The Jay-Z allegation once again reveals a culture of impunity in hip-hop

[Mosby]

It's been a rough year for prominent men in hip-hop. As a tidal wave of accountability continues to sweep the industry, the fallout from Sean “Diddy” Combs’s arrest continues to dredge up even more alleged horror stories. This time, it’s Jay-Z who is in the hot seat after an amended lawsuit filed in federal court this week alleged that he and Diddy took turns raping an unnamed 13-year-old girl during a VMAs afterparty that Diddy hosted in 2000. Diddy and Jay-Z deny the accusations.

As unsurprising as some have found the accusations – given the pair’s decades-long friendship and Jay-Z’s own eyebrow-raising alleged history with much younger women – Jay-Z’s response to this lawsuit and the blowback from his supporters is a stunning display of the culture of silence and complicity in hip-hop which continues to harm women and girls.

Jay-Z himself isn’t a newcomer to rumours about inappropriate relationships with minors. For years, speculation about the timelines and natures of his relationships with Foxy Brown, Aaliyah and eventually Beyoncé (all of whom are significantly younger than Jay-Z and were teenagers when they met him) have put him in the category of, at the very least, “Questionable Man”.

That’s why it was even more appalling to watch the typically measured, always calculated rap mogul release a statement that was condescending, un-self-aware and smacked of the smug overconfidence of someone who has operated with god-like status for so long that they don’t know what the rules even are, let alone that they have to follow them.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/13/jay-z-rape-allegation-impunity-hip-hop

[live love laugh]

1. I have a problem with entertainers getting more "press" then a pedophile world ruler.

Fuck the media.

[Skittles]

5. I have a problem with a culture where wealthy men get away with sex crimes

well, it caught up with these two and Epstein, at least

[hlthe2b]

2. I cannot begin to understand the violent misogyny that was not only accepted but integral to rap music's

incredible emergence as a dominant genre. I get the angry messaging in its historical development-- but the horrific denigration of women--given the almost reverential role black mothers have in culture is impossible for me to understand*.

Beyonce is an enigma as well to me on this score.

I have to wonder if this debacle as it unfolds with more revulsion daily---will change anything.


(*and yes, it occurs in other genres of music, but arguably not commonly)

[stopdiggin]

3. in response to final line

Yes, certainly - various music (and film, and half a dozen other 'disciplines' if we care to think on it ) had/have well known examples of exploitation ...

But the absolute rioting and raging misogyny of the early rap scene ... Was sadistic and repellent on a level all its own. Even the people 'in the scene' knew they were rearing up something - particularly vile.

[Elessar Zappa]

4. Rap was a lot worse in the late 80's and throughout the 90's.

I do listen to it occasionally but with eyes wide open to the misogyny. It has gotten much better the past twenty years (changing from violent misogyny to more garden variety) but there’s still a lot of progress to be made.