The Monolith: Deconstructing and Decentralizing Hypersexuality in Black Women's Rap

This exploration delves into the intricate dynamics of Black women's representation in rap, examining historical assimilation, the evolution of sexual expression in artists, their entanglement with patriarchal system, and effects on identity formations in both the artists and Black women listeners. Rooted in the historical context of women in rap navigating a racist and patriarchal landscape, this analysis goes beyond dissections of sexual expression and centers the lived experiences of Black women artists and audiences, and showcases forms of ideological resistance. Interviews with everyday Black women in Chicago provide individual perspectives, enriching the discourse with insights into their perceptions of women’s rap music in the twenty-first century. Through these interviews, the phenomenon of the Sexual Monolith comes into play as it is recognized that popularized music of women rappers is constantly and consistently hypersexual in nature. The Sexual Monolith then simultaneously creates an aversion to women’s rap and influences the lived experiences of everyday Black women. The study draws parallels to the historical exploitation of Saartje Baartman, exploring how sexualization becomes a complex interplay of societal structures, commodification, and objectification. Inspired by Black feminist thought, this work sheds light on the repression of the true voices of Black women artists who find themselves in the Sexual Monolith. The historical and current objectification, mistreatment, and misrecognition of Black women in the larger social context serve as the basis for such a repression within the artist realm. It is in this way that the music industry is both a reflection of and contributor to societal systems of identity repression. Navigating the dichotomy between dehumanization and empowerment, the analysis emphasizes the potential for artists to reclaim agency through sexual expression. Rather than seeking to answer the question of the morality of sexualized rap performed by women, this work seeks to present the co-existence of conflicting affects that are created by the current climate of Black women’s rap.