Numerous genres of music are listened to and enjoyed by many people around the world.

While people may not enjoy the same type of music as one another, they listen to music for the same reasons. Music is a form of entertainment, people listen to it to relieve and eliminate stress and pressure, to help them get work done, and the songs people listen to are usually a reflection of their current emotions and feelings. Hip Hop is a culture consisting of four main elements the MC, the DJ, graffiti and breakdancing. Hip Hops roots can be traced back to places and groups such as Africa and the Griots and Brazil and the Capoeira. Hip Hop has become a construction which is being absorbed and accepted by the masses. When people believe and accept that Hip Hop culture and music are accurate representations of black people and how men and women should act they are getting a single story. A single story is a narrow representation or one version of something. Hip Hop culture contains elements of hyper masculinity, homophobia and misogyny, which are being spread to an abundance of people who are exposed to hip hop culture. Hyper masculinity is exaggerated stereotypical male behaviour; it is a negative feature of Hip Hop. Hyper masculinity is connected to misogyny, which is also discussed in the documentary. Misogyny is the extreme negative representation of, treatment, views and attitudes towards women. Byron Hurts Documentary Hip Hop: Beyond Beats& Rhymes states that black men feel there is pressure placed on them by fellow black people and society to get the respect that they were once denied, so they assert themselves through dominance over others. In hip hop music videos viewers observe men doing this by adopting violent behaviours, calling people offensive names and treating women unacceptably, they feel that by doing this they are real men and therefore their manhood wont be questioned. In Hip hop culture women are sexually objectified, viewers of the documentary see this through the Nelly music video clip shown. In the music video he swipes a card down a womans backside. Academic professionals state that hip hop culture sends out the message to men and women, that women are eye candy; that women dont matter and are worthless. Byron Hurts addresses and critiques the topic of hyper masculinity and misogyny effectively through interviewing academic professionals, famous hip hop musicians and

aspiring rappers. This strategy allows viewers of the documentary to listen and see the issue of hyper masculinity through many perspectives which are both trustworthy and relatable. If people base what they believe about black people and how men and women should act on hip hop culture they are getting a single story. Misconceptions created by the single story will lead to issues such as increased numbers of violence against women, increased numbers of men and women with low self-esteem and image, and decreased levels of acceptance and tolerance towards black people. The woman in the Ted Talks Video, Chimamanda Adichie, states that the problem with single stories is that they rob people of their dignity, it removes human equality and emphasizes differences rather than similarities. Byron Hurts documentary also addresses and critiques homophobia in hip hop. Homophobia is a range of negative attitudes, feelings and aversion to homosexuality and homosexual individuals. The documentary comments on men calling each other feminizing names. The action of degrading others through words is a way to demean others and a way to make people feel powerful and others powerless. The documentary successfully conveys that homophobia is an issue and is a part of hip hop. The Documentary accomplishes this by Byron interviewing Timm West who is a gay rapper, he says there is not a lot of love for gay people in hip hop. Homosexual people are contributors to hip hop; they should be accepted and respected by their fellow artists and the public. Byron Hurts attempts to pose the question of homophobia in hip hop to successful rapper Busta Rhymes, but he says he cant answer and that its wrong and walks away. Busta Rhymes disappointing avoidance of the topic homophobia shows viewers that homophobia is a part of hip hop and that people feel that by not discussing it and denying it that the problem will disappear. Homophobia in hip hop conveys the single story that being sensitive means one is not a real man; that having feminine characteristics is wrong and that treating people disrespectfully and hatefully just because they are different is okay. As stated in the Ted Talks video, The Danger of a Single Story if people are shown as one thing over and over again that is what the people become. If people continue to be consumers of hip hop culture and fail to critique the dominant discourse in Hip Hop and in our society they will continue to go unquestioned and remain unaddressed.

The single stories of hyper masculinity, homophobia and misogyny will continue to be what our society considers normal.