Post Reading - Week Twelve

Yes, Lupe Fiasco's video for "Bitch Bad" is definitely an example of music that attempts to be more critically conscious. Fiasco makes an analysis on hip hop music today and critiques on what he thinks needs to change in the industry. He chose to address the issue of the disrespect that is targeted towards women in the lyrics of many rap songs. Lupe is not sly about the message he is trying to get across and especially after making that video, his point was very clear. Although his critique may not have been given in the best way, this is definitely a step in the right direction. Some arguments that people made against this were that the men of hip hop, or the men that have this mentality were not looked down upon, but it was rather the ladies that listen to hip hop or respond to it in a positive way that were critiqued, and blamed in a way. So, yes it was definitely an attempt at making hip hop more conscious and I believe that is more hip hop artists put themselves in this mindset then a definite change could happen, but Fiasco cannot be the only one. The only problem with this is the fact that it probably won't happen in the near future, music such as Fiasco's "Bitch Bad" is not as popular as other hip hop songs out there today. I looked at the popularity bar for "Bitch Bad" on iTunes, and the downloading rates for that were extremely low compared to say "Bandz A Make Her Dance" by Juicy J, which is all about money and women. Something drastic has to happen, both men and women, artists and consumers alike have to make a decision that this is no longer okay and no longer what they want to base their music off of.

I believe that hip hop has placed more responsibility on itself to be socially responsible. The reason being is because, although other genres of music may "degrade" women and talk only about violence and money, these characteristics are more what hip hop is known for. They have created a image for themselves and now that is what they are known for, so in order to get away from these stereotypes they need to venture away from the "norm" of hip hop, such as Fiasco did in his video for "Bitch Bad. Hip hop is notoriously known for being degrading and materialistic, and with being one of the biggest and fastest growing genre of music they definitely have a large social responsibility.

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