A young woman with a sultry stare, a gyrating behind and skin-baring clothes sways to the music with a dozen other girls. They each rub up against a rapper as he swears at them in his lyrical rhymes.
The women appear nonchalant and unaffected by the rapper's words as they continue to perform as a backup to his act.
Repeated sexualized images like this one in rap videos and demeaning lyrics in rap music have some MSU women feeling frustrated and powerless in the face of a booming industry.
A real woman
The images - often of black women - have been consistent and constant in the hip-hop world, MSU Urban Dreams dancer and human biology junior Janica Davis said.
"Some of the time, there is real dancing, but it's just a snippet," she said. "They don't even want real dancers - they just want to see girls shake their butts."
Davis and other members of the dance group, who practice as many as two nights a week, said that such depictions have a negative impact on body image and pose a threat to self-esteem.
"None of the videos show a woman as being an educated individual holding her own," said Terika Westbrook, president of Urban Dreams and a foodservice management and human biology junior. "It never shows the side of being a real woman.
"Women are sex symbols who have to have bodily curves or a cute face."
Westbrook said women probably are objectified more than men because male images may not be as well received by male viewers as female images are received by female viewers.
"If a male turns on the TV and sees another man half-naked, he turns off the TV or starts changing channels," she said. "A woman can sit and watch (other women) and be OK. Our mindsets are different.
"A lot of women are more comfortable with their sexuality."
A look back
Rap hasn't always been a venue to degrade women, said Isaac Kalumbu, an MSU music professor who teaches classes on Motown music, black music in America and African pop music.
Kalumbu said rap's roots are based in something positive. It was meant to divert kids' attention from drugs and gang violence to something more meaningful, he said.
"Rap music is a product of the inner-city African American community in New York in the early 1970s," he said. "It began with social activists like Afrika Bambaataa, who formed the Zulu Nation in 1974 as a way of discouraging youths from violent competition. Bambaataa encouraged them to come together to compete in creative ways through various facets of hip-hop culture."
Kalumbu said these nonviolent forms of competition included emceeing, break dancing and graffiti. But in the past few decades, it has deviated from teaching youth to promoting glitz, glam and bling bling, he said.
"Later on, in the '80s and '90s and up until now, rap rapidly became a commercialized product rather than a cultural form," he said.
Kalumbu said rappers are now responding to consumer wants in America, which include negative lyrical references and crass depictions of women.
"It appears as though the sex thing is selling, so they are quite happy to be doing that at the expense of the dignity of women," he said.
Female competition
Interdisciplinary humanities junior Nadia Bazzi said the depictions unfortunately affect the way females act with each other.
"Rap is causing a lot of competition in women," she said. "Everybody wants to be the prettiest, everyone wants to be the sexiest, and everyone wants a guy to want them.
"It's like they create what's beautiful and we're supposed to react to it."
The created beauty sometimes presents a false sense of what's attractive racially, as well, she said.
Some women, such as psychology freshman Hanya Ombima, said they noticed a transition from showcasing darker-skinned girls to lighter-skinned girls in the recent years.
Ombima said she personally is offended by this trend.
"To me, it's very insulting because I'm darker skinned, as opposed to a mixed girl who has a more commercial look," she said.
Bazzi said the image of "sexy" is in the middle of the racial spectrum, and most women - white or black - are trying to achieve it.
"White women want to be like girls in the video, too," she said. "Everybody wants to be somebody different.
"Nothing is good enough anymore."
Cultural impressions
To some, the female representations in rap culture appear to be nothing more than a business move.
"It's just marketing," said local rapper Jay Burns. "Sex appeal is popular. I'm not trying to justify it; I'm just saying that's what's proven to be valued and that's what people do."
Burns, or "Mr. Burns" of Phineqx Entertainment in Lansing, makes and produces music with his brother, Seyque DeVeux, and friend Andrew Powell.
The company, which was created in 2001, produced a 15-track CD in 2002 called "PE 2003." The rap and R&B compilation consisted of collaborated music by various artists.
Burns said that lately, artists have been using rap as a means to achieve money and women without paying attention to the art.
"It's unoriginal," he said of the subject matter. "They could do something a little more creative, because I think it's just getting old."
Burns said that although rappers are blamed for the controversial lyrics and female depictions, they can't be held solely responsible.
"Superstars have bosses just like us," he said.
There is a definite pressure to be trendy, he said, and the artists shouldn't be criticized for it.
"A lot of times, they're pressured to tone stuff down. Record companies say, 'Don't really talk about that, that's not selling,'" he said. "They don't care about the story and they don't care about the art - if you're not selling records at the end of day, you're going to get dropped."
But the images confuse young girls and their goals in life, said Tiana Hall, a Spanish and advertising junior and assistant performance director for Urban Dreams.
"If I was younger, I would think, 'I want to look like her.'" she said. "'If that's what's on TV, that's what guys want.' I would think, 'I want to look like her, dress like her, act like her. Maybe then I'll get males.'"
But prenursing freshman Emery Hanna said he understands artists are primarily concerned with selling a product, not degrading women.
"I'm old enough to know that the artists are just writing to make money," he said. "And if people are buying their CDs and producers are making money off of them, then I don't know why people complain about it."
A change in the music
More than 30 years after rap originated in the United States, some say it could shift back to its positive influences.
The industry has been dominated by male artists, but Nadia Bazzi said there are now female rappers with good messages - and they're a welcome change.
"I love to hear female rappers rap about independence and about being classy," she said. "At the same time, there are some female rappers who call themselves 'bitches' and 'hos.' Take Lil' Kim, for example - she's not a role model."
Jay Burns said artists, such as Kanye West, who incorporate positivity into their raps, now are gaining more attention.
"He came at the industry at a different angle," he said. "He was a breath of fresh air and people think he's a genius right now."
Professor Isaac Kalumbu noted that Afrocentric, Christian, and humorous rap are genres that do not rely on negative lyrics and images, but as long as negative images are what consumers want, then they will be around for a long time.
"It's a straightjacketing of the culture from which it comes," he said.
Bazzi said regardless of which direction rap turns in the future, right now, the music negatively influences relations between genders.
"How are you supposed to teach young boys to respect women when everything is 'bitch' this, 'ho' that?" she said. "If they listen to music that says they have to respect men, but men are not going to respect them, then that's what they're going to follow."
