RA #2

Rhetorical Analysis

 

Title: "From Fly-Girls to Bitches and Hos"

 

Author: Joan Morgan

 

Date: 1999 

 

Topic: Understanding sexism in the rap industry.

 

Analysis of Argument

 

Intended Audience: Anyone who listens to rap and the women that are talked down to in rap lyrics. People who are curious as to know why these men talk so shallow about women in their songs.

 

Exigence: To let the audience know why and where sexism in the rap industry stems from.

 

Purpose: Correlations between violence in neighborhoods, poverty, drug use and the depiction of women as sex objects or tools in songs.

 

Claims: The "bitches and hos" that are talked about in rap lyrics only shadow the fear from gang violence, drug abuse, prostitution and poverty that occupy their neighborhoods daily.

 

Evidence: "The leading cause of death among black men ages fifteen to twenty-four is homicide. The majority of them will die at the hands of other black men."(602)

Lyrics: I dont wanna live no more/Sometimes I see death knockin' at my front door

Writing hip-hop/rap is a way for these men to express their anger frustration at the world  they live in.

 

Rhetorical Analysis

Writer's Strategy 1: Uses "Pathos" strateggy to appeal to the audience emotionaly

Writer's Strategy 2: Description as evidence

Writer's Strategy 3: Cause and effect

 

Reader Effect #1 The author quotes lyrics from songs to give readers a better understanding

Reader Effect #2 Uses statistics to help readers see the levels violence in these people's lives 

Reader Effect #3 Author's personal experience as a black woman gave a different view point on how these issues directly affected her.

 

Response

Rap/Hip-hop artists have made millions becasue of their music. Sometimes it could be a beat that makes a song unique or the lyrics might stand out on their own. The protrayal of women as "bitches and hos" make the women sound like useless objects and not like the humans with feelings that they are. This article was written by a black feminist and the fact the she decided to adress a subject that is not very well understood by the outside world made this story even more interesting. She takes a different aproach at looking at the songs written by these artists and figuring out why they write the things they do. Why and how their lifestyles and the lingering effects of racism towards african americans and poverty can still affect their lives.