Until those core beliefs are altered, women will continue to face a roadblock as they navigate their careers.” Professor Smith went on to explain, “What the experiences of women reveal is that the biggest barrier they face is the way the music industry thinks about women,” adding, “The perception of women is highly stereotypical, sexualized and without skill. Professor Smith’s study corroborates this idea, concluding, “Women are shut out of two crucial creative roles in the music industry.” As producers often have a high degree of creative control over music, these male producers’ ideas heavily influence the women’s songwriting. Even further, female artists are consistently put in positions of answering to male producers. This male-dominated environment hinders women with a passion for music production, preventing them from reaching a high level of success and achieving their career goals. Most crucially, the producing side of the music industry has consistently lacked female representation. Professor Smith uncovered that across all seven years, 12.3 percent of songwriters were female, 21.7 percent of the artists were female and only 2 percent of producers across 400 songs were female. Smith analyzed the artists of 700 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart over the years 2012 to 2018. In a USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative study, Professor Stacy L. The overarching issue leading to women’s underrepresentation among “elite” rappers is the lack of representation of women across all major roles in the music industry, especially songwriting and producing. Prior years saw even fewer women make this list: seven was the most number of women who had reached this achievement in a given year during the entire decade. Furthermore, in 2019 when rising female artist Saweetie earned her title on the Billboard Top 100 Chart, she was only the 7 th woman to do so that year. When over 6.7 million fans voted on a ranking of the “The Greatest Rappers of All Time,” only three of the top 100 rappers were female artists. However, as rap has become popularized in society, the explicit nature of lyrics that sexualize, objectify and romanticize women has become alarmingly normalized as well.Ī Closer Look in the Industry’s Gender Gapįor decades, the genre of rap has lauded male artists while female performers struggle to succeed in the male-dominated industry. Over the decades, this art has advanced as new artists rise to the top and take over the genre. Rap is literally defined as the recitation of lyrics over instrumental beats, but it has become a form of expression and art. Rap music gained its hype in block parties in New York City in the 1970s and has become a staple part of culture in society today.
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