, this
paper will examine how being exposed at a young age to female cultural producers in hip
hop—ranging from the female rapper to the video vixen—influenced my art practice.

16
Joan Morgan, “Why We Get Off: Moving Towards a Black Feminist Politics of Pleasure,” The Black Scholar 45,
no. 4 (October 2, 2015): 36–46.
17
Ibid., 36.
18
Ibid., 38.
6

The Vixen Era

In 2018, BET produced a documentary that revisited the video vixen era entitled, VIXEN .
The documentary spoke with former video vixens, directors, magazine editors, and managers
19
to reexamine the role women who appeared in music videos played in hip hop history.
At the height of the music video era, video vixens were regarded as a key component to
having a successful video. Former video vixen, Melyssa Ford, described video vixens as being
“the fabric” of music videos. Once hip hop became more commercialized in the 90s and early
20
2000s, budgets for music videos increased rapidly starting at 400-500K reaching up to over a
million dollars, depending on the artist. Former video vixen, Lola Monroe recalls getting paid
21
$10,000 per video appearance when she started out. Ford explained that she got into music
videos because she was in college at the time, and the thousands of dollars she could make would
support her education (and while she was at it she could travel around the world). VIXEN gives
insight into the world and minds of some of my favorite video vixens. None of the featured
women imagined being life-long video vixens, and the glory days of making tens of thousands of
dollars was short lived. As the hip hop tides turned from East Coast/West Coast rap to Southern
trap, the cost of women’s labor depreciated swiftly due to shrinking budgets, caused by piracy
and market changes. These dwindling music video budgets resulted in directors offering less
22
money for vixens who might appear in their videos. Ford recounts, “what video directors and
19
“Full Length: How Video Models Changed The Music Industry | VIXEN,” YouTube video, 32:53, posted by
“BETNetworks,” July 13, 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZgeDTVBMKc.
20
Ibid.
21
Ibid.
22
“Did strip clubs kill the video star?” YouTube video, 11:14, posted by, “BETNetworks,” July 11, 2018,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nKuTxcAsdk .
7

casting directors realized is they could get girls who physically looked just like me, from the
strip club, who were very very very comfortable getting naked in front of cameras and pay them
a whole lot less.” As the industry shifted from the narrative-driven music videos to salacious,
23
raw music videos, video vixens began plotting their exit strategies.
One of the most controversial exit strategies was Karrine Steffans’ memoir, Confessions
of a Video Vixen . Her memoir details the first 25 years of her life and her time as a video
24
vixen. Steffans called her book an antidote to the industry’s sudden revenue decline. Released
25
on June 28th, 2005, Confessions of a Video Vixen sent shockwaves through the hip hop
community, because for the first time, a woman who was seen only as an object of visual (male)
pleasure, wrote vividly about her experiences with exploitation, misogyny, sexism, and agency.
Steffans’ audacity and power are evident in this book, which deals candidly with her
relationships with powerful men in and out of the hip hop industry, thereby piercing the bubble
of the “glamorous” lifestyle of a video vixen. While many criticized Steffans for exposing the
industry, she articulates her actions as financially motivated. “I saw an opportunity to grab
headlines, to sell millions of books, to end up on Oprah, that, my dear, is good business,”
Steffans declares in the documentary. Steffans decision to figuratively snatch the mic and speak
26
her truth shifted power away from the men, enabling her to exhibit her own agency in the
process. These calculated actions embody what scholar Uri McMillian describes as avatar
production, “ways of inhabiting a social role that actually distorts its boundaries.” Steffans
27
23
Ibid.
24
Karrine Steffans, Confessions of a Video Vixen (New York: Amistad, 2005).
25
“Full Length: How Video Models Changed The Music Industry | VIXEN,” YouTube video, 32:53, posted by
“BETNetworks,” July 13, 2018
26
Ibid.
27
Uri McMillan, Embodied Avatars : Genealogies of Black Feminist Art and Performance (New York: New York
University Press, 2015), 12.
8

chose to occupy a stereotypical social role of the video vixen by being willing to do anything in
exchange for fame and money. However, she distorts the video vixen’s boundaries defiantly
writing herself out of the box of voiceless eye candy. One thing that does not change is Steffans
motivations, which remain at the level of economic gain.

9

Black Women and Magazines

As the technology and distribution channels for music diversified, music videos and
magazines became primary vehicles for artists to communicate directly with their audiences.
Historically, Black entertainers were excluded or rarely selected to grace the covers of print
publications, or to appear frequently on television screens. The segregation that ruled daily life
was also, for the most part, in effect within the realms of entertainment, thus producing
opportunities for Black entrepreneurs to establish their own media companies. The most
prominent Black-owned print publication was the Johnson Publishing Company founded in
November 1942. Johnson Publishing Company published Ebony and Jet magazines, magazines
28
that are colloquially referred to as the “Black Bibles” of America because they cover issues
specifically affecting the African-American communities. Essence magazine followed suit,
established in 1970 with a “specific focus on reaching an audience of Black women , and
discussing issues revolving around their experience.”
29
Once hip hop started to become more commercialized in the early 2000s, magazines
marketed to Black men started to pop up. All founded in 2002, magazines such as Smooth, Black
Men, and KING capitalized on the erotic fixation and fantasy of the Black female body. To sell
magazines they often featured Black women in either a bikini or minimal clothing. While one
argument is that these Black men’s magazines are just regurgitating what White men’s
magazines such as Sports Illustrated, GQ, Maxim do, I find this reading to be too simplistic.
28
Daryl Mallett and Shristina Stansell, "Johnson Publishing Company, Inc.," International Directory of Company
Histories / Encyclopedia.com (December 2, 2019).
29
Jennifer Bailey Woodard, "Black Womanhood: Essence and its Treatment of Stereotypical Images of Black
Women," Journal of Black Studies 36, no. 2 (November 1, 2005): 264–281.
10

Given the exclusionary history of mainstream magazines, Black men’s magazines needed an
approach to distinguish them and make them competitive - they made the figure of the Jezebel, a
reality. “The Jezebel was independent but framed as seductive, cunning, and as the biblical
reference implies, an exotic temptress whose mesmerizing sensuality is the antithesis of the
innocence and piety attributed to the “true womanhood” of affluent white women.” However,
30
the magazines weren’t the only ones benefiting from this strategy, as Black women entertainers
used this platform to promote their own products i.e. books, albums, movies, television shows,
etc. Publications like KING were able to showcase a variety Black women working in
Hollywood and hip hop. From the rapper to the video vixen to the singer to the actress, KING
magazine was a cultural artifact that begat this technological social media takeover.

30
Heidi R. Lewis, Roland Mitchell, Megan Valentine, Jessica Hunter-Larsen, Catherine Pears, Jordan D. Schnitzer,
Takiyah Nur Amin, et al. Beyond Mammy, Jezebel & Sapphire : Reclaiming Images of Black Women Portland,
Oregon: Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, 2016.

11

Women in Hip Hop

Although I am referencing a specific point in hip hop history, I want to give a brief
history on the origins of hip hop becoming mainstream. This is important because I want to give
homage to the women who broke down the initial barriers of misogyny and sexism in hip hop
while simultaneously establishing a genealogy of women in hip hop who exercised agency and
eroticism, forging hip hop as a site for radical expressions amongst Black women.
“Rapper’s Delight,” a 15-minute long song released in September 1979, by the Sugarhill
Gang (hailing from Englewood, New Jersey) would forever change the landscape of music and
Black culture. It is credited as the first commercial rap song, and its success carved out a lane for
Black people to express themselves through music in a new way. Since enslaved Africans
arrived on American soil, music has been a tool used by African Americans to survive in such
dehumanizing conditions. From slavery to Jim Crow, African Americans implemented music as
a strategy for self-preservation and economic advancement. These strategies turned into genres
31
defining each decade with their own soundtrack. In the late 1970s, Black communities were
being destroyed by failed “trickle-down” economic policies pushed by both Republicans and
Democrats, drugs were becoming an escape route from poverty, and a decade after the Civil
Rights movement, a more just and equitable American was becoming more of a dream deferred
than a dream realized.
Although men get the national recognition for putting hip hop music on the map, women
were not afraid to rock the mic. Hip hop trio, The Sequence is credited with recording the first
31
Richard L. Means. "Notes on Negro Jazz: 1920-1950; The Use of Biographical Materials in Sociology." The
Sociological Quarterly 9, no. 3 (1968): 332-42. www.jstor.org/stable/4105420.
12

rap record ever released by a female group and having the second recorded rap song in history.
32
Following the 1979 release of their single, “Funk You Up”, more women began gaining
notoriety for their lyrics. For example, Sha-Rock was the first female rapper to be a part of an
all-male rap group (The Funky 4 + 1), and soon after Roxanne Shante released her challenge
record, “Roxanne’s Revenge,” completely shattering the myth that women couldn’t hold their
own. “Roxanne’s Revenge” was a response record to rap trio’s U.T.F.O’s song, “Roxanne,
Roxanne” where the trio raps about a girl named Roxanne who didn’t give them the time of day.
“Roxanne’s Revenge” demonstrated Shante’s fearlessness and brazenness, challenging her male
peers to reconceptualize their relationship to women. For a girl (Shante was only 14 at the time)
to call out an entire crew of male rappers was unheard of at the time. In her lyrics, she explained
why Roxanne dismissed the members of U.T.F.O stating that they did match her stylistically or
lyrically. Shante personified the epitome of battle rapping, challenging all comers, regardless of
gender.
In the 1980s, rap was all about skill, how well one could tell a story over a dope beat. In
the My Mic Sounds Nice: The Truth About Women and Hip Hop documentary, Joan Morgan
explains, “in the 80s hip hop still belonged very much to the streets and in the streets we
[women] had a presence, we were B-girls. We had a very empowered position that allowed for a
lot of different diversity.”
33
Rappers like MC Lyte and Queen Latifah expanded the paths that The Sequence,
Sha-Rock, and Roxanne Shante paved for them, continuing to prove that women could hold their
own lyrically. With her famous introductory line, “Who you callin’ a Bitch?” Queen Latifah
32
Alan Light, The Vibe History of Hip Hop 1st ed. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1999, 28.
33
“ My Mic Sounds Nice: A Truth About Women and Hip Hop .” YouTube video, 21:08, posted by “HERdj,”
September 16, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8856AHe1RFw .
13

called out misogynoir confronting the way Black men referred to Black women in hip hop. Her
34
question is a nod to the colloquial behavior of double-checking if someone is talking to you
disrespectfully. The use of that question in the opening stanza of Latifah’s single “U.N.I.T.Y” is
a direct confrontation to the mistreatment of Black women at the hands of Black men. That
question is a demonstration of the revolutionary power of rap music because it creates a platform
for communal issues to be addressed and discussed on a national stage. While Latifah was
describing her interactions and observations of Black men in her community, undoubtedly
misogynoir happened in Black communities outside of her Newark, New Jersey neighborhood.
When rap is discussed in a positive light, it is often praised for being an instrument for Black
men to condemn state-sanctioned violence, that same level of praise should be given to Black
women when they point out acts of gendered and sexualized violence committed by Black men.
“U.N.I.T.Y” proved that women had something to say and, when given the mic, they were going
to say it. Not only did Queen Latifah demand respect through her words, she also summoned
regality with her name and appearance.
Standing 5’10”, Queen Latifah was the first rapper to rock a crown headdress, paying
overt homage to Egyptian culture, as well as consistently and proudly wearing African fabrics
and emblems. Latifah’s use of fashion signifies one of the ways women resisted negative
stereotypes regarding their bodies, blackness, and brazen attitudes.
Picking up where Latifah left off, the rap group Salt-N-Pepa stepped onto the scene in
1985 with asymmetrical cuts, gold rope chains, doorknocker earrings, and show-stopping lyrics.
From the group’s beginnings they were not afraid to celebrate black female sexuality.
34
Misogynoir is a term coined by Moya Bailey to define racism and sexism directed towards Black women.
14

Their debut single “The Showstoppa” peaked at number 46 on the Billboard R&B charts
but it was their 1987 single, “Push It” that catapulted the group into mainstream success, making
them the first female rap group to go gold or platinum around the world. While “Push It” is
35
perceived as song about sex, the group dispelled that misconception in a 2017 interview with The
Guardian . Sandra “Pepa” Denton recalled a time when the police were called and they tried to
censor the group’s performance, “When we were singing Push It, they thought we were singing:
“Pussy real good.” I ended up hollering at this policeman: “It’s Push It! It’s about pushing it on
the dance floor.” The misconception around the lyrics and meaning of “Push It” is indicative of
36
the hypersexualization and over-policing of Black female bodies. Here we have two Black
women dancing on stage wearing form-fitting bodysuits instructing the audience to push it and
the state’s response to such performance is attempted censorship and possibly arrest.
Appropriately, Salt-N-Pepa did not submit. They carried on with their show, vehemently
protesting the state’s attempts to silence them. This act of resistance embodies the revolutionary
power of hip hop to force people to actively listen and understand the ways Black people
navigate systems of oppression via song and dance (for example, while I was reading their
account of this police incursion, I couldn’t help but draw connections between the way the
performance of “Push It” is reduced to sex in the same way twerking today commonly is).
37
Regardless of how the world perceived Salt-N-Pepa, they never backed down from being
themselves. From their skin-tight leather pants to their low-cut tops, when the group hit the stage
35
“Ladies First: Women's Hip Hop Milestones.” BET.com (March 14, 2012), web.
https://www.bet.com/music/photos/2012/03/ladies-first-female-rap-milestones.html.
36
Dave Simpson, “How We Made Salt-N-Pepa's Push It,” The Guardian (August 7, 2017), web.
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/aug/07/how-we-made-salt-n-pepa-push-it.
37
Twerking is a type of dance that originated in the New Orleans bounce scene during the 1980s. Matt Miller,
Bounce : Rap Music and Local Identity in New Orleans Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2012.
15

if you weren’t caught up in the rapture by their lyrics, their flashy outfits certainly would hold
your attention. “Salt-N-Pepa canonized the ultimate fly girl posture of rap by short, tight-fitting
outfits, leather clothing, ripped jeans or punk clothing, gold jewelry (i.e., earrings and necklaces),
long sculpted nails, prominent makeup, hairstyles ranging from braids and wraps to waves, in
ever-changing hair coloring. Their fly girl image highlighted aspects of Black women’s bodies
considered undesirable by American mainstream standards of beauty. Through performance,
Salt-N-Pepa are deconstructing dominant ideology by wearing clothes that accent their full and
rounded buttocks and thighs, considered beauty markers of Black women by Black culture.”
38
The group’s style of dress and commercial success defied respectability politics. Respectability
politics is “a term that names the ways in which Black people began policing one another based
on what they believed to be redemptive skills, demeanor, clothing, behaviors, and attitudes that
could denote distance from a debased and embarrassing sexual history and signal an embrace of
dominant cultural understandings of womanhood and gentility.” Salt-N-Pepa’s decision to
39
dress “unapologetically feminine [and Black] with large earrings, lipstick and tight fitting bike
shorts but worn with oversized leather jackets denotes the ways they were resisting an
indoctrination that attempted to denigrate, sexualize, and objectify Black women.” If we
40
imagine rap as a relay race, then each of the aforementioned foremothers laid the groundwork for
women entering the rap/hip hop space to variously exude and exploit their eroticism so that when
38
Fly girl is a term used to describe a girl, adolescent, or young woman who has style and sass. Cheryl L. Keyes,
"Empowering Self, Making Choices, Creating Spaces: Black Female Identity via Rap Music Performance." The
Journal of American Folklore 113, no. 449 (2000): 255-69.
39
Noliwe M. Rooks, Ladies' Pages: African American Women's Magazines and the Culture That Made Them (New
Brunswick; New Jersey; London: Rutgers University Press, 2004), 9.
40
Zoe Whitley, "Dressing Viciously: Hip-Hop Music, Fashion and Cultural Crossover," in Glenn Adamson, Paola
Antonelli, and Jane Pavitt (eds.) Postmodernism: Style and Subversion, 1970-1990 (London: Victoria and Albert
Museum, 2011).
16

another female MC arrives, she would be able to take the baton and run even further, breaking
down even more barriers. Queen Latifah paved a way for Salt N Pepa, just as Salt N Pepa’s use
of sexuality as an instrument for success and self-identification carved out a lane for Lil’ Kim,
and just as Lil’ Kim dominated, creating multiple lanes for the next generation to occupy.
Stepping on the scene at 4’11”, Lil’ Kim, born Kimberly Denise Jones, was a force to be
reckoned with. As the “first lady” of Junior M.A.F.I.A, a group founded by the Notorious B.I.G.,
she demonstrated how a woman could hold her own in a group dominated by men. It’s safe to
say that Lil’ Kim set out to be a Black female sex symbol in the mold of a white counterpart like
Marylin Monroe, utilizing sex appeal to make it to the top of the charts. From her “suck me, eat
me, pay me” lyrics to her over the top furry and shiny wardrobe, Lil’ Kim made sure that
regardless if you heard her on the radio or saw her on the red carpet she was going to be the talk
of the town the next day. Due to her hypersexualized image, many feminists wrote her off as just
another problematic figure personifying the racist stereotype of the Jezebel. I challenge this
simplistic reading because that places the power in the hands of the structure rather than
examining the ways Lil’ Kim exploits America’s obsession with the Black female body &
sexuality for her own economic gains. Despite harsh criticism of rap music and its
representations of Black women, Black feminist foremother and cultural critic bell hooks
recognized the game that Lil’ Kim plays, and equates it to a strategy sex workers implement. In a
May 1997 interview for Paper Magazine hooks revealed a more empathic side, articulating the
sex economy that Black women willingly engage with for upward mobility. As a prelude to the
17

transcribed interview, hooks warns that, “more dangerous than any words that come out of Lil'
Kim's mouth are the forces of repressive puritanical morality that seek to silence her.”
41
Given the exploitative history of Black women during slavery, many Black scholars find
Lil’ Kim’s image to be no more than a manifestation of the white, racist imaginary around Black
female hypersexuality. While there is evidence to support this claim, I believe it nevertheless
42
centers whiteness in the discourse of Black female sexuality, preventing Black women from
expressing our sexual selves out of fear that those expressions will validate racist and sexist
readings of Black womanhood. In this respect, hooks turns the liability for Black women’s
particular situation back onto oppressive hetero-patriarchal and white supremacist structures,
naming them —not the individual agency of any particular rapper—as the culprits in Black
women’s historical and contemporary denigration in cultural and daily life.
As the interview continues, the reader encounters a more honest and vulnerable side of
Lil’ Kim. She admits that her hypersexualized image is one of the strategies she implements to
sell records and thus gain wealth. hooks asks Lil’ Kim directly if it is her who is spearheading
her image or is it the men behind her, she states,
we all had a lot to do with my career; we all have our input. I would say that it
was me who just started it, because I would have to do it and feel comfortable,
you know what I mean? You can't really just make someone into something and it
works all the time; that person has to be a natural.
43

41
Lil’ Kim interviewed by bell hooks, “Hardcore Honey: Bell Hooks Goes on the Down Low with Lil' Kim,” Paper
(May 1997).
42
Imani Perry. Prophets of the Hood Politics and Poetics in Hip Hop . Durham: Duke University Press, 2004.
Tricia Rose. The Hip Hop Wars What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop--and Why It Matters New
York: BasicCivitas, 2008.

43
hooks, “Hardcore Honey,”
18

Lil’ Kim acknowledges that her persona is a team effort but that she has the final say if
she’s going to go through with something. Lil’ Kim also revealed that she is aware of the
controversy surrounding her image stating that people have said that she has set women’s
liberation back. In her defense, she recounts the number of men who have very sexually explicit
content but are not penalized for their expression. Here she is discussing the double-standard that
Black female rappers are held to:
We have people like Too Short, Luke Skyywalker [of 2 Live Crew], Biggie
[Smalls], Elvis Presley, Prince, who are very, very, very sexual, and they don't get
trashed because they like to do it. But all of a sudden, we have a female who
happens to be a rapper, like me, and my doin' it is wrong. And 'cause I like doin'
it, it's even more wrong because we've fought for years as women to do the same
things that men are doing.
44

Lil’ Kim’s analysis of the way her music is more criticized than male artists helps hooks to
discuss the generational difference on taking ownership over one’s body. Hooks explains that her
mother and grandmother believed that one should only exchange sex for marriage or to get
something. Hooks believes that true liberation is when a woman acts on her own pleasurable
desires, while Lil’ Kim believes it should be both—to get money and to have pleasure. Hooks
disagrees with that philosophy because she regards acting on one’s pleasure as empowering
whereas using sex in exchange for something as disempowering. This kind of regulation on what
qualifies as authentic acts of pleasure is what Morgan warned about in Why We Get Off: Moving
Towards a Black Feminist Politics of Pleasure . Attempting to qualify which acts or
performances of pleasure are more liberating than others inevitably causes us to overlook the
44
Ibid.
19

way Black women attempt to subvert the white, patriarchal, capitalist structure by willfully
engaging in the sex economy.
Another example of this kind of signification within a sexual economy is the career of
Karrine Steffans. When Black feminist theorists overlook Black women’s subversive power we
push women like Karrine Steffans to the wayside and try to silence them. I was only ten
years-old when I peeked through my mom’s copy of Confessions of a Video Vixen quickly,
glancing at the photos in the book. I wasn’t brave enough to read it until I was twenty three, but
after reading it I gained respect more for Steffans.
I remember the backlash she faced from men and women alike. In the VIXEN
documentary, peers speak candidly about the disgust they felt when Steffans released her book.
Former President of G-Unit Records, Sha Money XL questioned her business model, “Kiss and
Tell? that’s your business model” and former video vixen, Gloria Velez explained why she
doesn’t respect Steffans, “You knew what part you were supposed to play and to put that out
there, I can’t respect that. I just can’t respect her.” XL and Velez exemplify the code of silence
45
that is expected of women who are involved with powerful men, making Confessions even more
subversive to the power structure. In a VLAD TV interview, Steffans acknowledged that the
backlash she received was more about who she did rather than what she did: “A woman is judged
by the man she’s with a lot more times than how many men she’s with because if I had sex with
twenty regular nobodies, firefighters, school teachers, you wouldn’t care.” I believe Steffans
46
recognized the potential power and profitability of being involved with these men before she
even entered the industry. Steffans admits to only participating in music videos for less than a
45
“Full Length: How Video Models Changed The Music Industry | VIXEN,” YouTube video, 32:53, posted by
“BETNetworks,” July 13, 2018
46
Ibid.
20

year and becoming the “most memorable video girl there ever was.” Former video vixens like
47
Melyssa Ford and Buffie the Body credit Confessions as being the reason Steffans’ claims are
true because they never saw her on set of music videos or magazine shoots, Ford thought she was
an “urban myth.” If that is the case, Steffans is not given enough credit for exploiting the
48
construct of being a video vixen in the same way hip hop had exploited her for being a video
vixen.
In Confessions, Steffans does not victimize herself as an unsuspecting bambi at the whim
of a misogynistic, sexist juggernaut named hip hop. Rather Steffans again and again knowingly
and wittingly placed herself in the right place at the right time to gain access and publicity.
In the chapter titled “Video Girl,” Steffans breaks down how she stole the show on the set
of rapper Mystikal’s “Shake Your Ass” video. Having worked in several music videos, Steffans
was starting to be more selective of the videos she would perform in. She had decided to only
work on videos that would get regular daytime spins on MTV and BET, since those videos
would have bigger budgets which meant more money for the video models. Steffans understood
that more money would not come easy, she would have to go above and beyond for extra screen
time.
Whatever the other girls wouldn’t wear, I would wear. Whatever the other girls
wouldn’t do, I was up for it. I knew such behavior would increase my worth as a
performer and therefore I would be able to command more money, above and
below the table, while pleasing both the artist and the label alike.
49

This admission demonstrates the awareness Steffans had in identifying ways to milk the video
vixen cow, so to speak, in order to increase her visibility and popularity. Her efforts paid off. She
47
Ibid.
48
Ibid.
49
Steffans, Confessions of a Video Vixen , 129-130.
21

arrived on set wearing only gold star pasties around her C-cup areolas and tan chaps with only an
ostrich-skin thong underneath exposing her entire butt. Her willingness to go the extra mile
landed her an interview (over Mystikal) with an MTV reporter.
Throughout Confessions , Steffans details the way she manipulated her sexuality and
eroticism for social and economic gains. Due to her exploits, she has been one of the only
women in hip hop to author a book detailing their experience. While her experience is not an
absolute truth and other prominent video vixens of the time denounce claims that they slept with
rappers or would do anything for camera time, Steffans’ memoir is a cultural artifact worth
paying attention to. The memoir positions Steffans not as a victim to the hip hop game but as a
strategist working within and outside of the bounds it prescribes for black women. In the hip hop
industry, the only women who get a voice are the rappers, video vixens were not supposed to be
heard. Confessions of a Video Vixen changed that, and this is proof enough of Steffans’ agency
and power.
Steffans and Lil’ Kim are more similar than they are different. In her Paper Magazine
interview with hooks, Lil’ Kim spoke on her battle with self-image and confidence due to
intimate partners telling her “she’s ugly or she wouldn’t be anything without them.” Hip hop
50
becomes this vehicle where Kimberly Denise Jones transforms into Lil’ Kim, a trendsetting
wordsmith that gives your ears more than they can handle. The same way hip hop potentially
liberates Kimberly Denise Jones, it does so for Karrine Steffans too. Dancing scantily clad in
music videos may not be the most “respectable” way to earn a living, but Black women deserve
50
hooks, “Hardcore Honey,”
22

the right to pay their bills by any means necessary and should be elevated for the ways they
assert agency in seemingly oppressive industries.
It’s not all glitz and glam, but Steffans & Lil’ Kim remove the veil from this elusive
industry by writing their truth in a book or spitting it through a mic. We cannot afford to dismiss
women who work with what they got to get what they want as a strategy of survival. While it
does not dismantle the white, supremacist, capitalist, patriarchal structure, it does offer insight on
how to navigate within it. By choosing to grapple with Black women’s relationship to hip hop,
Black feminists open ourselves up to discovering new language to articulate this relationship. As
an art maker I use my practice to explore the pleasure and power I feel when engaging with hip
hop.
My Art Practice

The first time I heard of Adrian Piper’s Funk Lessons (1982-1984), collaborative
performances/lectures in which [Piper] taught big and small groups of people about the history
and moves of funk, my brain immediately thought of creating my own version called Twerk
Lessons . I haven’t created Twerk Lessons yet, but I have created a twerking piece: Twerk Sessh
51
Vol. 2. Twerk Sessh Vol. 2. is a dual screen video piece where I, on one screen, record myself
twerking on my MacBook webcam under the thermal filter, and on the other screen is a screen
recording of me browsing YouTube watching videos of The Twerk Team. The Twerk Team was
an Atlanta-based sister duo that recorded themselves twerking to the latest hip hop songs from
2010-2015. Growing up in Atlanta, I watched The Twerk Team religiously to learn the latest
51
Jen Graves, “Adrian Piper’s, Funk Lessons” The Stranger, July 27, 2010
https://www.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2010/07/27/adrian-pipers-funk-lessons .
23

moves and be amazed by their athleticism. I created Twerk Sessh Vol. 2 to pay homage to The
Twerk Team since twerking has been appropriated by the masses with no regard for the dance
form’s roots (an example being Miley Cyrus’ 2013 VMA performance). Originating in New
52
Orleans, twerking quickly took over the South as a popular dance amongst Black people in 1991
with Rapper MC T. Tucker’s “Where Dey At '' record.
53
I remember going to my first school dance and learning how to “pop” which would
evolve into twerking. For me and my friends twerking was a form of camaraderie, competition,
and celebration; we would have twerk practices and battles at sleepovers. At the time, we didn’t
have the language to describe the reaction our bodies were having to the music but now I know
our hips and butts were exuding the pleasure it felt from the bass and drums of the beat. The
essence of twerking is a physical reaction to the rhythm of the song and I wanted to capture that.
Twerk Sessh Vol. 2 is a literal capture of those reactions. Twerking, and thus also my video on
twerking, emphasizes the butt, which historically has been a site of trauma and pain for Black
women.
Knowing this, I wanted to employ what Nicole R. Fleetwood calls excess flesh. Excess
flesh is “an enactment of visibility that seizes upon the scopic desires to discipline the black
female body through a normative gaze that anticipates its rehearsed performance of abjection. To
enact excess flesh is to signal historical attempts to regulate black female bodies, to acknowledge
black women’s resistance of the persistence of visibility, and to challenge debates among black
52
Hadley Freeman, “Miley Cyrus's Twerking Routine Was Cultural Appropriation at Its Worst,” The Guardian
(August 27, 2013), web.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/27/miley-cyrus-twerking-cultural-appropriation.
53
Mat Miller, Bounce : Rap Music and Local Identity in New Orleans, Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press,
2012.

24

activists and critics about what constitutes positive or productive representations of blackness, by
refusing the binary of negative and positive.” I wanted to employ excess flesh as a strategy to
54
give myself permission to put my body on display in a dynamic way utilizing motion and sound
to interrupt the viewer’s expectation of my performance. On the surface, Vol. 2 is a performance
of Black women gyrating on camera but when a viewer spends time with the piece they begin to
admire the athleticism and camaraderie the women exhibit.

Alexis C. McDonald, Twerk Sessh Vol. 2, 2020, Split Screen Video, 31:54:11, University of
Southern California Roski Graduate Gallery, Los Angeles

Throughout my thesis exhibition, Power & Desire, I enacted excess flesh accentuating
body parts that have a fraught history for Black women: from the butt to the lips. While there is
truth to the ways the butt and lips have been sites of exploitation and trauma, my truth is that I
54
Nicole R. Fleetwood, Troubling Vision Performance, Visuality, and Blackness Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 2011, 11.
25

have always taken pride in my body and see it as a site of empowerment and joy. Therefore, I
wanted to embody the women that enabled this confidence from The Twerk Team to Lil’ Kim.
In my piece, LIPZ , I am drenched in blue light reciting the lyrics of female rappers that I
listened to growing up. I chose to be covered in blue light to reference what Nsenga Burton
described as the hypervisibility and invisibility of black women in the media. Burton defines
hypervisibility as “the omnipresence of black women in the media who satisfy dominant
ideologies about race, class, and gender that reflect past stereotypical visual representations of
black women in media and society.” Burton states that “the invisibility that is experienced by
55
black women in society and the media is muted by the highly visible presence of black women in
visual media, specifically female rappers.” Knowing this, I decided to restrict the viewer from
56
seeing all of me, isolating my lips, and rapping at a whisper to force the audience to actively
listen to what I am saying. When that happens and the listener removes their own biases, they
will hear that the lyrics I am reciting touch on themes of body positivity, sexual pleasure and
satisfaction, reciprocity and respect within intimate relationships.
These lyrics may not destroy the white, patriarchal, capitalist structure but they do offer a
space for Black girls and women to embody and emulate a persona outside of themselves that
seemingly exist outside of the structure. I started off wanting to create art that stuck it to “the
man,” so to speak but at this point I want to focus on cultivating a discourse that prioritizes
pleasure over shame when discussing what Black girls and women enjoy that “the man” might
not understand. I want to remove the shame Black girls and women may feel from twerking in
public or rapping along to their favorite artists. We reserve the right to explore our pleasure and
55
Nsenga K. Burton, “Traveling Without Moving : Hypervisibility and Black Female Rappers ” PhD diss.,
(University of Southern California, 2005.), 10.
56
Ibid., 11.
26

that alone is liberating. As the viewer stands before LIPZ, they are overpowered by my giant
mouth yet tantalized by my whispering voice which counters the typical experience of listening
to a woman rap. Typically, one either hears a woman rap without a moving image (i.e. the radio
or streaming service) or one hears a woman rap alongside several moving images (i.e. music
videos). However, LIPZ is a woman rapping alongside an isolated moving image of a mouth and
the lyrics are rapped at an autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) frequency. A
frequency that “typically refers to the "tingly feeling" that travels from the head downward that
some experience in response to certain sounds, feelings, or descriptions” recorded in a
57
whisper. By producing this atypical experience, I disrupt the anticipated loud voice that is
expected by the gesticulation of my mouth.

57
“What Does ASMR Mean?” Merriam-Webster online. Accessed March 28, 2020.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/asmr-abbreviation-meaning.
27

Alexis C. McDonald, LIPZ, 2019, Video Installation, 6:15:00, University of Southern California
Roski Graduate Gallery, Los Angeles

28

Conclusion

Hip hop, eroticism, and agency: can they all co-exist? That is the question. My piece,
Wallpaper.me, aims to visually represent this dilemma by composing childhood pictures of me
atop pin up style self-portraits of my older self. My pin up style self portraits are collaged with
magazine cutouts of video vixen, magazine and fashion brand logos and my childhood pictures
are framed in gold, black, and brown frames. Wallpaper.me is a physical manifestation of the
influence of the media on my gender performance.

Alexis C. McDonald, Wallpaper.me , inkjet print on adhesive matte, 96 x 96 inches, University of
Southern California Roski Graduate Gallery, Los Angeles

The piece begs the question of origin: when and where did I learn how to pose for the camera?
At four years old, I didn’t understand my mother’s insistence that I cross my legs but twenty
years later I understand that she was trying to protect me from being seen as desirable to
29

pedophiles. I decided to collage my younger self with my older self to trace my own history with
camera performance and demonstrate my sense of sexuality and performance over the years.
Although there are images where I follow instructions and cross my legs, there are images where
I am defiant - making reference to poses I’ve seen in magazines.

Alexis C. McDonald, Wallpaper.me , inkjet print on adhesive matte, 96 x 96 inches, University of
Southern California Roski Graduate Gallery, Los Angeles

30

Alexis C. McDonald, Wallpaper.me , inkjet print on adhesive matte, 96 x 96 inches, University of
Southern California Roski Graduate Gallery, Los Angeles
I believe hip hop, eroticism, and agency can co-exist but it’s a matter of redefining old theories
and contextualizing them with today’s times. In my opinion, the media is much more insidious
now than when bell hooks published Ain’t I A Woman in 1981 . Nearly forty years later, Hip Hop
has surpassed Rock ‘n’ Roll as the most popular genre , black women are global trendsetters ,
58 59
and social media has become an avenue to economic success. The terrain is different now and I
60
58
John Lynch, “For the First Time in History, Hip-Hop Has Surpassed Rock to Become the Most Popular Music
Genre, According to Nielsen.” Business Insider. Business Insider, January 4, 2018.
https://www.businessinsider.com/hip-hop-passes-rock-most-popular-music-genre-nielsen-2018-1.
59
“Nielsen Report: ‘Black Girl Magic’ and Brand Loyalty Is Propelling Total Black Buying Power Toward $1.5
Trillion by 2021.” Nielsen.
https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/press-releases/2017/nielsen-report-black-girl-magic-and-brand-loyalty-is-propelling-
black-buying-power/ .
60
Michael Zaytsev, “Council Post: How To Become A Multimillionaire With Social Media.” Forbes. Forbes
Magazine, December 18, 2017.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/12/18/how-to-become-a-multimillionaire-with-social-medi
a/#c32372f70905.
31

want to honor the women who broke barriers and disrupted the machine. From them we can
learn how to incorporate style and language to exhibit agency and acquire capital.
From hip hop’s early beginnings, women made themselves seen and heard whether they
were a part of a group or challenging the competition alone. Today, women in hip hop are still a
force to be reckoned with. Regardless if they rocked gold African medallions or gold door
knocker hoops, women rappers understood they could be defiant in their self-fashioning. As hip
hop became more mainstream, the motto “sex sells” became the way of the land. Female rappers
and video vixens alike found ways to make the industry work for them. Lil’ Kim and Karrine
Steffans perform objecthood in the way Uri McMillian defines as, “an adroit method of
circumventing prescribed limitations on black women in the public sphere while staging art and
altering in unforeseen places.” Steffans was seen as just an object at the disposal of the rappers
61
she performed for until she decided to speak for herself, and thereby revealing her wit and
agency. Lil’ Kim distinguished herself amongst her peers through her explicit lyrics and body
bearing fashion which landed her a modeling contract and access to top fashion designers. While
fame and fortune is not the goal of every Black girl and woman, the aforementioned women,
desired an elevated social and economic position and their stories can serve as a blueprint to how
Black women might navigate capitalism. As mentioned earlier, dismantling the structure is not
the purpose of the works discussed; rather they give us insight into how Black women make
sense of their relationship to Hip Hop and capital. Some expose the industry, others dance and
rap along with it, both are choices and Black women should be allowed to make those choices in
the name of pleasure, agency, and eroticism.
61
Uri McMillan, Embodied Avatars : Genealogies of Black Feminist Art and Performance New York: New York
University Press, 2015.
32

33

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Abstract (if available)

Abstract “Women in Flow: Hip Hop, Eroticism, and Agency” utilizes contemporary Black Feminist Theory to reexamine the ways Black female cultural producers in Hip Hop - female rappers and video vixens - exhibit agency within the Hip Hop industry

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Asset Metadata

Creator McDonald, Alexis C. (author)

Core Title Women in flow: hip hop, eroticism, & agency

School Roski School of Art and Design

Degree Master of Fine Arts

Degree Program Fine Arts

Publication Date 05/18/2020

Defense Date 05/20/2020

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag black women,black women in hip hop,hip hop,OAI-PMH Harvest,women in hop hop

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor West, Jennifer (committee chair), Arceneaux, Edgar (committee member), Campbell, Andrew (committee member)

Creator Email a26mcdonald@yahoo.com,alexismc@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-313031

Unique identifier UC11663802

Identifier etd-McDonaldAl-8544.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-313031 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-McDonaldAl-8544.pdf

Dmrecord 313031

Document Type Thesis

Rights McDonald, Alexis C.

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA