RA #2

Title: From Fly-Girls to Bitches and Hoes
Author: Joan Morgan
Date: 1995
Topic: The ways rap influences young black men and women.
Exigence: The mistreatment of black women by black men.
Intended audience: Black women, feminists, hip hop listeners, black and hip hop communities as a whole.
Purpose: To discover and analyze the true meaning behind the lyrics and confronting and understand the problems.
Claims: If a community, specifically a black community, had a safe place for troubled black men to express themselves there would be a significant decrease in violence and homicides.

Main evidence: She shows how the lyrics have more meaning then what they seem. She uses the two most well known rappers that were murdered, analyzes their songs and concludes they were not angry at women, they felt regret, guilt and depression from other issues in their lives. She also brings up a great point when it comes to females being stereotyped as bitches and hoes; we allow it to happen by being in their music videos half naked. She wants to find the true reasons for the misplaced anger and come up with solutions to the problems.

Pathos: She uses pathos as being a black woman who has lost two of her friends whom were black as well, to homicide by black males.
Effect: the reader will be able to understand that she has personally experienced the issues she writes about instead of just doing research.

Logos: She uses logos by stating the fact that leading cause of death among black men ages 15 to 24 is homicide, usually by other black men.
Effect: it makes the reader think that all the black men that are murdered have died by other black men which somewhat creates a fear and bad image for ALL young black males.

Ethos: She is a black feminist, musician and writer.
Effect: the reader learns she has credibility as well as personal experience specifically with hip hop, African Americans, women and with writing.

My response:
I believe she is right, we, America as a whole need to find a solution for the anger to prevent the violence. The lyrics, specifically degrading women aren't because the men are mad at us, they are full of negative emotions that they take out on us and we make it easy by being in their music videos dressed like hoes. But what if we are wrong? What if black males are going to continue the violence despite creating a loving environment they could express themselves? All of our time and effort would be waisted. Although I am not black, I am a woman that listens to hip hop constantly and I understand the lyrics have a deeper meaning. The majority of victims have previously or presently acted in dangerous behaviors that lead to them becoming victims. I have personally lost several friends due to either car accidents, fires or suicide but I don't think the majority of drivers are killers or that most fires will kill someone. I think the song Changes by Tupac is a perfect example of a young black man wanting more love and respect from everyone else.