Research log: Recording Sources

Source 1:
Gwendolyn, Pough. Check It While I Wreck It. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2004. Print. 4 Oct. 2011.
Information:
This book provides me with information about several aspects of the Hip-Hop culture including:
.where it started
. Gender politics toward women
. Feminism
.Black Power movement
.rap music and the stereotypes that lie within it
Two Important Quotations:
1. “Women’s contribution to Hip-Hop culture has been lost, or rather erased.” (Gwendolyn 8)

2. “The rap lyrics that make constant references to “bitches” and “hos”… work to create hostile environments for some women…” (Gwendolyn 19)

Brief Annotation:

I will use this book to illustrate and further discuss how female rap/hip-hop artists are elusive in the music world and reasons to why this is happening. Also, the book will make my argument stronger when I discuss the gender politics of women and the obstacles they in a world of music where masculinity reigns.

Rabaka, Reiland. Hip Hop's Inheritance: From the Harlem Renaissance to the Hip Hop Feminist Movement. Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc., 2011. 1 October 2011
Information:
This electronic source alone incorporates information about the following:
. Rap music
. Criticism towards rap music
. The Harlem Renaissance
. The Feminist Movement
Two Important Quotations:
1. “Hip-Hop culture, especially rap music, is like a large panoramic mirror reflecting contemporary culture, politics, and society. Whatever issues and ills rap music raises are not simply the products of tortured and twisted young black folks’ minds, but more musical responses to current intra-communal and extra-communal pressing problems. Therefore, the search for solutions to hip hop’s problems cannot and will not be found exclusively within the world of hip hop, but also within the wider world of contemporary U.S. culture, politics, and society.” (Rabaka 190)

2. “Although the field of hip hop feminist studies has grown by leaps and bounds over the last decade or so, there are as yet very few noteworthy works that critically identify what the black feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s bequeathed to the hip hop feminist movement.” (Rabaka 129)

Brief Annotation:
This electronic source informs me about the ongoing problems with hip-hop and rap and why these problems are taking place. For instance, quote on shows that one of the reasons hip-hop/rap are the way they are is because of today’s modern society and the politics that come along with it. As I write my paper, I will use this source to explain why females are, in a sense, looked-down upon compared to the men. This will also allow me to make a clear argument about the feminist movement, and how, even since then, a lot has not changed.

Source 3:
Keyes, Cheryl. Rap Music and Street Consciousness . Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2004. Print.
Information:
Inside the electronic source is information about the following:
. The sociocultural history and aesthetics of rap music
. The roots of rap
. Criticisms of rap and hip-hop
.Women, race, and conflicts of the rap world
Two Important Quotations:
1. “Internal and external forces stimulated the maturation of rap music as a distinct genre. Rap artists responded to these forces by forging new directions for rap music.” (Keyes 121)
2. “Rap music has been often presented in the media as an urban male phenomenon. This assumption is more apparent when observing the disproportionate representation of female MCs featured…” (Keyes 186)

Brief Annotation:

This book will be used throughout my research paper to strengthen my argument about the lack of female rapper/hip-hop artists. Keyes looks into aspect of the two, including possible reasons to why rap has taken on a whole new perspective. For instance, quote one states how rap has forged into new directions. Well, what new directions exactly are we talking about? And does that mean woman do not respond to these forces in the same way men do? These questions along will others , I plan to answer and discuss.