RA #3 Morgan

“From Fly-Girls to Bitches and Hos” was written by Joan Morgan, a writer and feminist, in 1999. This article explores how rap music has changed in the last few decades and what that means for the women involved – extreme prejudice and violence becoming more and more accepted and common. Morgan explains the urgency of her essay saying, “[w]e have come to a point in our history, however, when black-on-black love – a love that’s survived slavery, lynching, segregation, poverty, and racism – is in serious danger” (602). This serious danger is the increasing rate of violence between males of the African American community, as well as between males and females in the same community, which is exemplified by the increasing violence occurring in the lyrics of rap music. This article is aimed at many groups including feminists, the African American community (both to brothas and sistas), and America as a whole. Morgan claims that rap music is beautiful and powerful, but it also shows what’s really going on in the African American community: African American women are continuously degraded, abused, and objectified by their male counterparts due to a tremendous amount of pain these men are facing, but that cannot stop them from loving these hurting men and ending the vicious pain cycle.

Writer’s Strategy #1: Morgan uses the mode of compare and contrast in this article in describing the ongoing issue between male African Americans and the women in their lives. She does this mainly by expressing her findings from both a feminist and a “sista” perspective. An example of this would be in her introduction. Here she explains that because of her heritage, she adores hip-hop and rap, but because of her feminist views, she feels as though she cannot support it because of being continuously reduced to “tits and ass” (602). Because of this, the development of her points is clear, well rounded, relatable, and a really interesting duel personality.

Writer’s strategy #2: Another mode employed my Morgan is that of Aristotle’s Appeal of pathos. Because of Morgan’s close ties to the subject matter, this article is extremely emotionally driven – not to say that she does not use logos or ethos, because those are extremely present as well – and really helps her analysis of the heart of the matter. To clarify, this can been seen as she talks about Notorious B.I.G.’s life using phrases such as “divulged his inner hell” and even his own lyrics from “Everyday Struggle” revealing that he was “plagued with guilt, regret, and depression”, going on to explain the end result: his suicide (603). Morgan’s descriptions show the reality of what this community is experiencing in an extremely heart-wrenching manner.

Writer’s strategy #3: Cause and effect plays a very large role in this article as well. Morgan’s overall claim is a manifestation of cause and effect. The cause is men feeling pain. The effect is the pain is taken out on each other and women rather that dealing with the pain in a healthy matter. This causes more pain and even lives lost. Morgan’s argument is to stop the cycle of pain and instead let the causes effect in a way of producing love for these hurting individuals.

My response: I really enjoyed this article and I think Morgan made great points using many of the modes to support her ideas. The fact that she used both perspectives of feminist and sista in her article really helped me understand. Being a white girl from a wealthier portion of California, I have no experience when it comes to the African American community. I also don’t listen to rap so I had no idea things were so extreme in that culture. The great thing about this article is that her advice can really apply to everyone, not just the African American community. One argument that I do have comes from her explanation of “black-on-black love”. That love is what carried them through slavery, lynching, segregation, etc. From what I have learned in history, African American men have been severely abusing women since the slavery days as a result of feeling out of control, much like what is happening in rap music today. From my knowledge, abuse is not new to this culture; it has just taken a new form. Other than that, I thought this article was really intriguing.