ES 397 Blog 3
Fly Girl
Female hip-hop artists are known for using their words, attitude and appearance to articulate their identity in ways more than just making themselves look foxy, but as a notion to address the issue of feminism within society.
In the 1970’s blaxploitation films emerged within the United States. Originally made for a urban black audience, the genre soon appealed to a wide variety of of people, especially women. Why you ask? Not because of the dry humor, or funky music but because of the fly girls. Fly was a term used to describe someone in women’s clothing that had fashionable hairstyles, jewelry and cosmetics. The style grew from the various female characters within blaxploitation films. Some films include, Foxy Brown, Superfly, Shaft, and The Mack. The “fly” persona in these films influenced a wave of Black contemporary youth who in turn resurrected “flyness” and its continuum in hip hop culture. This was most influential towards black women than any other race. The black fly girls express a growing awareness of their erotic selves by sculpting their own personas and as “writing their own bodies”. At the time society might have had control over what women of color were able to do, but the fly girls weren’t going to let anybody control what they looked like, how they acted or what they said. “Women who have worked hard to keep our bodies in shape; we’re proud to show them off, we’re not ashamed of our sexuality; for we’re Salt-N-Pepa, sexier and more in control” - Salt-N-Pepa.
Appearance is one thing, but let’s talk about words and attitude. U.N.I.T.Y., words spoken directly from Queen Latifah, and also the title of her hit song. The first real lyrics of the song are “who you callin’ a bitch?” From the get go you can tell she’s got an attitude and she’s expressing her feelings in a way where any normal person wouldn’t want to retaliate. I’ll post a link of the music video below but within the video Queen Latifah is standing in front of a large group of people, hence uniting with others. She’s expressing visual examples of what she’s talking about in her song. Her dress isn’t your typical girly girl attire, she’s wearing a lot of different styles, representing personal attitude and self-identity within the hip-hop culture. Later in the video she struggles from domestic violence and stands up to revolt, in doing so this lyrically and visually represents the movement of women’s rights.
Regardless of who it’s coming from, a powerful voice, a fly style and a strong attitude are elements within the hip-hop culture that can define the beginnings of a movement within society.
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