1. A superficial journey through the role of
women in african-american music

2. Blues & Jazz
● 10s & 20s Underground, marginal,
rural blues
● 1920 First recording 'Crazy→
Blues', from Mamie Smith and the
golden era of blueswomen.The
blues is a commercial hit.

3. Blues & Jazz
Ida Cox' 'One Hour Mamma'
I've always heard that haste makes waste
So I believe in takin' my time
The highest mountain can't be raced
It's something you must slowly climb
I want a slow and easy man
He needn't ever take the lead
Cause I work on that long-time plan
And I ain't a-lookin' for no speed
I'm a one hour mama
So no one minute papa
Ain't the kind of man for me
Set your alarm clock papa
One hour, that's proper
Then love me like I like to be
I don't want no imitation
My requirements ain't no joke
Cause I've got pure indignation
For a guy what's lost his stroke
She is not a
passive actor in
the relation.
She
presents her
Impressions and
needs about sex.

4. Blues & Jazz
Went out last night, had a great big fight
Everything seemed to go on wrong
I looked up, to my surprise
The gal I was with was gone.
Where she went, I don’t know
I mean to follow everywhere she goes;
Folks say I’m crooked. I didn’t know where she took it
I want the whole world to know.
They say I do it, ain’t nobody caught me
Sure got to prove it on me;
Went out last night with a crowd of my friends,
They must’ve been women,‘cause I don’t like no
men.
It’s true I wear a collar and a tie,
[...]
Ma Rainey's 'Prove it on my blues'
Speaking openly
about going out
and about her
lesbian condition

5. Blues & Jazz
● 40s-50s: Jazz reaches the great
audience
● Jazz divas are quite different from
blues divas Industry starts to define→
the product.
Target audience: wasp society
(white, anglo-saxon, protestant)

6. Soul & Funk
● 50s/60s Ceasefire in gender war→
● Black Middle Class (Wasp model transferred) →
Black Capitalism Motown→

7. Soul & Funk
I Want a Guy, byThe Supremes
I want a guy to love me
One who will love me completely
Not like the last
Who's in the past
Who broke my heart and made me cry
I wish that he could come and kiss me
And tell me that he misses me
I know someday
He'll come my way
And I'll never be lonely again
I don't need riches like diamond rings
As long as he loves me, that's everything
As long as he holds me tight
As long as he treats me right
I'll never let him out of my sight
I want a guy with a love that's true
One that I can tell my troubles to
He'll be my guy
And stay by my side
I'd be so glad if I only had
A guy, a guy
Why can't I have a guy?
A guy?
Traditional white
ladies outfit
The classical wait for a Prince
who shall come and save the
dimsel in distress
Woman's life is not fullfilled
and happiness is not reachable
without a man

8. Soul & Funk
Four Women,
by Nina Simone
My skin is black
My arms are long
My hair is woolly
My back is strong
Strong enough to take the pain
Inflicted again and again
What do they call me
My name is Aunt Sarah
Aunt Sarah
My skin is yellow
My hair is long
Between two worlds
I do belong
My father was rich and white
He forced my mother late one
night
What do they call me
My name is Saffronia
My skin is tan
My hair is fine
My hips invite you
My mouth like wine
Whose little girl am I?
Anyone who has money to buy
What do they call me
My name is Sweet Thing
My skin is brown
And my manner is tough
I'll kill the first mother I see
My life has to been rough
I'm awfully bitter these days
Because my parents were
slaves
What do they call me
My name is PEACHES

9. Soul & Funk
My skin is black
My arms are long
My hair is woolly
My back is strong
Strong enough to take the pain
Inflicted again and again
What do they call me
My name is Aunt Sarah
Aunt Sarah
My skin is yellow
My hair is long
Between two worlds
I do belong
My father was rich and white
He forced my mother late one
night
What do they call me
My name is Saffronia
My skin is tan
My hair is fine
My hips invite you
My mouth like wine
Whose little girl am I?
Anyone who has money to buy
What do they call me
My name is Sweet Thing
My skin is brown
And my manner is tough
I'll kill the first mother I see
My life has to been rough
I'm awfully bitter these days
Because my parents were
slaves
What do they call me
My name is PEACHES

10. Soul & Funk
● So far, black circuit or Black
Capitalism avoids to take part
in the Civil Rights
Movements
● Respect, by Aretha Franklin,
becomes an unwaited anthem
in the movement
● Black Pride or Black is Beauty
● End of 60s/Beginnings of 70s:
Political contents and critical
messages are adopted by the
Black Capitalism

11. Soul & Funk
● 1973 First Black Feminist→
Association
● Black Panther and Black
Nationalism Movements
● The new style getting more &
more success is called FUNK,
and the name is James
Brown (mysoginist, capitalist,
egomaniac, tyrant)

12. Soul & Funk
It's my thang, by Marva Whitney
It's my thing, I can do what I want to do
You can't tell me who to stock it to
Think, by Lyn Collins
But let me tell you something:
The sistas aren't going for that no more
'cause realize two things
That you aren't doing anything for us,
We can do better by ourselvesMessage from the soul sisters, by
Vicki Andersen
Bros don’t feel bad and hide yo’ face, but
if you don’t give me what I want, I got to
get it some other place.

13. Soul & Funk
I'm gonna run it down to y'all
Tell them anything you wanna now
I ain't nothin but a nasty gal now hey hey
I said you said I was a bitch now
Didn't ya didn't ya
You said I was a witch now
I'm gonna tell them why I'm gonna tell
them why
You used to love it ooh to ride my broom honey
I used to love it ooh I used to love to
Ride the range with ya baby
sing the song sing the song
I ain't nothin but a hey hey
nothin but a hey hey
I said you said I was an evil wench oh
didn't ya didn't ya
You said I was an alley cat
I'm gonna tell them why I'm gonna tell them why
You used to love it oh when I'd scratch your back baby
I used to love it when you did it
When ya did it to me real good
ooh lawd ooh lawd
Oh you know how you did it to me so good a hey hey
I said you went around tellin everybody
Yea you just put me down now
You dragged my name in the mud all over town
I'm gonna tell them why
you said I didn't treat you I didn't know you
I didn't love you well you know you lied
Yes you did I used to leave you hangin in the bed
by your finger nails screamin
Tell the truth tell the truth
I ain't nothin but a nasty gal now
A hey a hey a hey
I said you said I turned you on I turned you inside out
I even turned your head around now
You said I loved you every way but your way
But if I really did him in I say why he want this
Nasty gal back again
So you can finish what you started
And I will give it to ya you can have it
Come on take it now
Well well well ooh lawd
I ain't nothin but a nasty gal now a hey hey
I said you said I turn you on I turned you
inside you
She enjoyed an
egalitarian attitude on
the bed
This attitude isn't
proper for a girl,
that's why he is
damaging her
reputation

14. Hip-hop
● Hip-hop influencies every other
style: r&b, nu soul, nu funk...
● Mainstream hip-hop portrays a
radical distance between men &
women, a hypermasculinity and a
widespread misogyny

15. Hip-hop
● One of the first gods in hip hop
was Tupac Shakur
● He was misogynist in some songs,
and represented a “real rapper”
(violent, rude, risky...)
● However, he did some “feminist”
songs, that even brought him some
enemies and critics
● KeepYa Head Up (fragment),
byTupac
Time to heal our women, be real to our women
And if we don’t we’ll have a race of babies
That will hate the ladies, that make the babies
And since a man can’t make one
He has no right to tell a woman when and where to create
one
So will the real men get up
And since we all came from a woman
Got our name from a woman and our game from a woman
I wonder why we take from our women
Why we rape our women, do we hate our women?
I think it’s time to kill for our women
If we wouldn't come
from a woman,
shouldn't we be
respectful?
Free
abortion!

16. Current black capitalism
At the beggining of the song:
Now put your hands up
Up in the club, we just broke up
I'm doing my own little thing
Decided to dip but now you wanna trip
Cuz another brother noticed me
I'm up on him, you're up on me
Don't pay him any attention
In the bridge, the summum of the song,
the chant of independence is over:
Don't treat to these things of this world
I'm not that kind of girl
Your love is what I prefer, what I deserve
He's a man that makes me and takes me
And delivers me to a destiny, to infinity and
beyond
Pull me into your arms
Say I'm not the one you own
If you don't, you'll be alone
And like a ghost I'll be gone
Ok, single
ladies are
free
BUT
Single ladies are free... to choose her own
owner. Then she will act as the Disney
princess all women have to be

17. Current non-commercial
● Erykah Badu
● Jill Scott
● Me'Shell Ndegeocello
● India.Arie
● Rachelle Ferrell
● ...

18. Current non-commercial
● She always wear tuxedo as a way of
protesting against gender roles
● Her last song, Q.U.E.E.N. is a direct attack
against the attitudes that girls are not
approved to adopt for the fact of being girls
Q.U.E.E.N, by Janelle Mónae
Hey brother can you save my soul from the devil?
Say is it weird to like the way she wear her tights?
And is it rude to wear my shades?
Am I a freak because I love watching Mary? (Maybe)
Hey sister am I good enough for your heaven?
Say will your God accept me in my black and white?
Will he approve the way I'm made?
Or should I reprogram the programming and get down?
Even if it makes others uncomfortable
I wanna love who I am
Even if it makes other uncomfortable
I will love who I am

19. Current non-commercialI can't believe I love the things they say about me
Walk in the room they throwing shade left to right
They be like ooh, she's serving face
And I just tell em, cut me up, and get down
They call us dirty 'cuz we break all your rules down
And we just came to act a fool, is that all right
They be like Ooh, let them eat cake
But we eat wings and throw them bones on the ground
Am I a freak for dancing around? (queen)
Am I a freak for getting down? (queen)
I'm cutting up, don't cut me down
Yeah I wanna be, wanna be
Is it peculiar that she twerk in the mirror?
And am I weird to dance alone late at night?
And is it true we're all insane?
And I just tell 'em No we ain't" and get down
I heard this life is just a play with no rehearsal
I wonder will this be my final act tonight
And tell me what's the price of fame?
Am I a sinner with my skirt on the ground?
Am I a freak for dancing around?
Am I a freak for getting down?
I'm coming up, don't cut me down
Yeah I wanna be
Hey brother can you save my soul from the devil?
Say is it weird to like the way she wear her tights?
And is it rude to wear my shades?
Am I a freak because I love watching Mary? (Maybe)
Hey sister am I good enough for your heaven?
Say will your God accept me in my black and white?
Will he approve the way I'm made?
Or should I reprogram the programming and get down?
Even if it makes others
uncomfortable
I wanna love who I am
Even if it makes other
uncomfortable
I will love who I am
Dance 'til the break of dawn
Don't mean a thing, so duh
I can't take it no more
Baby, we in tuxedo groove
Monae and E. Badu
Crazy in the black and white
We got the drums so tight
Baby, here comes the freedom
song
Too strong we moving on
Baby there's melody
Show you another way
This joints for fight unknown
Come home and sing your song
But you gotta testify
Because the booty don't lie
No, no, the booty don't lie
Oh no, the booty don't lie
Yeah
Yeah, Let's flip it
I don't think they understand what
I'm trying to say