#MeToo

Though Tarana Burke was not named Time’s Person of the Year until 2017, she began using the phrase more than a decade before that. Burke ran Just Be Inc., a nonprofit supporting young, mostly Black, kids in Selma, Alabama. When one of her students disclosed the abuse she was suffering at the hands of a family member, Burke felt unable to help her but thought silently to herself “Me Too.” She then found that just those two words could open up not just comfort for survivors of sexual assault, but create a network of survivors and raise awareness, hold abusers accountable and — hopefully — prevent more abuse. #MeToo became a viral movement on social media however, when in 2017 actress Alyssa Milano tweeted in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein allegations.  

In October 2017, The New York Times and The New Yorker reported that dozens of women had accused the American film producer Harvey Weinstein of rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse over a period of at least 30 years. More than 80 women came forward with allegations against Weinstein and he, a 72 year old man, is currently serving a 16 year sentence in LA. The New York Times and The New Yorker later shared the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for their “explosive, impactful journalism that exposed powerful and wealthy sexual predators” and led to a “worldwide reckoning about sexual abuse of women.”

Sexual assault survivors, though overwhelmingly female, are varied and each experience is unique. Still eight out of 10 sexual assault victims knew their attacker with 39 percent of attackers being an acquaintance and 33 percent are a current or former spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend, according to RAINN. The #MeToo movement has in fact improved the lives of many survivors. According to Pew Research:

As the five-year anniversary of #MeToo approaches, Americans see some changes in how sexual harassment and assault are handled in the workplace. Seven-in-ten U.S. adults – including majorities across demographic groups and partisan lines – say that, compared with five years ago, people who commit sexual harassment or assault in the workplace are now more likely to be held responsible for their actions. And about six-in-ten say that those who report harassment or assault at work are now more likely to be believed. These views are echoed even by a majority of those who oppose the #MeToo movement overall.

We all know that hip hop has been marked by its own controversies since its origins. Because hip hop has been a way for young, usually Black, usually male, artists and businessmen to generate wealth and impact culture in a society that does not prize young Black men, there has been a culture of protecting and shielding everyone, whether they deserve it or not, from public – and perhaps more importantly white – scrutiny. For a community who carries the stories of boys like Emmett Till, there is always an extra air of suspicion around allegations of abuse when levied against powerful Black people but there have been reports of this abuse from hip hop’s most powerful men since the gate. 

Dr. Dre, Biggie, Tupac, LA Reid, Russell Simmons, Snoop Dogg, Suge Knight, R. Kelly and, perhaps most notably Diddy, have allegations that date back to the 90s and stretch decades into the present — and these are just the names that are said loudly. Other names – Jay-Z, Common, Kanye, Rick Ross, etc. – are said more quietly. As Taylor Chapman points out in her Time article “Hip-Hop Needs a #MeToo Reckoning”, the Black women who survive these assaults, are rarely afforded the same protections. Dee Barnes who accused Dr. Dre of assault was made a punchline by him and Eminem:

On “Guilty Conscience,” a single from the 1999 The Slim Shady LP, the hip-hop duo said, “You gonna take advice from somebody who slapped Dee Barnes?/ What you say?/ What's wrong? Didn't think I'd remember?/ I'ma kill you, motherf-cker.” Then, in 2007, fellow rapper Redman made another reference to Barnes on “Get ‘Em,” a track from Red Gone Wild: Thee Album. “You get slapped like Dee Barnes, Doctor, not Dre, And eating - but, I'm after the entrée!,” said the rapper.

There is a direct line from Torey Lanez shooting Megan Thee Stallion to the Kendrick Lamar/Drake rap beef – and even in their shots back and forth, each accused the other of physical and sexual assault against Black women and girls. Diddy was not taken down by the decades of allegations against him, but the leaked video evidence that proved them.

Misogynoir, a term coined by Moya Bailey was developed to describe “the specific hatred, dislike, distrust, and prejudice directed toward Black women.” It is a continuation of the concept of Intersectionality, coined by scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, which was initially defined as the unique forms of oppression that Black women face. Now, the term has become more mainstream and is conceptualized as the experiences faced by those with intersecting identities. Misogynoir can be to blame for why #MeToo seems to be less effective in Hip Hop, an idea that is constantly reified by the music itself. A 2009 article written by Sociologist Ronald Weitzer and criminologist Charis E. Kubrin, both of George Washington University described five main misogynistic themes: 

• derogatory naming and shaming of women, 
• sexual objectification of women, 
• distrust of women,
•  legitimating violence against women
• celebration of prostitution and pimping.

Hip Hop is not the only musical genre that perpetuates this view of women, though hip hop is the "dominant musical genre" in the U.S. music industry and, since 2009, outsells any other U.S. musical genre. Many rock, country and pop artists have glorified violence against women in their songs as well. The opening lyrics of The Beatles’ 1965 song “Run For Your Life” are:

“Well, I'd rather see you dead, little girl
Than to be with another man
You better keep your head, little girl
Or I won't know where I am”

Hip hop is not the root of the violence, just suffering from the same symptoms of all of society and not all its victims are women, though an overwhelming number are. Still, some of its biggest monsters are experiencing a reckoning. Tory Lanez is serving 10 years in Los Angeles following the shooting of Meg Thee Stallion. R Kelly is serving a 30 year sentence for his crimes. Diddy is currently awaiting trial in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Dr. Dre pleaded no contest to the assault on Dee Barnes and settled a $22 million lawsuit out of court (the actual award is unreported). He also apologized in his 2015 documentary The Defiant Ones. 

“This was a very low point in my life,” said Dre. “I’ve done a lot of stupid s— in my life. A lot of things I wish I could go and take back. I’ve experienced abuse. I’ve watched my mother get abused. So there’s absolutely no excuse for it. No woman should ever be treated that way“

He continued, “Any man that puts his hands on a female is a f—ing idiot. He’s out of his f—ing mind, and I was out of my f—ing mind at the time. I f—ed up, I paid for it, I’m sorry for it, and I apologize for it. I have this dark cloud that follows me, and it’s going to be attached to me forever. It’s a major blemish on who I am as a man.”

And others still have evaded justice — Russell Simmons has been “retired” to Bali since 2018 and Indonesia has a no extradition treaty with the US so if he never returns, he will never be charged.