Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rfms20 Download by: [Ashley Ruderman] Date: 24 June 2016, At: 06:34 Feminist Media Studies ISSN: 1468-0777 (Print) 1471-5902 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rfms20 Hashtags and hip-hop: exploring the online performances of hip-hop identified youth using Instagram Della V. Mosley, Roberto L. Abreu, Ashley Ruderman & Candice Crowell To cite this article: Della V. Mosley, Roberto L. Abreu, Ashley Ruderman & Candice Crowell (2016): Hashtags and hip-hop: exploring the online performances of hip-hop identified youth using Instagram, Feminist Media Studies, DOI: 10.1080/14680777.2016.1197293 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2016.1197293 Published online: 24 Jun 2016. Submit your article to this journal View related articles View Crossmark data
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Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found athttp://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rfms20
Download by: [Ashley Ruderman] Date: 24 June 2016, At: 06:34
Hashtags and hip-hop: exploring the onlineperformances of hip-hop identified youth usingInstagram
Della V. Mosley, Roberto L. Abreu, Ashley Ruderman & Candice Crowell
To cite this article: Della V. Mosley, Roberto L. Abreu, Ashley Ruderman & Candice Crowell(2016): Hashtags and hip-hop: exploring the online performances of hip-hop identified youthusing Instagram, Feminist Media Studies, DOI: 10.1080/14680777.2016.1197293
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2016.1197293
Feminist media studies, 2016http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2016.1197293
Hashtags and hip-hop: exploring the online performances of hip-hop identified youth using Instagram
Della V. Mosleya, Roberto L. Abreua, Ashley Rudermanb and Candice Crowella
aeducational, school, and Counseling Psychology, university of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, usa; bGender and Women’s studies, university of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, usa
ABSTRACTDespite hip-hop’s popularity, little attention has been paid to its effects on youth gender performances on social media. This study has analyzed how youth who identify with three popular hip-hop songs interpreted the songs’ messages and performed their gender on the social media application Instagram (IG). Posts (N=450) from IG users were examined using modified consensual qualitative research procedures. Ten categories emerged that illustrate the range of gender performances which youth engaged in, each of which occurred within one of four domains: (a) mixed messages (self-love and visibility; relationships); (b) reified messages (party life; provocations; conspicuous consumption); (c) challenged messages (growth; making new meaning; teamwork); and (d) neutral messages (humor; other). The findings from this study illustrate the influential role of hip-hop music on youth gender performance in a natural context (IG). IG posts often mirrored, and in turn contributed to, the narrow range of acceptable gender performances in hip-hop, suggesting the need for youth media literacy skill development.
Following the American Civil Rights movement (Darius Prier and Floyd Beachum 2008), hip-hop music attempted to convey the experience of marginalized social identities in a society characterized by the subordination of African Americans and Latinos (Tricia Rose 1994). Fifty years later, hip-hop is an established cultural movement comprised of distinct, ever-evolving styles of expression, including music, dance, dress, knowledge, language, mannerisms, visual art, values, and attitudes with a global audience (Prier and Beachum 2008; Jeanita Richardson and Kim Scott 2002, 176; Edgar H. Tyson 2003). Today, hip-hop “continues to represent the voices and visions of the culturally, politically, and economically marginal and disenfran-chised” (Layli Phillips, Kerri Reddick-Morgan, and Dionne Patricia Stephens 2005, 254).
Increasingly, these voices and visions emanate from social media. On websites and mobile applications like Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, cultural producers and consumers perform their hip-hop identities. In doing so, they also dictate cultural norms related to gender
performance. For example, preceding the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, rapper and per-former Nicki Minaj used Twitter to highlight how gender norms and cultural acceptance are intertwined. In the weeks preceding and following the awards, fans and followers of Minaj produced countless tweets, youTube video responses, critical think pieces, and memes related to race, gender, class, and success in hip-hop. Although Minaj’s tweets influenced culture and created a social media discourse that contributed to hip-hop norms, we do not empirically know how those engaging with hip-hop via social media contribute to these norms. Understanding gender performance on social media is important as the cultural productions associated with hip-hop regularly transmit messages about acceptable gender performance to young audiences who are developmentally poised to negotiate their gender identities and styles of gender expression.
The purpose of the current study is to analyze how youth identify with hip-hop songs, respond to the songs’ normative messages, and perform their gender, in an effort to deter-mine how their online gender performances challenge or reify messages in hip-hop. To this end, the study highlights how hip-hop music serves as a stimulus for identity work, providing a social artifact for the general public to grapple with (Zenzele Isoke 2012). Additionally, this exploration provides evidence of media literacy in public space. We can see how or if indi-viduals who engage with hip-hop on social media do so critically, creatively, or in some other fashion. Such a study requires a theoretical framework that takes into account the embodied experience of hip-hop identified youth. To honor the complexity of these identities, this paper employs hip-hop feminist and gender performance theories.
Theoretical background
Hip-hop feminism (HHF) provides a framework for examining the impact of hip-hop on youth gender performances. This analysis plays a critical role in clarifying how hip-hop affects identity exploration and development for masculine, feminine, and gender expansive (not cisgender or conforming to stereotypical norms [see Joel Baum, Stephanie Brill, Jay Brown, Alison Delpercio, Ellen Kahn, Lisa Kenney, and Anne Nicoll 2013]) people today. For the purpose of this article, the term youth is used in the context of hip-hop culture to represent those individuals old enough to have an Instagram account (Instagram 2013) but who were born after hip-hop’s genesis in the 1970s (from thirteen to forty years old).
Hip-hop feminism
In 1999 Joan Morgan coined the term “hip-hop feminist,” effectively introducing a sociopo-litical movement that acknowledges hip-hop’s potential as an important site for disrupting, challenging, and eradicating systems of oppression (Aisha Durham 2007). HHF media studies “explores cultural production, stereotypes, and the limitations and possibilities of a feminist project within hip hop” (Aisha Durham 2012, 39). HHF suggests that engaging with hip-hop cultural products and performances helps us understand the development of youth navi-gating hip-hop contexts and how to disrupt their unmitigated, mediated racial, gender, class, and sexuality socialization processes (Ruth Nicole Brown 2009; Aisha Durham, Brittney Cooper, and Susana Morris 2013). As such, HHF is not solely centered on critiquing, but also on teaching, creating, and liberating through praxis (Brown 2009; Ruth Nicole Brown and Chamara Jewel Kwakye 2012; Whitney A. Peoples 2008; Reiland Rabaka 2011).
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HHF challenges gender and sexuality policing in and outside of hip-hop by creating a space to imagine possibilities for selfhood from an intersectional, non-heterosexist, non-cis-normative, and non-patriarchal lens (Durham, Cooper, and Morris 2013; Peoples 2008). To expand such possibilities, youth in hip-hop must have media literacy skills. Aisha Durham (2010) identifies three inroads for engaging in media literacy: (1) awareness; (2) action; and (3) advocacy. Awareness refers to becoming more conscious about gendered dialogues that are and are not happening in hip-hop, specifically focusing on who is speaking, how indi-viduals are characterized, and what the implications of such representations are on a per-sonal, communal, and global scale. Analysis involves decoding hip-hop products and performances, considering the context of hip-hop gender messaging, and working through the ambivalence that comes from this layered process. Finally, advocacy represents a com-mitment to collaborative activism, reciprocity, self-reflexivity, valuing voice and performance, and knowledge sharing. This skill set is particularly important for hip-hop identified youth due to their positionality as creators and consumers of cultural messages about what is deemed an “acceptable” gender performance.
Gender performance
Gender performance refers to self-fashioning actions individuals take with respect to their sociocultural context, including self-expression of their bodies, sexuality, thought processes, and perspectives (Wayne Martino and Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli 2001). In order to project their ideal versions of themselves, youth create and explore their gender identities through per-formance: a dynamic, embodied process. In doing so, they typically rely on the heteronor-mative strategies of self-fashioning that they are regularly exposed to (Patricia Hill Collins 2005; Martino and Pallotta-Chiarolli 2001). In America, the types of men and women youth aspire to become typically fall within stereotypical models of masculinity and femininity, which are inextricably linked to White, Western standards.
Although resistance to gender conformity has always existed, there are physical, psycho-logical, and social consequences for breaching norms (Durham, Cooper, and Morris 2013). Returning to the example of Minaj and the award show, we can explore a dominant discourse on female gender performance and the consequences of deviating. Minaj’s social media exchange was grounded in a discussion of her music video for “Anaconda,” which celebrates the Black feminine body and the artist’s curves. Following the video’s nomination snub, Minaj tweeted, “If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year (emojis of blushing smiley faces),” calling attention to the specific ways gender is tied to size, race, and the acceptance or marginalization of one’s cultural products and gender performance. The costs of resistance vary based on one’s identity, experiences, and other areas of privilege or oppression. For Minaj, who understands her performance as out-side of dominant norms, the cost may have been an award nomination and its associated benefits. For others outside the industry, the psychosocial costs of deviating from gender norms may have an even greater adverse impact (e.g., homelessness, exclusion from social groups, objectification).
The process of performing gender is further complicated when class is considered. The hetero- and cisnormative dominant culture that currently exists privileges respectability, in which middle- and upper-class individuals maintain idyllic performances of femininity and masculinity (Durham 2012; Beverly Skeggs 1997). That is, a low-resource woman who is
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overweight due to lack of access to quality food and safe spaces for physical activity would not be able to achieve the level of social acceptance associated with having the “slim body” Minaj referenced. As such, those who are not White or lighter in skin tone, cisgender, and/or financially capable of upholding the dominant cultural values are shamed and dis-ciplined for their gender performance in both public and “safe spaces” (Durham 2012; Shanara R. Reid-Brinkley 2008). In hip-hop contexts, specific scripts exist for youth gender performance possibilities.
Youth gender possibilities in hip-hop contexts
Hip-hop offers scripts for gender performance rooted within heteropatriarchy. The prolifer-ation of these scripts reinforces attitudes about gender, race, and sexuality that are important for Black youth identity development (Karisman Roberts-Douglass and Harriet Curtis Boles 2013; Nebeu Shimeles 2010; Dionne P. Stephens and April L. Few 2007a). For example, Stephens and colleagues’ (Dionne P. Stephens and April L. Few 2007a, 2007b; Dionne P. Stephens and Layli D. Phillips 2003, 2005) research on gender scripts for women in hip-hop, including the gold digger, diva, earth mother, etc., makes it clear that these widely recognized scripts greatly influence young women’s self-worth and relationship views. Similarly, a narrow range of hypermasculine cultural images (e.g., thugs, players of women), characterized by toughness, flamboyance, and sexual prowess (Roberts-Douglass and Curtis-Boles 2013), serve as a “standard for authenticity” for Black men (Shimeles 2010, 14). Carla E. Stokes’ (2007) analysis of Black girls’ web presence illustrates limitations faced in the self-definition process for youth in hip-hop, as the online performances in her study often reflected these gender stereotypes. The gendered scripts embedded within hip-hop culture perpetuate narrow versions of masculinity and femininity that many youth absorb and ascribe to.
The gender scripts in hip-hop are so established that it is difficult for youth to imagine new possibilities for selfhood (Collins 2005). Collins (2005) argues for a more progressive and agentic articulation of Black sexual politics, noting how the current dichotomized, hegemonic notions of gender cause internalized oppression and lead to problematic psy-chosocial outcomes (e.g., substance abuse, adolescent pregnancy). However, these hip-hop rooted scripts can also positively impact youth development.
Hip-hop can enhance self-esteem and serve as cultural capital for Black adolescents. Collective self-esteem, which is reflective of ethnic and cultural identification, has been positively correlated with rap music video exposure among a sample of African-American college students, suggesting that rap videos can empower and increase esteem for youth (Travis Dixon, yuanyuan Zhang, and Kate Conrad 2009). Andreana Clay (2003) also found that youth with the clothing, mannerisms, confidence, and taste aligned with hip-hop aesthetics were more popular among their peers and received more support from staff in a community center setting. The performance of hip-hop culture was necessary for youth to assert themselves as “authentically” Black. Additionally, acceptance and popularity of young women relied on more sexualized performances, in dress and in interactions with cisgender men. For the youth in Clay’s study, hip-hop gender performances portrayed their authenticity and Blackness (Clay 2003). The reviewed literature suggests that gender performances in hip-hop contexts are heavily regulated and evoke important psychosocial risks and rewards for youth.
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The current study
We sought to uncover the complexity of youth hip-hop based gender performances in their natural context on social media. Our research questions were: (a) how do youth who engage with hip-hop respond to song messages and perform their gender; and (b) how do their online gender performances challenge or reify messages in hip-hop?
Methods
Study materials
The current study explores how gender is performed on social media by youth who listen to hip-hop music. To do this, three songs occupying top spots on the Billboard.com’s “Hot Hip-Hop and R&B” chart for an average of twenty-one weeks in 2013 were critically analyzed. The songs selected for analysis represented the work of three known artists in American hip-hop: Drake, Rihanna, and Wale. Drake’s (2013) “Started From the Bottom,” Rihanna’s (2013) “Pour It Up,” and Wale (2013) featuring Tiara Thomas’ “Bad,” were chosen not only for their popularity, but also because they allow for the comparison of male, female, and collaborative performances.
Among the social media outlets utilized by youth, content publically posted to Instagram was selected for two reasons. First, Instagram is a social media application that prioritizes images, where users upload a photo, and provide an optional text caption. Unlike Facebook or Twitter, it is impossible to upload a textual post in the absence of an accompanying image. Thus, Instagram plays a uniquely visual role in the world of social media by privileging visual content.
Second, Instagram encourages the use of “hashtags.” Though native to Twitter, hashtags (symbolized by the pound sign followed by one or more words) make public content search-able. The hashtag feature allows Instagram users to search for images that circulate under a common, user-selected hashtag. The three songs selected for the current study were wildly popular on social media. At the time of study, they garnered over 450,000 posts on Instagram.
Song selection and messages“Started from the Bottom,” “Pour It Up,” and “Bad” are songs full of messages about how hip-hop identified men and women should act. Table 1 illustrates the key messages and lyrical references from the respective songs. These three songs are filled with overt and covert messages about gender performance directed at individuals in hip-hop culture. Drake raps about what it takes to achieve success, and what Black male success looks like from his perspective (2013). Rihanna’s “Pour It Up” is a party song about drinking and spending money with frivolity and flamboyance. Wale and Tiara Thomas’ song is about a man’s desire to have sex and potentially develop a relationship with a beautiful but emotionally damaged “bad girl” (Wale 2013). The messages regarding how gender should be performed were rarely in conflict with one another.
Instagram The Internet is a space for identity development play for many youth (Shayla Marie Thiel 2005). Instagram (IG) contributes to play as it popularized the “selfie”—a highly stylized self-portrait predicated on revision (edits, filters, etc.) in order to achieve a desirable look.
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For hip-hop identified youth, Instagram is one of the social media applications of choice for selfies. The social media platform presents itself as “a fun and quirky way to share your life with friends through a series of pictures” (Instagram 2013). IG appeals to young African Americans, with 38 percent of Black internet users subscribing to the application, and 53 percent of Internet users between the ages of eighteen and twenty-nine posting and “liking” pictures (Manuel Jens Krogstad 2015).
IG allowed us to see how users who associated themselves with the songs via hashtag performed their gender online. Given IG’s popularity among the demographics correlated with hip-hop culture and the hashtag search function, IG was ideal for exploring how youth perform and construct their identities in response to the messages found in “Started From the Bottom,” “Pour It Up,” and “Bad.” The data analyzed in this study were the actual pictures and captions, or posts, uploaded by IG users who included #startedfromthebottom, #pour-itup, and #walebad in their captions. The following sub-sections will cover sampling and data analysis procedures utilized in this study.
Sampling procedures
The first two authors conducted a hashtag search on IG in October 2013. The first 150 public images per song, based on the hashtag and song title in the caption, were used in this analysis (N=450). During this process, we excluded images of the artists, the album or single cover art, or the artist’s promotional items.
Although the posts were publically accessible, IG users’ demographic information (e.g., race, gender, age) was not verifiable. Demographic descriptions of the posts will therefore be assumptive based on information provided in the public post. An overview of participant demographics will not be offered herein.
Table 1. Key messages in hip-hop songs.
Key message(s) Lyrical referencessuccess is achieved
financially“i’m on the road, half a million for a show,” “i wear every single chain” (drake 2013); “my
pockets deep and they never end,” “all i see is dollar signs” (Rihanna 2013)Consistent authenticity is
required“i done kept it real from the jump,” “story stayed the same i never changed it” (drake 2013);
“i ain’t tryna kiss up, suck up, feed gas,” “i’ll prove it to you,” “she no saint but she don’t pose” (Wale 2013)
independence is the goal and the means
“i was trying to get it on my own,” “i’mma worry about me, give a fuck about you” (drake 2013); “Who cares how you haters feel,” “who cares about what i spend” (Rihanna 2013); “i won’t commit” (Wale 2013)
acknowledge true supporters
“Living at my mama’s house,” “my uncle calling me,” “my whole team fucking here,” “Where your real friends at?” (drake 2013); “i’m going dumb with all my friends,” “Call Jay up and close a deal” (Rihanna 2013)
Protect self, loved ones, and image
“say i never struggled, wasn’t hungry, yeah i doubt it,” “We don’t like to do too much explaining,” “no new niggas, nigga we don’t feel that” (drake 2013); “my fragrance on and they love my smell” (Rihanna 2013); “thinking if i get her, i get her to need this,” “Beg, nope,” “i’ll humble your mean ass” (Wale 2013)
Popularity and visibility is important
“We just want the credit where its due,” “through the money and the fame,” “Boys tell stories about the man” (drake 2013); “the look in yo eyes i know you want some” (Rihanna 2013); “she take pride in … getting hollered at, and saying nah” (Wale 2013)
Clubs, sex, and substance use expected
“Patron shots can i get a refill?” “Pour it up, pour it up, that’s how we ball out”, “Bands make your girl go down” (Rihanna 2013); “Rough sex saying i love you,” “Bed, floor, couch, more,” “i sure know how to fuck” (Wale 2013)
men and women can be “bad,” women are “good” or “bad”
“strip clubs and dollar bills,” “Four o’clock and we ain’t going home” (Rihanna 2013); “i don’t need emotions,” “i ain’t about to judge you, don’t judge me, you ain’t really gotta sing about your rap sheet,” “Bad girls ain’t no good, and the good girls ain’t no fun” (Wale 2013)
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Data analysis
The modified version of consensual qualitative research (CQR-M; Patricia T. Spangler, Jingquing Liu, and Clara E. Hill 2012) was used because it was developed to handle large quantities of data that need qualitative analysis. The data analysis process commenced once our team secured 450 images that met selection criteria. The primary research team, con-sisting of the first two authors, analyzed the data. An auditor, the third author, was also used. Although an auditor is not required in CQR-M (Spangler, Liu, and Hill 2012), this additional rigor was necessary given the nature of photographic data.
Data analysis has three key steps in CQR (Clara Hill, Sarah Knox, Barbara J. Thompson, Elizabeth Nutt Williams, Shirley A. Hess, and Nicholas Ladany 2005; Clara Hill, Barbara Thompson, and Elizabeth Nutt Williams 1997). A few cases, or posts, were used to begin the analysis process. First, each post was individually reviewed multiple times by the primary research team and a “start list” of domains was developed. Start lists initially included words such as “mimicry,” “talking back,” “new meanings,” and “challenge.” The primary team worked to reach consensus regarding the domain list and coding process. At this point, the team came to a collective understanding of the distinct domains that recurred in the posts, includ-ing mixed messages, reified messages, challenged messages, and neutral messages (see Table 2). Boundaries between domains were based on the degree to which the post reflected the lyrical messages of the associated songs. Changes that occurred in this consensus process were primarily associated with the language used to classify posts, for example whether to use “talking back” vs. “challenge.” The team settled on the briefer, more distinct terms involv-ing less interpretation, as per CQR guidelines (Hill, Thompson, and Williams 1997). The auditor then evaluated the posts, domains, and ensured our domains appropriately captured all posts.
Second, the primary team sought to uncover the core ideas in each post. Core ideas were generated directly from the content of the picture and the user’s caption, if provided. During analysis, primary research team members attempted to honor the perspectives and meaning conveyed by the post by staying “close to the data,” while parsing down information and labeling the core idea (Hill et al. 2005, 206). After individually coding the core ideas, the primary team discussed the core ideas they had generated for each post. The team sought consensus regarding the core idea and its domain assignment for each post. During this process it became clear that we needed to privilege the captions and consider the function of the hashtags used, as some images would be difficult to systematically code without relying on written text. For example, an image of a person with a cup in their hand may be coded as “party life” if the caption refers to drinking alcohol and getting ready for a party, however, in the absence of this text the image might align with our selfie-related codes. Similar to step one, the auditor provided a check, ensuring the core ideas were appropriate, true to the data, and suitable for the indicated domains. Few salient discrepancies emerged, but one bias that was checked involved coding sexually provocative posts among masculine and feminine users. We had to recognize how our internalized sexism caused us to initially ignore sexually provocative posts from masculine users. We agreed that the amount of skin showing, angles of photos/body parts featured, and facial expressions and/or visibility of the user’s face were important to consistently coding across genders.
Finally, a cross-analysis was conducted. During cross-analysis, ten categories were gen-erated (see Table 2) and each core idea was assigned a category. The primary research team
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followed the process used for constructing domains and core ideas by independently gen-erating categories and working to consensus regarding category labels and assigning core ideas into categories. The auditor then critically evaluated the categories and “zoomed out” to edit from a broader perspective, offering detailed feedback regarding the conceptualiza-tions (Hill et al. 2005). In this process, important discussions were held regarding the defini-tion of each category. The characteristics column in Table 2 articulates how we ultimately set boundaries on the final categories. Although CQR does not require or support the sta-tistical measurement of inter-rater agreement, substantial overlap existed among coders and the auditor during the entire process.
Results
All posts fell into ten categories, and each category fit within one of four domains. The most popular domain (representing 27.35 percent of all posts) was mixed messages. All three songs were represented in this domain. Mixed messages refers to posts that both reified and challenged the messages in the artists’ songs. The categories of “self-love/visibility” and “relationships” fit within the domain of mixed messages. “Self-love/visibility” images repre-sented mixed messages in that they reified normative messages about attracting the male gaze as found in “Pour It Up” and “Bad,” as well as messages about basing one’s success on the attainment of popularity or fame as found in “Started From the Bottom.” However, in all three hashtags, self-love/visibility images also challenged the notion that love and accept-ance must come from outside of oneself. “Relationship” posts presented mixed messages by reifying heteronormative values while challenging anti-relationship sentiments. The “rela-tionship” posts also reified the lyrics about celebrating with friends while challenging the masculine norms reflecting a lack of care for others. Many users engaged with the hashtags this way, simultaneously mirroring and contesting different portions of a song’s lyrics.
Two domains, reified messages and challenged messages, are more self-explanatory (representing 27.35 percent and 22.16 percent of all posts, respectively). The categories in these domains represented posts that explicitly bought into or challenged song lyrics. When
Table 2. Online performances in response to hip-hop songs.
Domains Categories Characteristics% of total responses
mixed messages
(a) self love and visibility user taken images or selfies; zoomed in on some aspect of person
27.07
(b) Relationships Reflects various types of relationships (familial, friendship, romantic); type of relationship often indicated in caption
16.41
Reified messages
(a) Party life alcohol; bar or club scene; dancing 12.62(b) Provocations Provocative images or text; often sexual in nature and/or
showing illegal substances9.12
(c) Conspicuous consumption
Highlighting higher end products; money; excess (in size or quantity of an item)
5.61
Challenged messages
(a) Growth Before and after pictures; captions reflecting change over time
9.82
(b) making new meaning Reinterpretation of song content (e.g., referencing milk or tea in lieu of alcohol)
9.12
(c) teamwork members of a sports, school, or work team; joint success 3.22neutral
messages(a) Humor sarcasm; animals with text or word bubbles, does not reify
or challenge the song’s messages5.05
(b) Other images not fitting into any other category (e.g., blank images, nature)
1.96
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youth upheld the messages, images were typically well aligned with the eight key messages, and their associated gender norms, referenced in Table 1. youth engaged with hip-hop by visually communicating the stories expressed by the artists through their own images and text, further proliferating the normative messaging from the songs to their social circles. Categories that included reified messages posts were “party life,” “provocations,” and “con-spicuous consumption.” Images coded as “party life” and “conspicuous consumption” were posted by users whose posts reflected masculine and feminine stereotypic content. However, the majority of “provocations” posts featured images of stereotypically feminine IG users.
Posts that challenged song messages were categorized as “growth,” “making new mean-ing,” and “teamwork,” each reflecting stereotypic masculine and feminine performances, as well as gender expansive performances. In the challenged messages domain, some hip-hop identified IG users offered nuanced, individualized interpretations of the songs. These online performances often challenged gender and class norms. For example, posts that reflected stereotypic feminine content depicted attire less likely to be deemed provocative, posts that reflected stereotypic masculine content tended to convey more emotion in their captions, and the settings in these images reflected diverse economic contexts. However, the songs were not evenly represented in these domains. For example, #pouritup made up the majority of reified messages posts and #startedfromthebottom constituted the majority of challenged messages posts.
The final domain, neutral messages, was the smallest, accounting for 7.01 percent of posts. The categories in this domain were “humor” and “other.” They neither reified nor chal-lenged lyrical messages. For example, an image with the text “Drake new album got people ending up at they ex house talking bout” on top and an image of pencil with the text “you forgot this” at the bottom is a humorous reference to the content of Drake’s album but does not reflect or refer to the lyrics of “Started from the Bottom.” Posts that were humorous, yet also reified or challenged lyrics, were coded into humor and the other appropriate categories. The next section will highlight how IG users performed gender and actualized these cate-gories based on the individual songs.
#startedfromthebottom
The #startedfromthebottom hashtag commanded the most posts that challenged song lyrics. “Growth” was most prevalent, representing 25.09 percent of all posts with this hashtag. Images in this category often documented accomplishments, or “before and after” posts with stereotypic masculine and feminine content. Users often compared two images in their post. For example, one post included a side-by-side photo collage of two stereotypic feminine individuals wearing matching college t-shirts as college freshmen and as seniors, with the caption “four years strong with my bad bish #canwegetnewtshirt-syet #startedfromthebottom.”
Other posts within the challenged messages domain came from the category “making new meaning” which accounted for 15.59 percent of #startedfromthebottom posts. Users challenged Drake’s ideas about success by redefining success on their own terms. For exam-ple, a group of biology students posted images of plants they had grown, and several people posted pictures highlighting their hair growth or weight-related changes. Although these posts challenged Drake’s lyrics, both stereotypic masculine and feminine performances in this category often reflected stereotypical gender norms related to physical appearance.
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This category also represents successes relatively smaller in scale when compared to those articulated in Drake’s song. These successes included the completion of a home improvement project and the presentation of an award on the job.
Teamwork was also reflected to a lesser extent (7.6 percent of #startedfromthebottom posts). These posts included images of individuals celebrating team victories or group accom-plishments, often related to sports. All of the challenged messages domain posts showed IG users performing in a manner not directly suggested by the song lyrics. Despite IG users’ dismissal, or challenge, to Drake’s lyrics, their performances still aligned with binary gender norms.
Although a large portion of the #startedfromthebottom posts challenged Drake’s lyrics, many fell into the mixed messages domain. For example, the “relationships” category (20.53 percent of #startedfromthebottom posts) showcased IG users’ relationships with friends, family, couples, co-workers, or teammates. While this aligns with Drake’s (2013) chorus, “started from the bottom now we [emphasis added] here, started from the bottom now my whole team [emphasis added] here,” these images also challenged the lines disregarding relational collateral damage that occurs en route to the “top.” Posts in the category “relation-ships” tended to feature heteronormative relationships.
“Self-love/visibility” also reflected mixed messages. Some images aligned with Drake’s messages about the importance of celebrity culture (e.g., an image of an IG user with a popular Canadian artist The Weeknd), while others celebrated the love they had for them-selves or their families (e.g., a post depicting three Black people smiling and hugging with the caption “WE BEAUTIFUL as a unit family #family #turnup #style #startedfromthebottom #smiles #happydays #sisters, #african”). Just under 15 percent of all #startedfromthebottom posts straddled the line in this way, falling into the category “self-love/visibility.” Men and women were represented in this category, however their gender performances aligned with dominant scripts related to masculinity and femininity.
#pouritup
IG users’ online performance in response to “Pour It Up” primarily fell into the reified messages domain (49.59 percent). The most popular category was “party life” (31.82 percent). These images often mirrored messages about partying and alcohol. For instance, one post features a Black man with his arms around two Black women in a bar setting. One woman is holding money and three drinks are on their table. The caption reads, “We did that! (emoji of a bag of money and martini glasses) #libraseason #party #drink #turnup #pouritup.” This example is characteristic of a large portion of posts in “party life.” Stereotypic masculine and feminine posts reified the stereotypical gender norms referenced in Rihanna’s song via these performances. Another example that reifies gender norms features a man holding his head backwards with his mouth open while a woman pours a drink into his mouth. The caption reads, “Primavera ’13 #PourItUp #FuckWithMeyouKnowIGotIt.” This image depicts the illusion of control: a blurry woman pours the drink, but ultimately serves the man in the image, who remains in focus. Across all songs, #pouritup accounted for 85.56 percent of posts in the “party life” category.
Similarly, #pouritup commanded 62.5 percent of all “conspicuous consumption” posts. These images were of money, large portions of food or alcohol, and even high-end brands. Prime examples included an image of a full grocery cart with three birthday cakes, an image
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of four White feminine teenagers holding their own bottle of liquor, and an image of a fem-inine brown-skinned person pulling top-shelf cognac out of their “other” Louis Vuitton purse. These images highlighted youth who reify the glorification of money, wealth, and excess in “Pour It Up.”
#Pouritup posts also represented “relationships” and “self-love/visibility,” each accounting for nearly 20 percent. IG users reified Rihanna’s performance of femininity, by depicting themselves in revealing clothing, often from angles featuring their breasts, thighs, or pos-terior. Conversely, others posted more demure selfies and claimed #pouritup even when they did not reify the lyrics. One example of a “self-love” #pouritup post that challenged messages in the song was of a White gender expansive individual holding a coffee cup and smiling at the camera with the caption “#allsmiles #yesterday #getloose #pouritup #niceday.” The challenging and reifying message domains were also reflected within the category “relationships.” While Rihanna’s song addresses friendship, it is only within the context of partying. IG users depicted these types of friendships, but also portrayed their relationships in other contexts. For example, one user’s picture featured her mother and sister holding drink tumblers with the caption “Tea at #teavana with my mom and sis!” Users associated themselves with #pouritup despite contradicting or transgressing Rihanna’s gender performance.
#walebad
The hashtag #walebad was the least diverse, with the categories “self-love/visibility” and “provocations” accounting for just over 70 percent of all posts. It is notable that IG users’ performances often contained quotes from “Bad,” whereas the Drake and Rihanna songs only referred to the song’s title via hashtag. This was also the only song where the category “teamwork” was not represented in the posts.
“Self-love/visibility” accounted for 51.44 percent of all #walebad posts. The majority appeared to be from users who reflected feminine stereotypic content ranging from pre-ad-olescence to early thirties. These posts included either single frame selfies or a photo collage of selfies, with captions quoting “Bad” lyrics. Sometimes these images were suggestive, quoted sexually explicit song lyrics, and were double-coded with the category “provocations,” while other images appeared demure and quoted song lyrics about being a “good girl.” On a few occasions, posts that reflected masculine and feminine stereotypic content fell into this category. Their gender performances sometimes aligned with Wale’s lyrics. For example, Wale describes several characteristics of a bad girl, and a post that reflected a Black man mimicked this by posting a selfie with the caption “bad girls bend at the waist, good girls bend at the knees.” However, other IG users challenged the lyrics with their selfie posts. For example, a post of a pre-adolescent Black man wearing earbuds and a t-shirt referencing a video game posted a selfie with the caption “is it bad that I never made love?” In this example, the user challenged Wale’s key messages, instead aligning with more innocent aspects of the chorus. Additionally, he thwarted hegemonic thought that suggests Black men of all ages are hypersexual. Given the variety in gender and online performance within these posts, they clearly align within the larger mixed messages domain.
The second most popular #walebad category was “provocations” (20.67 percent). These were often posts of users who reflected feminine stereotypic content, and whose online gender performances included images of them dancing, posing seductively, making kissy
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faces, sticking their tongues out, wearing revealing clothing, or appearing to perform a sexual act. They also quoted lyrics from “Bad” referencing sexual prowess. A key example depicts two people, one standing in front of the other, only cropped from just below the nose to the upper chest area. The image features feminine stereotypic content with their mouth open. Someone stands behind them and places their finger in the user’s mouth. The caption reads, “But at least I can admit that I’ll be bad noo [sic] to you … #bad #wale #hot #music #walebad #sexy.” These provocative images reify the messages in “Bad.”
Discussion
This study advances the work of HHF by exemplifying the performances that result from the cycle of hip-hop cultural consumption and social media production. Our analysis suggests that not only do youth affiliate themselves with hip-hop songs and artists via their online performances, they also take on the role of cultural producer when they create media and participate in hip-hop conversations. This culturally popular application offers youth a means to actively, publicly, and creatively perform their gender online and in direct response to hip-hop songs and artists. This crafting of a personalized response to hip-hop cultural prod-ucts, which are outside of youth’s personal control, epitomizes HHF praxis (Brown and Kwakye 2012). Irrespective of youth’s IG performance as reifying or challenging, hip-hop hashtags allow these social media users to make themselves legible as part of the hip-hop community.
This study also clarifies how hip-hop songs are translated to social media, serving to extend the song’s reach and build community among listeners. This is evidenced by the hundreds of images that were posted on IG within minutes to hours of one another, con-nected via a hashtag, curating a linked conversation to a specific community of hip-hop music listeners. Through this conversation, IG users grapple with power (Isoke 2012). Sometimes they appear stifled, perhaps by the powerful artists, images, or lyrics that have been conveyed, and simply regurgitate gender performances they know have been accepted in hip-hop contexts, such as those illustrated by Roberts-Douglass and Curtis-Boles (2013) and Stephens and Phillips (2003). The persistence of these scripts highlights the need for additional models of masculinity and femininity within hip-hop. Other times IG users claim songs that reflect a lifestyle much different than theirs as their own. These users challenge stereotypes, giving the songs meaning that the masses can more easily relate to (e.g., success as graduation vs. success as the accumulation of millions of dollars), through their posts. Most often however, mixed messages were performed on IG, underscoring Stokes’ (2007) findings that even youth who challenge hegemony perform contradictions online. Similar to Stokes’ (2007) participants who were “resisters,” IG users performing mixed messages may desire to challenge hegemony but may benefit from additional supports or communities in which to do so. Finally, the lack of IG posts that neither reify nor challenge the song lyrics, falling into the neutral messages domain, suggests that not all IG users are interested in gender performance. Within the domain of neutral messages, it is possible IG users ignored gendered messages or were unaware of gendered messages in the songs. True to HHF, which grapples with the ways in which hip-hop can both empower and disempower (Isoke 2012), our findings illuminate the complexities of youth media literacy as evident in their online gender performance.
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While the key messages in the analyzed songs were not always gendered, they were always normative (see Table 1). The cultural capital associated with conforming to norms and the costs of performing otherwise have been well documented elsewhere (Clay 2003; Stephens and Few 2007b). Thus, while we were attentive to challenges to other hegemonic institutions like capitalism and heteronormativity, our study was primarily focused on chal-lenges to hegemonic gendered performances. The following sections will further review these performances, their implications, and the limitations of this study.
Gender performance and media literacy on IG
While many users reified normative hip-hop messages, our study shows evidence of media literacy. Categories comprising the challenged messages domain were predominantly #start-edfromthebottom posts. The contradictions within the song allowed users to interpret the lyrics in myriad ways, suggesting that if hip-hop artists allow for ambiguity, their listeners will be more apt to make their own meaning. Drake’s chorus tells one story in the context of the song, yet void of this context in a hashtag on IG, #startedfromthebottom lends itself more easily to play. When this play occurred users were engaged in the highest level of media literacy outlined in Durham’s (2010) model, advocacy. By repurposing the song title via their gender performance on IG, users advocated for new ways of engaging with the song’s lyrics.
The challenged messages categories of “making new meaning,” “growth,” and “teamwork” appeared to include more images of White individuals than of people of color. This gap could be attributable to factors such as the racial makeup of Drake’s fan base, the media literacy education attainment of these users, or the freedom to question and challenge that is asso-ciated with occupying privileged social locations. It is important to note, however, that since Whiteness cannot be assessed simply by looks, we were not able to assess the user’s racial identity, only the perceived race of the people in the image. Future studies exploring the social identity makeup of IG users whose online performance challenges hip-hop scripts is warranted. Understanding the intersections among gender, race, and class may help expli-cate the differences in gender performances observed among challenged messages posts.
The intersection of gender and race was also key in #Walebad and #pouritup posts. Black women desire representations of themselves (Collins 2005) and the posts from these songs in the “self-love/visibility” and “provocations” categories suggest that women use hip-hop and IG to create a space where they are represented, perhaps filling gaps left by dominant society and mass media. Black feminine IG users’ posts, ranging from young teens to those likely in their late thirties, were often selfies or model-like shots hashtagged #Walebad or #pouritup. These songs and their hashtags offered women a culturally relevant method to gain visibility.
While many users were able to connect to the songs, and to aspects of the gender roles represented in them, the songs also foreclosed alternative gender performances. Women tended to dichotomously perform as either the “good girl” or “bad girl” as outlined by Wale and Rihanna. That stereotypically feminine content was often very provocative, reinforcing scripts of the modern Jezebel (Collins 2005) or freak (Stephens and Few 2007a), suggests that women remain limited in their gender performance possibilities in hip-hop contexts. Additionally, users whose posts reflected masculine stereotypic content were relegated to the “bad boy” or “player” role on IG, and gender expansive performances were largely missing.
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However, White-appearing users were more likely to display expansive gender performances, suggesting hip-hop hashtags may provide a safe space for non-binary gender performances for non-Black users. Taken together, popular hip-hop songs may produce an oppressive environment that ignores and/or silences voices residing outside these binaries.
Exposure to other hip-hop cultural products, like music videos, might also impact the way IG users react to artist-established images. For example, Janet Mock (2013) understands the video for “Pour It Up” through IG:
From what I believe Rihanna’s life to be (as sourced from her prolific Instagram account), the “Pour It Up” video is just a snapshot of another RiRi Wednesday night, filled with body-con designer labels, a spliff and women wielding their bodies, their sexuality and their lives.
Thus, IG users not only reified the song lyrics, but also the music video and perhaps Rihanna’s IG persona itself in their #pouritup posts. To clarify, it is not the authors’ position that youth need to challenge these lyrics or images in order to then reject them and engage in different performances of their gender. What is important is that a critique occurs so youth are aware of the music’s influence on their gender performance possibilities.
Implications
Our study provides evidence of the effects of hip-hop music on youth identities, and points to the need for hip-hop identified youth to possess media literacy skills. Because so many performances in commercial hip-hop are embedded with messages about authenticity, it is important to disallow their passive consumption by youth, especially those who are active cultural producers in large social networks. youth need to develop a critical consciousness regarding the sociopolitical forces that influence their self-concepts if they are to become liberated from them (Roderick J. Watts, Jaleel K. Abdul-Adil, and Terrance Pratt 2002). Media literacy training centered on hip-hop and the social media sites popular among youth today may provide the inroads needed for this learning. Otherwise, hip-hop consumers will create media perpetuating the hegemonic tropes found in many commercially successful hip-hop songs. Evidence of this cycle appears in many of the images in the categories “provocations,” “self-love and visibility,” “party life,” and “conspicuous consumption.”
Findings from this study suggest youth may also benefit from more generalized identity play, perhaps focused on self-definition (e.g., of what success, friendship, love, and the like mean to them). For example, “Started from the Bottom” encourages users to celebrate their growth and teamwork, but only discusses growth in terms of the accumulation of wealth, therefore promoting individualism and meritocracy. Given IG users’ tendency to reify hip-hop messages that independence is the goal and the means, users may require exposure to more diverse performances to truly understand that other models, such as collectivism, exist and may have psychosocial benefits.
Because youth often define themselves through their relationships, as evidenced in this study, identity-based exploration via group interventions may be a good approach. Saving Our Lives Hear Our Truths (SOLHOT), founded by Ruth Nicole Brown, serves as one such example (Brown 2009). SOLHOT represents a space where Black girls create stories in a context that privileges their narratives (Brown 2009). In SOLHOT participants “discuss, dance, reenact, shape, reshape, and reform the politics of Black girlhood” (Brown 2009, 4). youth in our study may benefit from similar opportunities to engage in self-fashioning practices in the community of caring peers and mentors.
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Limitations
Although these findings provide useful information regarding the online performance of hip-hop identified youth, there were some methodological limitations. First, there is no way to account for the impact of age, race, educational attainment and other identity factors that may contribute to the preponderance of a particular type of online performance. Because it was critical to get a large-scale representation of responses to the songs on IG, obtaining identifying information about users, beyond a username, was not an option. Future studies may benefit from gathering these data. Second, all research has the potential to include personal bias, and this qualitative study is no different. Although the researchers took steps to acknowledge such biases during data analysis, another team may have come to a different consensus about the data. Future studies may benefit from the use of an audit by a panel of hip-hop identified youth. This would also align with the HHF goal of drawing on the knowledge of the collective (Durham, Cooper, and Morris 2013). Third, class is one social location that is known, to a degree, about the IG users in this study. IG presupposes technological access, provided that users can only create an account via smart phone or tablet application. Though one can log in to IG via the Internet, one cannot create an account on the Internet. As such, this study may exclude hip-hop identified youth who lack smart phone or tablet access. Alternative methods need to be used if one wants to determine how hip-hop songs impact individuals without access.
Conclusion
Using the songs “Started From the Bottom,” “Pour It Up,” and “Bad,” we evaluated the online performance of IG users, with a critical lens toward gender performance through the theo-retical frameworks of HHF and gender performance. The posts provided a snapshot of IG users’ engagement with commercially popular hip-hop songs. Their posts often mirrored and simultaneously contributed to the narrow range of acceptable gender performances in hip-hop. However, a smaller percentage highlighted the potential for IG to disrupt and expand upon current paradigms. Taken together, they suggest the need for critical media literacy as a social justice imperative to bolster conscious media creation and consumption.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
Della V. Mosley is a doctoral candidate in Counseling Psychology at the University of Kentucky. She has provided psychological services to marginalized youth attending education institutions in urban and low-resource communities for over a decade. Della is a culturally and contextually mindful scholar-activist whose work centers on creating, implementing, and evaluating interventions for youth of color. In addition, her research focuses on racial justice, gender socialization and sex education, and critical consciousness development. E-mail: [email protected]
Roberto L. Abreu is a doctoral candidate in Counseling Psychology at the University of Kentucky. Roberto’s research interests include sexual minority and gender expansive youth, with an emphasis
on Latina/o LGBTQ youth and parental, school, and community acceptance and support. Roberto is a member of the Psychosocial Research Initiative on Sexual Minorities (PRISM) research team at the University of Kentucky. Roberto’s clinical experience includes working with children and adolescents on the autism spectrum, LGBT teenagers and young adults, college students, immigrant families, and incarcerated men and women with severe mental illness. E-mail: [email protected]
Ashley Ruderman is a doctoral student in Gender & Women’s Studies at the University of Kentucky. She holds degrees in English from UK and Gonzaga University. Her dissertation research theorizes representations of lesbian criminality as they relate to state surveillance practices from the mid-century to present. E-mail: [email protected]
Candice Crowell earned her PhD from the University of Georgia in 2015. Dr Crowell’s research interests include sexual health broadly, with a specific, although not exclusive, focus on Black sexuality. Her secondary research focus includes cross-cultural education and training issues in psychology (e.g., social justice, cultural competence, and leadership). Candice employs an integrated use of interper-sonal process theory (Teyber model) and multicultural focus for her theoretical orientation. She has served as a leader in the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students, and the Society of Counseling Psychology. She is an APA Minority Fellow. E-mail: [email protected]
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