Cycles of Abuse and Forgivemness

It’s hard to deny the fact that hip-hop has become one of the most popular music genres, it’s artists sign multi million dollar deals with record labels, fashion lines, and even major alcohol brands. The dominance of hip-hop in modern day culture is undeniable, but what’s even more powerful is the ability of hip-hop artists to influence others. Many artists have come forward to fight against a multitude of issues such as gun violence, minority incarceration, and African American rights. They have the ability to spread impactful messages through their music and their actions, but it seems that artists pick and choose which issues they want support. One specific issue that lacks attention is domestic abuse. Intimate partner violence has been issue ignored by many prominent artists in hip-hop since creation in the 1970. Artists such as XXXtentacion, R Kelly, Dr. Dre have lengthily records of domestic abuse, yet it didn’t stop other artists from collaborating with them. The adoration of their fans seems largely unchanged and this begs the question of why people seem less concerned and more forgiving of hip hop artists who commit domestic abuse and how do we hold them more accountable for their actions?

Maybe the first step should be to stop giving them so much financial support. Bitch media, a website focused on highlighting and advocating feminism in pop culture and media, has a short article by Jasmine Burnett that highlights the problem with profiting form abuse stating that:

“The hip-hop community, and the music industry that profits from it, have always accepted Black men’s violence against Black women and rewarded them with success. From Dr. Dre assaulting his ex-girlfriend Michel’le and journalist Dee Barnes to Tupac spending eight months in prison for sex abuse to XXXTentacion’s sophomore album? Debuting at the top of the Billboard 200…. violence against women has been commonplace and occurs with -out serious consequence”

It seems that no matter what kind abuse male artists inflict upon women they are seen as a minor offenses or just another popular headline on social media. Being wrapped up in intimate partner violence can have little effect on an artists and in many cases can even help boost their popularity as seen with the case of XXXtentacion. Being surrounded by controversy can often attract more attention than was lost in the first place.

Too often do artists never admit to any wrong doing, but are still forgiven by their listeners after a short time has passed. People do have the ability to change for the better and it is ok to eventually forgive artists for what they’ve done as long as they seem genuinely sorry about it. When people are so easy to forgive it creates a culture where the problem never truly gets solved and the life and health of the victim is viewed to be less than the of the abuser. It’s become easy for fans to completely ignore the person that has been abused and instead focus on the perpetrator of the violence because they have a presence in media. Forgiveness can come more naturally when fans are not able to see both sides of the issue completely, which may contribute to why Hip-hop artists don’t’ see a reduction of music sales even after they are apart of controversial intimate partner event.

There is no certainty to how long it will take for hip-hop to change its ways and be more vigilant and judgmental when it comes to issues of domestic abuse. It’s become too much of a common issue, fans and artists alike are to easy to dismiss an abusers wrong doing, but with vigilance and stricter consequences for guilty musicians it may be possible to change things for the better and reduce the amount of incidents. It will take everyone coming together and having an open discussion about the issues and laying down concrete barriers to those who are guilty of abuse. As the genre continues to grow it will depend on the new wave of young talent to set a standard that their predecessors couldn’t and finally treat their partners with the respect and the dignity that they deserve.