Where My Girls At?
“: Image of Female Hip Hop Artists and the Promotion of Female Identity” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the NCA 93rd Annual Convention, TBA, Chicago, IL, Nov 14, 2007
The talented young star of the movie ‘Akeelah and the Bee,’ Keke Palmer, is going through what a lot of young African American entertainers are going through. It is the struggle to stick to your true identity in an industry that wants to paint you with the same stereotypical brush it does so many young black female performers. Just imagine being a young artist seeing your white female counterparts selling millions of records and selling out concerts. They get to sing songs of female empowerment, while the same industry people want young, black divas to sing songs that are sexually suggestive. Early in October, Keke and her mother wrote an open letter protesting her record company’s wanting her to sing songs which she and her mother consider inappropriate for Keke’s age group and inconsistent with her wholesome image. Consequently, they refused the record company’s request, and rightfully so. Like many other young stars who want to branch out in all segments of the industry, Keke Palmer
