Shake it, Baby, Shake it: Consumption and the New Gender Relation in Hip-Hop

TLDR

Hip‑hop is a multi‑billion‑dollar music industry whose gender and race relations, once fraught, have recently undergone notable transformations. The study analyzes the forty‑one best‑selling rap videos released in 2007–2008. The authors conducted a qualitative content analysis of the videos and lyrics to uncover emerging themes. The analysis reveals that hip‑hop’s focus on conspicuous consumption, reinforced by entrepreneurial rap moguls and strip‑club culture, has created a new gender relation based on sexual transaction, with videos promoting designer goods, liquor, cars, and the sexual performances of women of color while reshaping dance politics to fit these consumption themes.

Abstract

Hip-hop is a popular music genre that has generated a multi-billion dollar industry. Although its gender and race relations have historically been problematic, they have recently transformed in particular ways. This study examines the forty-one best-selling rap videos of 2007–2008. Through a qualitative content analysis of videos and lyrics several themes emerged. Hip-hop's focus on conspicuous consumption, buttressed by the success of entrepreneurial rap moguls, has merged with strip club culture to create a new gender relation based on sexual transaction. The “rap lifestyle,” marketed to consumers through multiple media outlets, focuses on the consumption of designer clothes, jewelry, cars, and liquor, often sold by the rap moguls' companies. Rap music videos advertise these products, as well as the consumption of women of color's sexual performances. The new hip-hop gender relation has also transformed the politics of dancing to fit the strip club themes of consumption and sexual transaction.