"Who(se) am I?: The Identity and Image of Women in Hip-Hop," written by Iman Perry identifies the different aspects in women hip-hop culture. In her essay, Perry attempts to educate the public regarding gender politics in hip-hop (Perry, 2003). She first argues that there is a negative social impact on our society through the portrayal of black women in hip-hop music videos. She then explains how feminist recording artist respond to this concern. Perry goes on to discuss that feminism and female subjugation often represents the difference between the record company image and the artistic creation. While Perry states many accurate comments about women in hip-hop and supports her opinion with distinct examples to support her argument, her main concern is "the interplay of visual and linguistics text, the image and words" (Perry, p.135, 2003). In contemporary hip-hop, there is a battle between female objectification and feminism, fought between male hip-hop artists and the record companies versus female hip-hop artists. .
Perry begins her argument explaining the transformation of black women's bodies in hip-hop videos over the past years. Women in hip-hop videos were objects to the spectator. "The male stars of the video do not get these legions of women because of charisma or sexual prowess rather they are able to buy them because they are wealthy" (Perry, p.137, 2003), states Perry. The blinging jewelry and the nice cars show the artist wealth as do the females in the videos. Women are usually not a narrative to hip-hop video; however, they are sexual objects that just dance around in skimpy clothes. Perry believes young women who watch these videos will be influenced by the women and will want to become similar to them. She then identifies the difference between African American and Caucasian women in the videos. The video focuses in the behinds of females with darker skin and faces of lighter skinned.
