Pop culture music

Rap music is the latest African American cultural commodity to titillate white audiences. Not only has this music become increasingly popular among white Americans, but its characteristics have infiltrated numerous aspects of mainstream white culture including its fashion, movies, and vocabulary. Most striking is the embrace of this traditionally black cultural item by young, white males. 

Throughout this study, all of my informants implied that an overtly masculine culture surrounds rap music. According to their responses, barring a few minor exceptions, such as L'il Kim, Foxxy Brown and Mary J. Blige, females are virtually non-existent in this culture as performers or purveyors of rap music, although they are often the subject of rap songs. My informants' responses also belied their adherence to traditional stereotypes about masculinity and femininity, i.e. that men act and women are acted upon.