Female Hip Hop Ideology

Trina, Lil’ Kim, Eve, Destinys’s Child, Nicki Minaj, Mary J Blige.

These are all females that are in the hip hop industry. They are all looked highly upon throughout this world by their fans, especially young women. Ideology, which Ruddock defines it as "a network of values and beliefs", is portrayed in the hip hop industry, as well as other types of media. As we learned in Chapter 5 of Ruddock, ideology is recreated everyday and our everyday rituals reinvests with us. These female artists have demonstrated this idea through their music, music videos, and appearance.

“Soldier” is one of Destiny’s Child’s most successful songs in 2004. This song is primarily about the group members defining what type of man they want in their lives. Throughout the song, they define what a “soldier” is and explains that this is the type of person that women need in order for them to feel complete.

Here is the full official video of "Soldier" by Destiny's Child.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzQUaDiIYrU
The beginning of the video is the rapper T.I. explaining himself as being “the hottest around” because he has a luxurious car. This shows that if a man has a fancy car that is always kept clean, then that will appeal to women. Then it shows Beyonce, Michelle, and Kelly dressed in flared miniskirts, high heels, and glittering, alluring tops. This indicates that the way that a woman is dressed will have an effect on how men will view them. The more glamorous a women is dressed, their desires in a man will be more easily fulfilled. Kelly then begins her verse which starts off the “soldier” characteristics: a man with a fancy and clean car, southern slang, and somebody that is good in bed. She ends it off by saying that she wants “a rude boy that’s good to me, with street credibility,” indicating that it is attractive when a guy who has street authority has an attitude but at the same time is good to his woman.

Then, the girls’ outfits change into lavishing fur filled attire, with a good amount of skin being shown. It is now Beyonce’s turn to characterize a “soldier”. Once again cars and money is mentioned but she then begins to talk about a physical trait: “low cut Caesars with the deep waves". Other than being wealthy, men should be able to look like he is wealthy by keeping his hair on point.

Now Lil’ Wayne comes into scene who is placed to embody this “soldier”. He speaks on how he is the “sergeant” of the army, which he refers as money and that he is from the “hood”. He ends off with, “Now every time she hear my name she salute.” This signifies the difference between male and female when it comes to power. Throughout the song, the chorus continuously shows that the most important qualities that any woman’s “soldier” should have is somebody from the streets, with money, and “carries big things” … if you know what they mean.

A recent music video came out with two well known female rappers featuring in it: Trina and Nicki Minaj. This video, “Five Star Chick,” explains how being a “five star chick” is what men want. It also has numerous signifiers within each female artist.

Here is the full video of "Five Star Chick" by Yo Gotti featuring Gucci Mane, Trina, and Nicki Minaj
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA2OBrQZKzg
(begin watching at 2:10)
Both women in the video have very long and well-done hair. This is a signifier that signifies how important of a factor a woman’s hair is towards their appeal. Both of their outfits are a bit revealing; Trina has everything covered up except her upper thighs while Nicki Minaj has everything covered up except her chest area and upper stomach. Once again, just like in Destiny’s Child’s video, the more revealing a woman’s outfit is, the more attention they will get.

In Trina’s verse, she explains how she’s a “five star chick” because all her life, she’s had money to buy her anything she wants; shoes, food, and name brand bags. The chorus to this song is a male’s point of view and how he wants a woman with money, good in bed, and keeps herself looking good. This is the same exact things that Nicki Minaj raps about in her verse.



Wealth, sex, and status are significant patterns in both songs. In the song “Soldier”, when girls see that this is what Destiny’s Child wants in their men, then they will use the same criteria when it comes to men. Not only does the semiotics in this song/video refer to young women, but it can also refer to young men as well. If they see T.I. and Lil’ Wayne as the epitome of Destiny’s Child’s “soldier” then they will strive to be it. In the song “Five Star Chick”, Trina and Nicki Minaj are the epitome of being the “five star chick” that all men want because they have the wealth, appeal, and “good in bed”. Overall, these ideologies may become so dominant that we see it as common sense. That means that it is hegemonic.


One more item that can be looked at is album covers. Just like women on the covers of magazines, these album covers contain many signifiers. Nicki Minaj came out with a mixtape named “It’s Barbie Bitch” where she in sitting in front of a toy house with a nice green car in the back. There are colorful flowers surrounding her and Nicki herself, is wearing a pink dress with black high heels. The overall signifier for this album is how a Barbie doll is thought of as a toy that young girl plays with. Barbies embody what every girl should be. When Barbie is dressed as a certain worker, then that becomes her job. She has the perfect body, perfect hair, and perfect lifestyle. This doll is controlled by the child and does whatever the child wants it to do. Now, with Nicki Minaj labeling herself as “Barbie”, she may be encoding herself as being perfect and how everybody wants to be like her. But others may decode it as giving out a message to men that they can do whatever they want to her. This is how semiotics can decode things for us.