Hip Hop, identity, & Black girlhood: how Black girls (re)construct racial and gender identity through Hip Hop

ABSTRACT

Hip Hop has been shown to influence the identities of Black youth (Love. 2012. Hip Hop’s Li’l Sistas Speak: Negotiating Hip Hop Identities and Politics in the New South. Peter Lang). However, for Black girls, Hip Hop has a complicated relationship as some representations of Black girls and women are objectified and hypersexualized while others reflect strength and empowerment (Richardson, 2016). The present study examines Hip Hop, Black girlhood, and identity by exploring how Hip Hop influences the gendered racial identity developmental processes of Black early adolescent girls. Further, this study explores how Black girls navigate environmental stressors such as racism, sexism, bullying, and stressful home environments using Hip Hop. Using a Black and Hip Hop feminist lens, this paper utilizes two semi-structured interviews from 6, twelve year old Black girls from the southern region of the United States and participants in a Hip Hop based after school program. Utilizing thematic analysis, the following themes were found: (1) acknowledging identities of strength, independence, and resilience in Hip Hop helps create meaning for gendered racial identities and (2) Hip Hop as a mechanism for healing and therapy against social and environmental stressors. This work follows notable Hip Hop feminist theories and praxis and provides an alternative framework for exploring intersectional identity development for Black adolescent girls.

KEYWORDS:

• Black girls
• Hip Hop
• adolescent development
• identity development

Acknowledgements

While working on this manuscript, my mother, Mamie A. Richmond, passed away after battling a terminal illness. She was always supportive of this work and my journey, and because of her, I am able to do this impactful work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The spelling of Hip Hop has been a topic of discussion in Hip Hop and cultural studies with challenges surrounding capitalization, hyphenation, and connections (i.e. Hip Hop vs. hiphop vs.Hip Hop). The spelling of Hip Hop used in this publication recognizes Hip Hop as a culture that is more than just a by-product of rap music, but as a movement, voice, and identity of an entire group of people. Miller et al. (2014) states

Hip Hop culture has seemingly transcended its initial ‘fad’ trope and developed into more than just a musical genre; it is a voice; it is an identity; it is a movement; it is a force; it is a community of people seeking justice and higher learning; it is an environment for those seeking spiritual solace and cathartic release; it is performance art; it is, as KRS-One has argued, a place where both marginal and mainstream voices can be heard and flourish. (1)

Additionally, in English, proper nouns (i.e. names used to name a particular person, place, or thing. Considering that Hip Hop references a culture of a group of people, capitalization is warranted for this paper (Tasha Iglesias & Travis Harris, personal communication, September 21, 2021). The paper does not just discuss rap music, but an entire culture of Hip Hop including dance, graffiti art, and epistemologies.

2 A THOT is a slang word meaning ‘That Hoe Over There’ which is a derivative of the jezebel/slut/ho stereotype.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported in part by a grant from the American Educational Research Association (AERA): Division C: Learning and Instruction.