Respectez-nous as We Feminize the Rapped Rhyme
that “ French ‘ anti-racism ’ has not succeeded in changing racist attitudes towards France ’ s ethnocultural communities . For example , instead of formulating anti-racist policies and collecting anti-discrimination statistics , the country “ contents itself with anti-racist discourse and magical thinking .” 2 In short : From a federal government point of view , it is better for France not to revisit colonialism and other divisive subjects in favor of national unity , as a way in which to protect and preserve a cleaner collective memory . Kokoreff argues that issues facing populations of color are rarely discussed at all anywhere in France , unless one concentrates on deviance and other sociological ills that take places in areas where minority populations reside in large numbers ( such as in the Paris suburbs ). As for women from ethnocultural or visible minority communities , Fleming states that their stories are rarely heard at all . That said , French youths of color have found a unique niche in terms of talking about their “ space ” and any issues relevant to them : Via Hip-hop music , songs , and rap lyrics .
Even though global hip-hop culture is assumed to be the domain of young men , women have also played a major role in rap , and gender motivates the topics and subjects that are discussed in their songs . Berry and Rose ( Black Noise , The Hip-Hop Wars ) posit that males in hip-hop usually rhyme about social dichotomies such as racism and other issues that focus solely on the masculine urban experience ( e . g ., police harassment , crime , street violence ). This means that the thematic material in their songs is spatially limited , because men rap by using language associated with power and dominance . However , female rappers also breach social issues in their lyrics , but their narrative tends to focus less on the above-mentioned themes and more on equality and social issues . Strausz and Dole argue that the subjects that are heard in songs re-
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