Author offers new take on hip-hop

By: Kristen Aufiero

Posted: 11/17/04

Gwendolyn Pough is new to Syracuse University, but she is already well known for her feminism and hip-hop activism.

Pough, a professor in the writing program, wrote a new book, "Check It While I Wreck It: Black Womanhood, Hip-Hop Culture and the Public Sphere," which has already received coverage and positive reviews in several magazines, including Vibe and Africana.

"Basically I thought there was a void in the scholarship and research concerning women and hip-hop," said Pough, noting that there haven't been any books written about the topic. "Hopefully my book will start a conversation and tell stories that have been missing."

The book analyzes and critiques the hip-hop culture in its broadest definition, from the beginnings of hip-hop as a youth movement to its penetration of mainstream music, fashion, movies and art, Pough said. It also addresses how feminism can engage hip-hop in ways that move beyond what it has been traditionally.

Pough said she hopes her message will reach the youth and evoke change.

"Hip-hop started as a youth movement. They saw themselves as making an impact," Pough said. "The book explores how to get some of that back, if possible."

She hopes her book will call attention to and heighten awareness of the roles women have played in hip-hop. The book gets people to think about things in different ways, she said.

"Our way of looking at occurrences has to change before we can see what impact women have had and open up to what kind of impact they can have in the future," Pough said.

Her book is about black womanhood and hip-hop culture. She looks at the representations of women in music, especially in hip-hop love songs.

"It's about how gender and ideas about heterosexual relationships are played out in these songs, and how women have used the hip-hop culture to make a space for themselves," she said. "In my discussion I try to look at things people wouldn't normally think of as positive."

Pough said hip-hop has changed, and she said she thinks the changes are mainly good ones.

"Now hip-hop is worldwide. There are hip-hop movements all over the world, in Japan, Germany, France, even Israel. The culture has expanded across the globe," she said.

She said she also believes hip-hop culture is male-dominated as a result of the nature of hip-hop itself and the way society values the capabilities of women.

"I don't think that there's a large space for women," she said.

Pough said the culture is still largely masculine, but some women have made their voices heard and are gaining more momentum.

"Unfortunately it is male-dominated, but there are artists who say that it doesn't have to be that way," said Kathryn Wilson, a junior majoring in political science and African American studies. "Lil' Kim, as a woman, is trying to level the playing field. This music transcends gender roles. It's about the power of black women."

Artists in other musical areas, such as Ma Rainey and Dinah Washington, have influenced female hip-hop artists like Lil' Kim, Wilson said.

"There have always been women involved," Pough said, citing Sylvia Robinson, the woman who founded Sugar Hill Records, as an example.

Pough completed the book after a year and a half, and the process was difficult at times with about nine months of revising with her editors. There are no rap lyrics in her book because of copyright purposes, and Pough said she tried to paraphrase the lyrics.

"That part of the process was a learning experience because I didn't know so many of these artists don't own the rights to their songs. It made me sad, because with rap lyrics, most of the time the artist is actually writing their own lyrics," she said. "But they don't get to own a majority of their rights. It's disheartening."

Now that the whole process is finished, though, Pough said she is just waiting for the reviews.

"I think it's written in a way that's accessible, and that people who are involved in hip-hop and hip-hop activism will like that aspect," she said. "I consider myself part of the hip-hop generation so it was nice to be able to write about it and think critically about it."