Will Time Ever Be Up for Hip Hop?

This Buzzfeed News article analyzed why highly successful rappers have not yet felt any damage to their careers despite their public knowledge of abuse. From XXXTentacion to R. Kelly, the article goes deep on the links between a rapper's history of sexual violence and their success. The article offers a couple of explanations as to why this is the case, from the historical racism of weaponizing false accusations against black men or to the lack of protection for black women. A quote from Cardi B sums up the lack of protection black women face in hip hop, "A lot of video vixens have spoke about this and nobody gives a fuck. When I was trying to be a vixen, people were like, ‘You want to be on the cover of this magazine?’ Then they pull their dicks out. I bet if one of these women stands up and talks about it, people are going to say, ‘So what? You’re a ho. It don’t matter.’" Like we've discussed with the Sapphire stereotype of black women and the crooked room, when a black woman acts as a Sapphire in the crooked room for the sake of profit, people still commodify her as profit and expendable. Her own dignity is erased and her valid concerns about violence is equally erased.