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Missy Elliotts Career and Queer Representation in Hip-Hop
The discussion of gender stereotypes and queer representations in music is especially valid in the hip-hop genre that has been subjected to racial and gender limitations for the longest time. In the modern era, the attention of hip-hop audiences is primarily focused on the question of whether there is a place for queer representation in the hip-hop community. Nowadays, self-identifying as representative of the LGBTQ community is not substantially threatening to the hip-hop career, and lately, there have been significantly more black queer rappers, such as Lil Nas X and Tyler, the Creator. However, a couple of decades earlier, it was hard for straight women like Missy Elliott to succeed in hip-hop if they did not fit specific appearance standards. This paper will analyze the problems caused by imposed frameworks of the hip-hop genre, how Missy Elliotts queer behavior can be interpreted as both queer and straight, and evaluate current queer representation in hip-hop.
A close examination of Missy Elliotts personal life and career allows a better understanding of her tomboy aesthetic. According to Witherspoon (2017), Elliott grew up in an extremely poor troubled family, and her father often expressed abusive tendencies that made Elliott worry about her mothers life and safety. While there are no explanations for an individuals style preferences, in the case of Missy Elliott, one could suggest that the pressure of witnessing her parents abusive relationships influenced Elliotts perceptions about femininity and fragility. Therefore, it could be that through the trauma from her fathers abuse and in providing support to her mother at a relatively young age, Elliott was forced to draw upon her inner sense of masculinity. Thus, such explanation of Missy Elliotts gravitation towards the masculine style of clothes and behavior addresses the fact that despite the publics confusion, Missy herself identifies as straight.
Moreover, for a long time, the hip-hop industry expressed double standards where labels did not want to sign artists with low chances of becoming popular but let the rejected artists work on producing music. For example, Kanye West also struggled for a long time to get a record deal while he was already famous for his work as producer of Jay-Zs tracks. The feeling of extended rejection from the industry contributed to the rappers rebellious and controversial attitude. In Get Your Freak On lyrics, Missy Elliott (2001) challenges gender stereotypes by exhibiting the mix of both attractive feminine behavior and masculine commanding tone. Elliotts rebellious and challenging attitude in the song could be acknowledged as an act of frustration of being unsuitable to womens appearance standards in the predominantly male hip-hop industry.
Lastly, coming back to the topic of gender and sexuality in the hip-hop and music industry, the case of Missy Elliott illustrates that certain behaviors generally associated with queer sexuality can have different explanations. According to Strand (2020), challenging gender stereotypes allowed women to change the dynamics of femininity and patriarchy in hip-hop industry. Missy Elliotts career illustrates how an individuals input to the development of the hip-hop industry depended on sexual identification, even though her sexuality can be interpreted as both queer and straight. In a recent track, Thats What I Want, Lil Nas X (2021) touches on the subject of complex sexuality in questioning whether his partner got G or the B, referring to gay and bisexual attractions. Therefore, I selected the new academic article and new media content because they emphasize that by imposing restrictions on queer representation, the hip-hop industry dismisses the complex aspects of the theme of human sexuality. They should be included in the course as illustrations of the topic of queer sexuality depicted in modern hip-hip culture.
References
Elliott, Missy. 2001. Get Ur Freak On. Genius. Web.
Lil Nas X. 2021. Thats What I Want. Genius. Web.
Strand, Karla J. 2020. Where the Binary Never Ruled. The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide 27(5): 35-36.
Witherspoon, Nia. 2017. Beep, Beep, Who Got the Keys to the Jeep? Missys Trick as (Un)Making Queer. The Journal of Popular Culture 50(4): 871-895.
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