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Destiny M. Jackson
Professor Jon Beadle
English 115
31 October 2016
Tip Drills & Dollar Bills, Hip Hops Cheap Thrills
America is a country with many socially constructed beliefs and ideals prevalent
throughout the west. Advertisements, movies, television shows, and even music are all beloved
forms of media that help publicize images of perfection, social norms, ideals and constructions
all over the nation. More specifically, the most popular and youngest music genre of all, hip hop
has become one of the main sources of visual texts that exploit women and promote
hypermasculinity within our society. In the music video for the song, Tip Drill, by the
American rapper known as Nelly, many disturbing images shown in the video have spread
controversy across the country about the mistreatment and misrepresentation of women. First off,
the meaning of the term, tip drill, is a woman who is not attractive in the face but has a very
desirable body, therefore, with the title alone, the meaning of the song is presumable. The music
video basically consists of visuals objectifying and exploiting women. Most of the women seen
in the video are dancing in bikinis, some with their top off, to derogatory lyrics while money is
being thrown at them. One specific scene seen in this music video noted as the snapping point of
realization, would be the rapper sliding a credit card through one of the female vixens buttocks.
Due to the foreseen exploitation of women and the false depictions of males seen in this video,
Nellys Tip Drill song and music video is just one example of the multitudinous forms of
imagery in hip hop that support the social construction of gender and are responsible for

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advocating insecurities within men, false perceptions of womens role in life as well as
problematic violence and sexual behavior within American society.
The social construction of gender is basically a host of theories, ideals and roles
pertaining to males and females. Masculinity and femininity are both byproducts of this social
construct because they serve as guidelines about what is expected from each gender. According
to author Aaron Devor in his article, Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meanings of
Gender, society demands people to behave in a way most appropriate for their gender as they
progress throughout their lives; characteristics associated with masculinity are usually mirror
images of feminine characteristics, with masculinity usually characterized by dominance and
aggression, and femininity by passivity and submission (39). Moreover, these gender roles only
exist because of societies persistence to encourage them, especially within the media.
Throughout Nellys Tip Drill music video, the women are adhering to the standards of
femininity by serving as eye candy designed to satisfy an assumed male video audience,
affirming critiques of the culture as hyper-masculine and misogynist, as described by author,
Ayanah Moor in her article, Still (1). The media has the highest tendency to produce false
portrayals of reality in order to serve as a recipe for the way things should go for everyone else in
reality. Unfortunately, the representations of this video are just another form of societys
demands for the social meanings of gender.
Due to the prevalence of the social construction of gender and the over exaggerated roles
assigned to masculinity and femininity, it has become rather easy for the manhood of a male,
especially a rapper to become threatened. In his analysis of a play written by Heinrich von Kleist,
author John Lyon examines and questions the construct of masculinity, where masculinity is a

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precarious construct, one that functions within gender relations as a whole, and one that is
sustained only through both opposition and conformity to individual and societal pressures. Like
other systems and constructions in Kleist, masculinity is only temporarily stable and endures
constant challenges and threats of failure (169). Throughout the entire music video, Nelly and
his featuring artists are shown lip syncing over their lyrics at a party with all of their friends. As
well as the bold jewelry and all the dollar bills being flashed in the cameras, the objectification,
oversexualization, and demoralization of the women seen dancing around these men, is what
provides all the excitement and boosts the rappers manhood. Gender of a person is not natural,
though the sex of one is, this is why gender is vulnerable to repeated disruptions, and [there can
be many circumstances] when the fragile system of masculinity ruptures (Lyon 167). The only
reason why the frailty of masculinity remains is because characteristics of masculinity simply
cannot fulfill the feelings of sensuality that naturally occur throughout a mans life. Masculinity
is just a facade that men steadily have to maintain. Furthermore, hip hop is the disruption in
which a rappers manhood can be imperiled. Because of this, men can develop a sense of
insecurity within themselves about their manhood, leading to actions of hypermasculinity.The
genre itself requires a demand for male rappers and men everywhere to to openly display
characteristics of masculinity in order to be deemed normal in society, even if that means the
consideration of women as equal is receded.
In addition to the fragility of masculinity in hip hop, disrespectful images of women seen
in music videos are popular because they represent the social constructions of our society.
According to author Mako Fitts in Drop it Like it's Hot: Culture Industry Laborers and Their
Perspectives on Rap Music Video Production, Recent trends in mainstream, commercial rap

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music videos rely on formulaic video imagery that emphasizes rappers' accumulated wealth and
property (such as houses, cars, jewelry, and women)(1). This formula described, has developed
due the the social construction of gender. By women adhering to the principles of femininity, and
remaining as sexually appealing as possible, viewers, unfortunately, become more drawn to the
images. This formula has been the most successful one as it boosts the male ego in the hip hop
industry and excites the male and female viewers.
While many people feel that the derogatory content heard in hip hop are just lyrics or that
rappers are just trying to sell music, viewers take in these portrayals and images very seriously.
It is coherent that rappers must appeal to their viewers in order to increase their profits, but the
images they publicize obviously have too much controversy. Viewers subconsciously, absorb
the underlying messages present in music videos and other forms of media. According to author
Margaret Hunter, much public health research has focused on the relationship between rap
music and increased risk of substance abuse, violence, and "risky" sexual behaviors [...]. Recent
studies have shown clear relationships between the hours of music videos watched and negative
outcomes for young people. (Hunter). Furthermore, not only are the representations in Nellys
video inappropriate, they are encouraging violent and immoral sexual behavior. The conclusion
reached in the study described by Hunter was that African American girls who watched more
hours of rap music videos per week, were, at the end of the 12 month study, significantly more
likely to have hit a teacher, been arrested, had multiple sexual partners, contract a sexually
transmitted infection, and used drugs and alcohol (Wingood et al., 2003) (Hunter 11). Even
though, the rapper could have just been simply doing his job and promoting his music for profit,
the music and the images that came along served a deeper significance that has a negative impact

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on members of society. The overall message that provided through the content and portrayal in
Hip Hop music videos is evidently damaging to our popular culture. It is literally one of the
forms of publicity that nourish the ideals of gender. In addition, The flood of messages,
consumed through multiple media, socialize young women and men into a gender relation that is
not only unequal, but sexually violent. It is too often that women are portrayed as sexual object,
or as something that can bought. If young women and men are only shown images of objectified
women and hypermasculine men, that are clearly dishonorable, they are going to see what
society wants them to be.
Clearly the makings of Nellys Tip Drill song and music video were overall derogatory
and rather uncivilized. The imagery in the video was so powerful that it led to the
discontinuation of the television show that aired it. This music video, as well has had an overall
impact within American society. Nellys music video represents the everyday insecurities men
experience concerning their masculinity, societys expectations of a womans role in popular
culture, all while endorsing violence, sexual abuse, and public health issues involving sex.
Perhaps if the song had much more substance and meaning, the makings of the video would not
have had to rely on the ignorant portrayal of neither women or men for its popularity. Even
though the rapper received a lot of backlash and bad publicity after the video, it is not entirely his
fault for the message of the music video. The social construction of gender is the underlying
explanation for the meanings of the song and the images shown throughout the video because it
provides the basic principles of how things should play out and what roles each gender is
responsible or partaking in.

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Works Cited
Devor, Aaron. Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meanings of Gender. Composing
Gender. (1989): 35-43.
Fitts, Mako. Drop it Like it's Hot: Culture Industry Laborers and Their Perspectives on Rap
Music Video Production. Vol.8, No.1. Indiana University Press, 2008.
http://libproxy.csun.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/196933619?accou
ntid=7285
Hunter, Margaret. WOMEN OF COLOR IN HIP HOP: THE PORNOGRAPHIC GAZE.
Vol.16, No. . Race, Gender and Class, 2009.
Lyon, John. Kleist's Prinz Friedrich von Homburg and the Crisis of Masculinity. Germanic
Review 83.2 (2008): 167-188. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Nov. 2016.
Moor, Ayanah.

"Still." Meridians, vol. 8, no. 1, 2008, pp. 205-206. ,

http://libproxy.csun.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/196933525?accou
ntid=7285.
Nelly. Nelly feat. St. Lunatics -Tip Drill. Vimeo. 2012. https://vimeo.com/37841503

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