References to Women in R&B and Hip Hop: Case Studies of Girl, Baby, Bitch and Shorty

In this Master’s Thesis I will examine the use of the words girl, baby, bitch and shorty in reference to women in the context of R&B and hip hop within the timespan of 15 years (2000-2015, excluding the year 2006). The objective of this study is to calculate the frequencies of the aforementioned appellations in 300 R&B and hip hop songs, examine the usage, meanings and connotations of the words against the background of a variety of dictionaries, diverse literature on the subject and analyses of song lyrics, and lastly to reflect on the social dimensions of R&B and hip hop. This study is both quantitative and qualitative by nature. For exact numerical data, the concordance program AntConc was employed to create a self-made lyrics corpus containing 300 R&B and hip hop songs from Billboard’s Year-End charts (20 top hits from the 15 years included in this thesis). The precise numbers yielded by the corpus are used to calculate frequencies, popularity, distribution and possible trends (i.e. increase/decrease in use over the 15 years) of the appellations. The numerical analyses are complemented with entries from dictionaries and descriptive lyrics analyses to provide more specific information on the nature and use of each appellation scrutinized. The provided background information on the music genres in question, and their place and influence in society, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, how language and vocabulary treat women, the types of sexism, slang and African American Vernacular English complete the examination, providing a comprehensive picture of the context and the language used. According to the results of this study, all four appellations are adjustable to both positive and negative contexts. The contextual clues affected the connotations of the words directly, which means that none of them can be labeled inherently good or bad. While this result was to be expected in the cases of girl, baby and shorty, the same cannot be said about bitch since it is commonly thought to be inherently derogatory and offensive. General discussions tend to focus on the disparaging potential of these appellations, as they are thought to be disrespectful towards women. While this concern was not unfounded with girl, the way the terms are used in the context of R&B and hip hop proves that the appellations are actually quite complex and adaptable. Most likely, this is due to the heavy influence of slang, by nature, tending to defy and reinvent itself to stand out from general language. There is no discussing R&B and hip hop without delving into their connection with the African American communities. Not only are they the biggest consumers of this music, they also act as the source community for the music. For this reason, the worldview and the mentality in the music tend to correspond with those prevalent in the African American communities. One of the most striking shared traits in both R&B and hip hop and the communities is the idea of men with agency at the forefront and women as peripheral figures in the background. In the songs this surfaces as men performing their masculinity at the expense of women. No doubt, this trope has been one of the contributors to the stereotype of hip hop as a misogynistic genre. Yet, the analyses in this study prove that all four appellations were also used in a positive way with favorable connotations when one makes the attempt to see beyond the prejudice. Music and its lyrics can affect people discreetly by influencing people’s concept of normality. This can appear as altered schemas (a pattern of thought or behavior that helps people understand the surrounding world and act in a situationally appropriate way), generally accepted endeavors no matter how illogical they may be (e.g. men have to prove their masculinity by having affairs), or the preconceived notion of what an individual should be like (e.g. women have to be sexy). According to the watered-down Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, even though language influences people’s thoughts and perception, the human mind is not solely restricted by linguistic structures. Different concepts and things exist even when our language might not have words for them. Thus, trained awareness and critical thinking should ultimately overwrite the effects of language on thoughts and perception. However, without such a disposition, an individual is most likely quite susceptible to being led in a particular direction