Generally speaking, yes, hip-hop culture can be misogynistic. Nicki Minaj objectifies herself in her video to Lookin Ass yet still feels that she can legitimately rap "look at y'all lookin' ass n*ggas / stop lookin' at my ass ass n*ggas" - ok then Nicki, how about putting it away now and again? In objectifying themselves, they are in essence allowing males to take advantage of that and that's where the sexism comes in. Overall, if females are so concerned about the misogyny they face in hip-hop, my suggestion is that they stop entertaining it. Let's not forget that there have been plenty of female rappers attempting to degrade males in their tracks as well (the most recent example that popped into my head was Lookin Ass by Nicki Minaj).
I'm glad that I can listen to hip-hop without taking its (sometimes) misogynistic lyrics too seriously. Does the below video really scream 'equality' to you?! Feminism isn't supposed to be about twerking at every possible opportunity 'because I can', rather it's about equality between the sexes. I'm just talking in general terms.) You simply cannot argue that Beyonce is representing equality between males and females by sexualising herself to the extent seen for example in her Partition video (below). In acting in such a way that objectifies yourself for male entertainment, you are going against everything that feminism stands for.
I see a problem with this because I don't feel that feminism is about pole dancing on stage and objectifying yourself for record sales, and this is where so many so-called feminists go wrong, especially in music. Her videos and tracks seem to get more sexual as time goes by, however she preaches feminism very publicly. I'll take a look at Beyonce, who isn't a hip-hop artist as such, but she is heavily involved in the scene and has collaborated with scores of rappers. There is something wrong, however, with such artists and their fans demonstrating contradictory behaviour relating to feminism. It's what they want to do and at the end of the day they're balling. I don't think there's anything wrong with female hip-hop artists wearing next to nothing in their music videos in order to boost sales. It's not surprising that more people will have heard of either of those two over longer standing female rappers such as Jean Grae or Invincible, who are known amongst the hip-hop community as being excellent MCs ( not 'femcees'!!!) in their own right, but aren't as famous as the Nickis and the Iggys of the hip-hop world. Myke mentions mainstream female rappers such as Nicki Minaj and Iggy Azalea and how they have sexualised themselves in order to build a strong fanbase and following. Obviously the record labels encourage it for sales, but at the end of the day, the females choosing to pose naked on magazine covers and such are humans with their own brains. The reason I'm ok with it is because females in the hip-hop scene that are sexualising themselves have chosen to do so. That is, in my humble opinion, a fact, and it's not a fact I feel any particular way about, probably because I view it as the norm in the hip-hop community and I'm ok with that. Hip-hop started out as a male-dominated scene and it has remained as such, and it is tough for females to get to the forefront of the mainstream scene without sexualising themselves to some extent. I agree with pretty much everything Myke says.
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