Hip Hop Women and Online Magazines

Donyell L. RoseboroUniversity of North

Carolina WilmingtonPresentation at the Mind the Gap International Conference

on Youth Work and Youth Studies

September 8, 2010

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Overview

• Digitizing Identity (Nakamura, 2008)

• VIBE magazine online presents images of hypersexualized women of color.

• Female hip hop artists send corollary textual messages that suggest that they purposefully and selectively use sex

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Introduction: My positionality

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Historical background

Hip Hop

The Internet

VIBE Magazine

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Theoretical Musings

• Identity (Anzaldua, 1987; Collins, 2000; DuBois, 1903; Wing, 1997)

• Black Migration (Dodson, & Diouf, 2005; Lemann,1992)

• Youth & Hip Hop (Asante, 2008; Collins, 2006, Neal, 2002, & Rose, 2008)

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Theoretical Musings & Black Folks

• The Illusiveness of Space: Migration and Displacement in the Cyber-universe– Black people are a people who

have moved and who have been moved

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Theoretical Musings: The Language of Hip Hop

• Moguls/pimps (Entrepreneurship)

• Vixens/hos (Sexuality)• Bitches/glamazons (Power)

• Gangsta (mafia)/antihero

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Central Question

• How do race, gender, and sexuality interface in online hip hop mediums, mediums that target youth audiences?

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Analysis

• VIBE (October 24, 2009)

• VIBE Redesigned Vibe• VIBE Redesigned VIBE

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Analysis

• The Images• The Context• The Message

–Being Booked•The Crime •The Show•The Loss

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Final Thoughts

• Prisons & Closets (Collins, 2005)• Currency & Hip Hop

– Gender– Sexuality– Age

For a copy of this presentation and/or a copy of the paper, go to http://people.uncw.edu/roseborod/

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References• Salt N Pepa (n. d.). Retrieved on April 23, 2010 from

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendId=266778165

• Public Enemy (n. d.). Retrieved on April 23, 2010 from http://www.djgroovefrequency.co.uk/

• Run DMC (n. d.) Retrieved on April 23, 2010 from http://www.king-mag.com/online/?cat=56

• Hip Hop Grafitti (n. d.) Retrieved on April 26, 2010 from www.freewebs.com/zulfikardashareef/

• Internet (n.d.) Retrieved on April 26, 2010 from www.macedoniablogs.gr/%CE%91%CF...om?page=2

• Prison bars (n.d.) Retrieved on April 26, 2010 from http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=1073124&refnum=little_bobek

• Beyonce concert (n.d.). Retreived on April 26, 2010 from malayfm.com • Book (n.d.) Retrieved on April 26, 2010 from https://

college.livetext.com/doc/2337136