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Essay 2 is out of a possible 24 points. Essays that earn all 24 out of 24 possible points meet the following
criteria. If any deductions are taken, they are explained in the in-line comments and/or final comments in
red (where you can also find the final grade) at the end of the actual essay, before the peer review letters.
This time I will state how many points per area were deducted along with the general comment on the
execution.

Organization

 The introduction is inviting, clearly explains the relationship between masculinities and
violence, and provides both necessary background information and a map of what
follows
 The body paragraphs are presented in a logical order, vary the evidence, and maintain
interest
 The conclusion summarizes the paper’s main points without raising new information

Thesis, Description, Interpretation, and Analysis

 There is one clear, strong thesis on how the cultural object reinforces or resists gender
ideologies or how the social group is affected by the various data that support the
argument.
 Detailed descriptions allow the reader to visualize the cultural object and introduce
specific elements that will be analyzed and interpreted.
 There are robust and sophisticated analyses and interpretations of the cultural object or
experience of the social group based on a sprinkling of different examples and data
sources.
 There is support for each point made in the analytical paragraphs from course readings or
external research, when applicable.
 Dedicated through and research is evident.

Writing

 There are no errors in grammar, mechanics, and spelling

 The writing is clear and convincing
 Word choice is creative and enhances the argument

Citations

 Each statement that should be cited is

 In-text citations are accurate in style and content
 Reference list includes every work cited in-text in proper format
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Erica Warner

Professor Tramontano

Gender and Masculinities

26 November 2019

Cardi B’s Popularity and Success

These days, to make it in the rap world, a female artist must be aggressive and masculine

in order to be accepted by listeners and other rappers. The majority of rap listeners are male and Commented [MT1]: Cite Jamerson or another internet
or academic article to substantiate this claim.
use rap music as a way to show their masculinity or the masculinity they want to attain; this has

made it almost impossible for females to become rappers (Jamerson). Because music is a

gendered social institution, and rap music creates a discourse that showcases manhood and Commented [MT2]: You haven’t established this yet.
So you must explain or cite.
hostility, female rappers must use their femininity and claim masculine qualities in order to gain Commented [MT3]: Are these two opposite or
contradicting expectations? Explain.
popularity. Cardi B resists music’s prevailing gender ideologies by claiming masculine qualities Commented [MT4]: Who? I mean, I know, but you can’t
just casually refer to a pop culture subject without
explanation.
through her body and lyrics in order to gain dominance and popularity in the rap community.
Commented [MT5]: If it’s expected for all female
rappers to do so how is she resisting?
This essay will focus on Cardi B and how she has gained fame and success by emulating

the masculinity that male rappers have. She has earned three number-one singles on the

Billboard Hot 100 chart and is the second female rapper to top the chart. She is the only female

rapper to put multiple number-one songs on the chart and has broken numerous streaming

records, along with winning a Grammy for one of her albums (Cardi B). Her music style is often

described as “aggressive rap” and the subjects of her songs often relate to money and/or sex,

things that are usually considered to be masculine. Commented [MT6]: Move this up and end your intro
with a map of what’s to come.
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The Rap Community's View of Women

Rap music creates a discourse that perpetuates sexism and pushes women out when they

don’t produce masculinity in a way that men want. The Brew Podcast used social media to make Commented [MT7]: Cite or substantiate. You have
some data that follows but none that supports this
claim per se.
a list of the 50 best rappers of all time, and not a single woman appeared on the list. Because the

majority of rap listeners are male, it is hard for female rappers to gain popularity like a male

rapper would. In J’na Jamerson’s article, “Why Are There so Few Women in ‘best-of’ hip hop

polls?” she states, “there are certain standards that female musicians are told to abide by in order

to gain acceptance through the eyes of male fans and industry powerbrokers”(Jamerson). For

women who rap this includes being aggressive and sexualizing themselves as a man would

sexualize himself. The act of sexualizing oneself is considered masculine and is seen in many

male rappers’ lyrics and album covers. A woman who sexualizes herself is exhibiting a

masculine quality that will help her gain a following in the rap community because male listeners

will relate. In contrast, a woman who gets sexualized is seen as feminine and vulnerable which

are qualities that rappers are not supposed to have. Because of this, popular female rappers will

show their dominance and power by making their lyrics, music videos, and overall image sexual.
Since the music industry is male-dominated, most agents of socialization for rap artists
like recording studios, production, and songwriting focus on showing toughness and lack of
Commented [MT8]: You need to clarify this writing and
give examples for it to make sense to your reader.
Commented [MT9]: Cite. How do you know anything
about what the culture is like in recording studios etc.?

femininity. Because of this, female rappers must show masculine qualities to be accepted by their

audience and record labels, but simultaneously become less accepted by male rappers within the

industry. This is shown by recent statements by Jermaine Dupri, a male rapper. Dupri argued that

women should not be rapping because “they're all rapping about the same thing." He insinuated

that all female rappers are rapping about “their pussy,” and it reminds him of “strippers

rapping”(Corry). Females that rap about this content are showing their power by sexualizing
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themselves. Since this goes against rap culture’s institutionalized gender norm of males putting

females is a subordinate positions, male rappers will also reject female rappers because of this. Commented [MT10]: I see your effort in building a
theoretical framework here. Please try to make clear
how your analysis will look at agents of socialization,
cultural norms, discursive formations, and the body.
You kind of touch on some, but not all, and your
Method of analysis connections and relationships are not explicit.

In this essay, I use the concept of the A/not A column to describe Cardi B’s relationship

to masculinity through her music career. Created by Marisa Tramontano, a sociologist, the A/not

A column indicates levels of privilege. The A column is a place white, cis, heterosexual, wealthy

men occupy and is also a place that all other people attempt to reach through exaggerating a part

of their identity that can give them access to this column. Society oppresses people who fit into

the not-A column, so people will find ways to put themselves in the A column. For example, a

gay man might try to show his dominance over women in an attempt to show enough masculinity

to get into the A column. Rap culture has created a slightly different A column for the rap

community. It still includes cis, heterosexual, wealthy men, however, it is beneficial to be black

rather than white. Cardi B is in the A column for being black, heterosexual, and wealthy, so she

uses these qualities to try to fully fit into the A column for the rap community and compensate

for being female. Commented [MT11]: This paragraph needs to move up

into your conceptual section. So in addition to my
comment about needing to formulate a theoretical
framework about the relationships of the unit’s topics,
you should also explain how you’ll use A/not-A, which
Cardi B doesn’t work very well without explaining
hegemony/subordination or marginalization.

Cardi B’s first mixtape ‘Gangsta Bitch Music Vol.1’ uses an image of her and a man as You don’t need to know this in year 1, but methods of
analysis would me you gathered x number of pics,
song lyrics, interviews with her, etc. that you organized
the cover. The cover of this mixtape features Cardi B sitting in the backseat of a car with a black and coded in a particular way, not what you have here.

interior sipping a 40oz Corona beer with her legs wide open. The only visible clothes that she is

wearing is a black bra. There is a man facing away from the camera who appears to be white

with tattoos covering his upper back, shoulders and arm, and he appears to be performing oral
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sex on her. She is showing a lack of attention to the man as she faces the camera and only

acknowledges him through the gesture of her hand forcing his head down. Commented [MT12]: Good description.

Gangsta Bitch Music Vol.1

Because Cardi B is female, she must access masculinity with her body in the same way a

male rapper would by showing off her sexuality and dominance. She gains her masculinity

through the power she has over the man in the photo. She enforces the masculine standards that

Jamerson suggests female rappers must follow by sexualizing her body and rejects the common

belief that women should be submissive to men. Through the imagery of the mixtape cover art,

Cardi B conveys that she is masculine because she has conquered the white man with her

sexuality and a masculine, white man, is the epitome of hegemonic masculinity (Connell 76).

Cardi B’s owns her sexuality and shows dominance and power by putting a hegemonic man in a

subordinate position, therefore she is moving towards the A column to compensate for being

female. Commented [MT13]: This interpretation is exactly what

should follow the description, it’s just muddled because
you haven’t developed your conceptual section well.
Not only does Cardi B use her sexuality to gain masculinity by showing her power over

the man in the photo, she also uses her body to exhibit masculine qualities and demonstrate

authority to push herself into the A column. She does not sit with her legs crossed in the way
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society considers to be feminine; instead, she sits in a masculine manner with her legs spread,

taking up space. Her tattoos are showing, letting the observer know that she is strong enough to

handle pain. It is common among rappers to have tattoos to show their tolerance for pain and

strength. She is also seen drinking a beer, which is a gendered object and usually seen as

masculine. Sociologists use gender as a verb when talking about the process by which

“something becomes coded as masculine or feminine” (Wade). Society sees beer as a man’s

drink so Cardi B is showing that she can be like a man by drinking a 40oz beer. By taking up

space, drinking a masculine drink, and showing her tattoos, Cardi B uses her body to exhibit

masculine qualities.

In order to fully understand how Cardi B’s production of masculinity is crucial to her

popularity, one must look at an example of a female rapper who does not choose to sexualize

herself as a man does. For instance, Psalms One is a rapper who has been making music longer

than Cardi B but is substantially less popular. In contrast to Cardi B’s album covers Psalms

One’s body appears docile and small in her covers. She is sitting on the ground with her legs

crossed in a manner that could be considered feminine in front of a white backdrop. She is

wearing a black long sleeve shirt with denim overalls and silver shoes with long black socks that

almost reach her knees. Her body is mostly covered besides her legs being exposed. She has a

passive look on her face and has her arms crossed over her legs. Commented [MT14]: Excellent contrast, but you haven’t
sold me on how what Cardi B does is masculine and
not just sexualizing (since you didn’t corroborate that
sexualizing one’s self is a masculine act in your
conceptual section).
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Psalms One

Psalms One’s album cover is much different than Cardi B’s because she does not exhibit

any masculine or powerful qualities. Her album cover is less sexual and provocative than Cardi

B’s, and she shows no aggression. Since Psalms One is apart of the rap community, she is still

apart of rap culture’s misogynistic socialization, but instead of conforming to masculine

standards to become popular, she enforces rap music’s gender norms by being feminine and

submissive. Because she abides by rap music’s structure of gender by being feminine, she does

not connect to rap music’s predominantly male audience. Her record label considers her to be an

“underground artist” because she does not conform to standards that society puts on female

rappers (Rhymesayers Entertainment). She appeals to a small and specific audience because she

does not associate with rap music’s male listeners. She looks at rap music as something that

doesn’t have to be masculine or feminine so she does not try to push herself into the A column to

make up for being female. Because she does not force herself to exhibit masculine qualities, she

does not gain followers like Cardi B, someone who displays strong masculine traits.

Lyrics Commented [MT15]: I like the subheaders separating

the images from the lyrics.
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Cardi B’s song “Bodak Yellow” topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for three

consecutive weeks, making her the fifth female rapper to ever lead the chart (Cardi B). This song

gained massive popularity and Cardi B continues to use her body to push herself into the A

column. In the song she says,

“They see pictures, they say, "Goals,"

bitch, I'm who they tryna be

Look, I might just chill in some BAPE,

I might just chill with your boo”

Rap culture places a high value on having wealth and associates money with power. Commented [MT16]: Cite, substantiate, even just the
Belle article or one of the news pieces you’ve used.
Cardi B continues to try to move towards the A column by focusing on her masculinity through

wealth. In “Bodak Yellow,” she prefaces with the fact that her body is “Goals”, or ideal/perfect

because one can see her wealth through what she wears. She expresses that she casually wears

the brand BAPE which is an expensive streetwear brand. When she is wearing expensive clothes,

like BAPE, she is demonstrating the masculine quality of having money. She goes even farther

with her lyrics by saying because she wears expensive clothing, she “might just chill with your

boo”, meaning her wealth gives her power over other women because she can take their

boyfriend. Using wealth to display power over women is common in the music industry because

many artists are socialized to show dominance. Cardi B is enforcing this by adding to the

discourse with “Bodak Yellow” that she can also show power over women even though she is a
woman herself.
Commented [MT17]: This is better than the analysis of
the album cover, but still suffers from the weak
conceptual section to set you up. You might have said
earlier: discourses about capitalism and masculinity are
linked in such a way that control over wealth is a part of
hegemonic masculinity so when women highlight
wealth it is a means to access the power of hegemonic
masculinity….for example.
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In Cardi B’s song “I Do,” she is blatantly saying she has the masculine qualities that male

rappers have by showing she is as mean and aggressive as them with her lyrics even though she

is a female. She pushes herself into the A column by demonstrating her ability to rap like male

rappers by saying,

“I'm a gangsta in a dress, I'm a bully in the bed

Only time that I'm a lady's when I lay these hoes to rest”

She claims her masculinity by saying she is a gangsta which is synonymous with being

aggressive and violent, qualities that rappers often use to show dominance. This pushes her

towards the A column because she has the aggression and hard lyrics men do. She shows how

this translates into her socialization with men in the next line when she backs up her claim of

aggression by saying, “she’s a bully in the bed.” She is proving that her body lets her be as mean

and confident as other rappers. In the last line, she shamelessly rejects the idea that she acts like a

lady and proves this by showing that she can be demeaning to other females like male rapper’s

lyrics commonly do. She demonstrates masculinity through aggression and her willingness to

subordinate feminized women. Commented [MT18]: Just those two examples?

Cardi B goes against rap culture by renouncing her femininity and claims masculine Commented [MT19]: Subheader for conclusions?

qualities in order to gain popularity amongst male listeners. She goes against rap music’s

structure of gender and puts herself in positions of power by using her body to show her

sexuality and wealth along with aggressive lyrics that put other women and men in subordinate

positions. Cardi B shifts rap music’s discourse that often perpetuates the ideology that women

should be feminine by showing that women can also exhibit masculine qualities through her
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songs and album covers. Not only does she show that women can do this when compared to

other rappers like Psalms One it becomes clear that female rappers have to do this so a man can

listen to her music and relate.

Hi Erica, I’m sure you put a lot of effort into this essay, but it is not much stronger than the first.

The conceptual section does not draw on course content enough, nor is it written or organized

clearly. The analysis has descriptions, interpretations, and comparatives, but the lack of

conceptual clarity or use of literature makes it very hard to substantiate your claims. It’s also

much thinner in terms the breadth of data you use to back up what you’re saying. Because of

these issues I am deducting one point for organization (the intro/conceptual

section/analysis/conclusions needs to flow better), one point for writing (a lot of the issues are

due to imprecision in your writing), two points for thesis/description/interpretation (you don’t

use enough data, nor to you interpret it in ways that uses course content to show how discourses,

culture, and instiuttions produce Cardi B’s gender expresion) and one point for citations (you

barely use any – you should have at least used Belle, and if you weren’t you should have used

other literature about women in hip hop.

Grade: 19/24
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Work Cited

Cardi B. “Bodal Yellow, I DO.” Invasion of Privacy, Atlantic recording corporation,

2018, Tracks 4 and 13. Spotify,

“Cardi B.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Nov. 2019,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardi_B.

Connell, Raewyn. “Social Organization of Masculinity.” Masculinities, Sage

Publications, 2018.

Corry, Kristin. “Women Should Rap About Whatever They Want.” Vice, 15 July 2019,

www.vice.com/en_us/article/597vkn/women-should-rap-about-whatever-they-want.

Jamerson, J’na. “Culture - Why Are There so Few Women in 'Best-of' Hip-Hop Polls?”

BBC, BBC, 8 Oct. 2019, www.bbc.com/culture/story/20191007-why-are-there-so-few-women-

in-best-of-hip-hop-polls.

“Psalm One.” Rhymesayers, rhymesayers.com/artists/psalmone.

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Tramontano, Marisa. “Insecure Hegemony: the Cultural Construction of ‘Righteous

Retaliation’ in the Hunt for Osama Bin Laden.” CUNY Graduate Center, 2018.

Wade, Lisa, and Myra Marx Ferree. Gender. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2019.

Erica,

I had fun reading your paper and enjoy the topic a lot! It is very interesting and I like how

contemporary it is, it really brings the discussions were been having in class to a close in a way that they

make sense in our lives and culture. Overall I think all the content is super good and you do a good job of

integrating the topics we have learned in class. One thing that I think could be improved is the structure of

the essay. I think that all the information is useful, but not particularly in the order it is in. I also think

some information could use some more context. For example, when you bring in the second rapper,

Psalms One, you don’t really acknowledge why talking about this artist is relevant, or what it has to do

with Cardi B. Providing more context around her would strengthen your essay. I also think that when

speaking about Cardi B specifically, you talk about how she is viewed in the rap world, but I think adding

some information about how she chooses to present herself, could also build up the paper. For example,

talking about how she sexualizes herself, and how that simultaneously is powerful because she takes

power in her own body, but also she is allowing others to sexualize her. Otherwise, I like how you used a

paragraph to describe what the A/not A column is, I think it allowed for clarity later on in the essay and

was a great incorporation. I think when it comes to the image of Cardi B’s mixtape specifically, the essay

would benefit from you referencing the image itself more specifically. I also think when it comes to the
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description of the objects (like the mixtape cover and her song lyrics) first talking about what the object is

and then talking about the implications it has could help structure the argument. I like your analysis of the

images and lyrics you used, and overall enjoyed the paper!

-Alyssa

Alyssa,

Thank you. I agree that the essay needs more context and to be restructured. I

refined my argument throughout the essay and took your advice on how I use Psalms One

in my paper and introduce her in a new way that gives more context on how she contrasts

Cardi B. I also made my analysis more about her body, how she sexualizes it, and what

that says about masculinity by referencing the photos and quotes.

-Erica