In today’s Hip-Hop landscape the more “different” you are the more “unique” you appear to be. The presence of quarter million dollar cars and “exotic” woman are pretty much standard fare in music videos, but to what degree is this formula for visual performances a deeper psychosis?

I feel like there is a deep sickness within Hip-Hop culture that needs to be addressed and it is one of self-hatred. Have Black and Latino women and men become so ingrained into believing that we are not beautiful that we eagerly promote and consume anything that seems “different” “exotic?” Why is it then that in most rap songs the lyrics contains phrases like “long haired thick redbone” or “foreign” in reference to woman?
I know that Hip-Hop and rap in particular are not cure-alls to societal ills, but one has to step back and imagine the damage the artists are doing to the psyches of those who consume their music and literally buy into their images. If I were a young Black or Latino woman and all I heard growing up listening to and operating within Hip-Hop culture was that you had to be “foreign” or a “long haired thick redbone” and I didn’t fit the bill, I would carry around unnecessary emotional baggage because I’m participating in a culture that doesn’t value or place emphasis on my beauty.

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