VOA慢速英语2018--说唱歌手

The Women of Rap

When musician and producer Sylvia Robinson first met young artists Big Bank Hank, Wonder Mike and Master Gee¹ she gave them a name: The Sugarhill Gang.

And in 1979, she produced their first single, Rapper's Delight.

The song was a quick hit in the United States. It is widely considered to be the song that introduced the “rap” sound to the corporate² world.

In the 40 years since, hip³-hop⁴ has become a multi-billion dollar industry. According to a recent report by the Nielsen broadcast rating company, hip-hop is more popular than rock and pop for the first time in history. The report was released at the end of last year. It found that, out of the top 10 most-consumed music albums, seven of them came from hip-hop.

Sylvia Robinson, who died in 2011, was known as the “Mother of Hip-Hop.” But, in general, women within the genre⁵ are not as recognized as men.

Hip-hop, unquestionably, remains⁶ a male-dominated industry.

Charis E. Kubrin is a professor of Criminology, Law, and Society at the University of California Irvine. In 2009, she released a joint⁷ study with Ronald Weitzer. Their research examined misogynistic⁸ themes in rap songs. The study looked at over 400 rap songs from the 1990s.

Out of all of the songs they examined for the study, Kubrin noted⁹ that only 13 of them were by female rappers.

“That doesn’t mean that female rappers didn’t exist…Recall that these are commercially successful platinum¹⁰ albums. And so, you know, of course the question becomes, ‘What happens that female rappers are not making it to these highest levels?’”

The University of Southern California Annenberg Inclusion Initiative is a research and advocacy group. In January, it released the results of a six-year study on inclusion within the recording¹¹ studio. The study found that, from 2012 to 2017, women represented less than 23 percent of artists whose songs made Billboard¹²’s Hot 100 list.

The study also showed that more than 90 percent of Grammy award nominees¹³ between 2013 and 2018 were male. And, it found that out of 651 music producers, only two percent were women.

This lack of female artists shows how difficult it has been and continues to be for female rappers to break through, Kubrin says.

“I keep waiting for this golden year, this golden time period to happen for female emcees, and I feel like the structural¹⁴ forces of the industry, right, all of these things are so strong that I’m not quite as optimistic as I used to be.”

Last October, Cardi B became the first female rapper since Lauryn Hill in 1998 to have a song top the Billboard Hot 100 chart with no other credited artists. For fans of female rappers, this marked a moment of hope.

And yet, in some ways, Kubrin feels that things have moved backwards¹⁵.

There have been some female artists that have broken through, like Nicki Minaj. However, they remain the exceptions.

Kubrin says that many of the difficulties female artists faced in the 1990s are still present today.

She said, “The gatekeepers in this industry, are mostly men- and there’s challenges that occurred back in the 90s that we’re still seeing today…”

Female artists add much-needed diversity to the sounds of the hip hop industry, Kubrin says.

“You can look today and find lots of female rappers. Perhaps they’re not making it in the mainstream¹⁶ right, they're not having those platinum albums, but boy are they bringing a diversity of perspectives...”

Efforts like, “Where My Girls” are providing more opportunities for female involvement within the music industry.

New York-based rapper Dai Burger launched “Where My Girls” in October. She named the initiative after her 2017 song. She hopes “Where My Girls” will empower young girls and help them find their music interests.

"Just thinking with the idea “Where My Girls,” it prompted us to, you know, maybe start an initiative where we could bring the younger girls in and, you know, maybe find their musical voice or production voice, you know, just something I never had when I was a kid, so if you can find out young, it's gonna be great, you know?"

I'm Ashley Thompson. And I'm Caty Weaver¹⁷.

Words in This Story:

hit - n. a song that is really popular

dominate - v. to have control over

misogynistic- adj. reflecting a hatred¹⁸ or distrust of women

platinum- adj. an album that has sold over one million copies

inclusion- n. to make a part of something

optimistic- adj. when someone expects good things for the future

gatekeepers- n. people who control access to something

challenges- n. difficult problems

diversity- n. the state of having different types

perspective- n. a way of thinking about something

opportunity- n?. an amount of time or a situation in which something can be done: chance

initiatives- n. a program that is created to solve a problem

empower- v. to give power to

1 gee   

n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转

参考例句：

• Their success last week will gee the team up.上星期的胜利将激励这支队伍继续前进。
• Gee,We're going to make a lot of money.哇！我们会赚好多钱啦！

2 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

3 hip   

n.臀部，髋；屋脊

参考例句：

• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

4 hop   

n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过

参考例句：

• The children had a competition to see who could hop the fastest.孩子们举行比赛，看谁单足跳跃最快。
• How long can you hop on your right foot?你用右脚能跳多远？

5 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

6 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

7 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

8 misogynistic   

参考例句：

• And it brings out everything that is most noxious and misogynistic about the right. 而且，这种情绪也流露出右派思想中最为保守有害，歧视女性的那一面。 来自互联网

9 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

10 platinum   

n.白金

参考例句：

• I'll give her a platinum ring.我打算送给她一枚白金戒指。
• Platinum exceeds gold in value.白金的价值高于黄金。

11 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

12 billboard   

n.布告板，揭示栏，广告牌

参考例句：

• He ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business.他把精力投入到父亲的广告牌业务中。
• Billboard spreads will be simpler and more eye-catching.广告牌广告会比较简单且更引人注目。

13 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

14 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

15 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

16 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

17 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

18 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。