Music and Gender
There are lots of genres of music that people will listen to. For example, people listen to country, pop, classical, jazz, rock, and many more. One genre that is very popular today, especially younger people in general (16-24 years old), is Rap or Hip-Hop. According to a study in 2021, Rap/Hip Hop was the 6th most popular music genre. In that same year, 2021, over ninety-million (93.3) people listened to Hip Hop which translated to about 27.7%.
In 2021, Out of the entire Rap/Hip Hop industry, only 2.8% of producers were female. On the lines of songs that were produced, 95% of the rap/hip hop singers were male. When the top 20 rappers in 2021 based on billboard charts came out, only 2 of the 20 rappers were female, and Drake was on top followed by Pop Smoke and Lil Baby. A podcast was released in 2019 where they talked about the top fifty rappers of all time. Out of those fifty artists, none of them were female artists.
The one thing about hip hop and rap is that since it has been predominantly men is that it has become about exploiting women in not the greatest of ways. This has hurt the female rappers chances to rise but not impossible. In the 1980s, a female rapper by the name of MC Lyte released a song "I Am Woman" which is in her album "Lyte As A Rock."
The video above is from April of 2022 when MC Lyte at the Kennedy Center in celebration of women in hip hop. Female hip-hop talent today can thank pioneers like MC Lyte for setting the stage. It is true that many people are making strides in music, but Lyte praises those who are building up their careers in other areas as well.
Even though there is such a big gap between male and female artists in the regular rap industry, it is similar in the christian rap industry. The main difference between the christian rap industry and regular rap industry is that each artist is singing to glorify God and there isn't nearly as much negativity either. Female christian rap artists are much less known compared to regular female rap artists too.
The link above will take you to a song by Ashleigh Faith called AOM.
Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20191007-why-are-there-so-few-women-in-best-of-hip-hop-polls
https://headphonesaddict.com/rap-and-hip-hop-statistics/
https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/soundsofthecentury2019/adobea-addo-ashong/#:~:text=Introduction,a%20genre%20exclusively%20for%20men.
https://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/mc-lyte-i-am-woman-interview-48795167
I enjoyed reading all of the stats you posted on this blog! It definitely is an eye opener to what everyone around the world listens to. I enjoy listening to Christian Rap music and probably the reason why I don't listen I much to the rap music today is because predominately the messages of the music.
ReplyDeleteI never knew there were that little of female producers in the rap/hip hop industry. I do believe that now that we have had music for quite some time now people have an idea of how they like the music to be sung (male for more heavy tones and female for more soothing). I do hope to see more female producers in the game of rap/hip hop.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you touched on the fact that there are not many women in rap and hip hop. I think more and more people need to start to realize this.
ReplyDeleteI did my Music & Gender post on rap music too. We also used some of the same stats. I really liked the examples you used and the facts mentioned.
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