The Conceptualization of Gender and Race in Rap Music: Its Impact on the Political Engagement of Black Women

Abstract

This thesis explores the underexamined relationship between rap music and the political engagement of Black women, using theories of Black feminist thought: Intersectionality and hip-hop feminism. Rather than seeking a definitive or binary conclusion, the research examines the complexity of how rap influences cultural representation, resistance, and political engagement. Through in depth analysis, several key findings emerged: the burden of responsibility Black women often carry in political spaces; their role as activist and advocates; the empowering representation of rap as a tool for identity and resistance agency and ownership over the narrative of Black womanhood; rap as a reflection of lived experience; the commodification and oversexualization of Black women within the genre, media literacy, and the development of political consciousness. These findings reveal that Black women's political engagement when interacting with rap is filled with contradictions and complexities as a result of this cultural expression and representation. Therefore, rap music emerges as a powerful site for negotiating and navigating identity and articulating socio-political realities. This presents an underrepresented factor in the political engagement of Black women.