Alternative Representation of Women in Hip Hop

This music video by beyonce above shows an alternative representation of women as beyonce is the main centre of attention and it seems to be she is in control of everything and she seems to have all the power for example on 1 minute 30 seconds in the video you can clearly see that she has a fan made of money which signifies her high status and position which is shown throughout the music video. The lyrics also had a major importance as it states 'a diva is a female version of a hustler', which could indicate women are now getting to the same level as men in the hip hop industry because many rappers refer to themselves as hustlers. In addition the women in the music video are at times shown to be sex objects however it is in there control as beyonce has decided not to reveal everything which once again shows her power.

Also referring to the clothing you can see in the video that at one point beyonce is dressed as a manly figure and the other two girls behind her are shown to dressed as sexy glamourous women which once again shows that she is in control of what she wants to wear and perhaps that she doesn't need male attention. Close up shots are used when beyonce is singing/rapping which illustrates her once again to be in power, Also the fact that beyonce decides to rap in the video is a major key factor because she normally sings and never raps, so to show her rapping once again shows that she has the authority to do whatever she wants and nobody can stop her. In addition throughout the whole music video you can see in the mise en scence not once you can see a male in the video which is very rare to find in hip hop videos as they are always dominated by men, which shows that it is men who are now the inferior.

The choreographing of the music video contradics the typical female dance routine as in this music video beyonce shows alot of attitude alot of the time shows the typical male attitude by the way she moves her hands and it seems to be very rough and masuline, you can also see from her facial expressions that not once she smiles which also occurs in male hip hop videos so you can see that beyonce has made an identical typical male hip hop video which shows another side to females.

Beyonce and the other two female dancers have dressed in a very powerful way as in the beginning of the video you can see that beyonce is wearing golden glasses which connotes her richness and power as the colour gold is seen to be very expensive, also the colour gold comes up again when she is surrounded by gold statues which once again connotes power and wealth, however this statues could also have another meaning such as they could be men in her eyes, and because they're all statues could indicate that she is in control because the 'men' cannot move or do anything about the fact that she is in control.

The other two dancers you can see are dressed in black in white throughout the whole video which could indicate many things as the colour white could be representing women as peaceful heavenly like human beings, however the fact that they are also wearing black could connote that they have a dark side and that women are not as innocent and quiet and that they can now voice their opinions. However even though the two dancers are seen to be wearing revealing themselves a little, also shows once again that they also control how much they reveal.

Some would argue that the females in the music video are trying to take up a males role by coming across as forceful and aggressive but I feel that they are just taking up an alternative representation in the hip-hop/rap industry and they are choosing not to be subordinated and treated like sex objects as they subverts the stereotype attached to females in the hip-hop/ rap industry as being just decoration that stand in the background looking pretty dancing away. They have chosen to not show too much flesh and use close up shots to emphasise their legs or chest and be objectified.

Overall in the hip hop industry for many years it has been dominated by males and the only place for females was to be sex objects or nothing else. However in todays society it has all changed as videos such as Beyonces Diva show that the patriarchy that use to take place has demolished and even artists now like Nikki Minaj has followed in beyonces footsteps and made music videos which shows her and women are now in power