MUSI 2540 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Bodak Yellow, Black Body, Cardi B
9 May 2018
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The Musical Foundation of Black Politics
● Music to deliver coded messages and blatant acts of resistance
● Music as an expression of self determination
● Music to encourage dedication, loyalty, and persistence
What’s right about Lemonade, according to hooks
● Celebrates self-love
● Honors ancestors and elders
What’s wrong with Lemonade, according to hooks
● Beyonce’s aim is to commoditize, not empower the black female body
● She has not effectively challenged constructions of black female identity
● She is self-victimized
● She celebrates violence
● Her feminism is fantasy
What’s wrong with hook’s critique, according to writer, TV host, and transgender activist Janet
Mock:
● It is dismissive and disrespectful of femme identity.
● It denies certain women (inc. Beyonce) equal participation in the feminist movement,
based on appearance and performed sexuality.
“ By refusing to "sell" themselves through feminine stereotypes, women musicians challenge
"the 'symbolic annihilation' of women and women's autonomous experiences within popular
music” -Love
When women musicians don’t try hard to accentuate their bodies in a provocative way or play to
the typical stereotypes of women (girly girls, tom boys, “sluts”, nerds, etc), they are helping to
break the chains that have held women back for centuries in the music industry. Most women
aren’t the stereotypes that are associated with the gender, and by stepping out of those images,
they inspire and truly speak for women everywhere and their experiences.
This supports Love’s belief in the transformative power of music because these female
musicians are helping to inspire and empower women everywhere, while also giving a wake up
call to men who had only thought of and cared about stereotypical women musicians for years.
I’m convinced by Love’s argument.
Alessia Cara - Scars to Your Beautiful
Singing of things girls can relate with
Cardi B - Bodak Yellow
Going against stereotypes of strippers, no filter attitude, female empowerment, feminist
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