Alongside Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, hip-hop culture will also be on trial

Earlier this month, the world was shocked by the arrest of one of the most successful music moguls in the history of rap, Sean “Diddy” Combs, at a Manhattan hotel on charges ranging from sex trafficking and aiding in the transportation for prostitution to racketeering.

The 55-year-old rapper’s arrest and subsequent indictment were the result of a ten-month investigation that began after several women publicly accused him of sexual misconduct and other forms of abuse.

In November 2023, American singer Cassie Ventura filed a lawsuit against Combs claiming he had repeatedly raped her, subjected her to physical and psychological abuse, completely controlled her life and demanded she carry a firearm for him in her purse during their over-a-decade-long relationship. She also alleged that he forced her to take drugs and engage in sexual relations with a series of male sex workers in what she described as “freak-offs” – staged, drug-fuelled sexual encounters involving a large number of people that at times lasted several days and were recorded by Combs.

Combs denied the astounding allegations but settled the charge just one day later. Additional lawsuits against him soon followed, however, including one from a woman who accused him of “sex trafficking” and “gang raping” her, back in 2003, when she was just 17 years old.

Four months before his arrest, CNN broadcast a surveillance video recorded at a California hotel in 2016, which showed him violently grab, shove, drag and kick his then-girlfriend Ventura during an altercation.

Forbes Magazine has estimated Combs’s net worth at $740m, a testament to his successful pursuits in music, fashion, television, and the alcohol industry. Yet, despite his varied successes, his name is permanently linked to one specific area: hip-hop.

Diddy undoubtedly exemplifies the archetype of a hip-hop impresario. In 1993, he launched Bad Boy Records, a music imprint that came to represent many industry legends and popular music stars, including Notorious B.I.G., 112, Faith Evans, The Lox, Ma$e, French Montana, Janelle Monae, and Machine Gun Kelly. Under his stewardship, the label achieved extraordinary milestones, including sales exceeding 500 million records, the production of 38 platinum singles, and multiple Grammy Awards. Furthermore, throughout his career in the music industry, Diddy has been recognised with various honours, including a Global Icon Award from MTV as recently as September 2023. Within the same month, New York Mayor Eric Adams awarded him a key to the city in a formal ceremony in Times Square for his “alleged service to the public and the common good”. This accolade came nine years after Howard University honoured him with an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree and established a scholarship program in his name in May 2014. Nevertheless, both the city and the university subsequently revoked these distinctions following the airing of the Ventura assault video.

Accurately assessing Combs’s influence on hip-hop is a challenging endeavour, as it is difficult to disentangle his successes and notable failures from the genre itself. In many ways, however, his life and conduct, as one of the biggest stars of the genre, appear to serve as a stark illustration of hip-hop’s inherent tendency to endorse and exalt sexual violence against women.

Emerging in the 1970s, hip-hop developed as a cultural movement in the African American communities of the South Bronx, New York City. By the early 1980s, it had gained significant mainstream popularity, with artists like Run DMC, LL Cool J, and Public Enemy achieving worldwide success. Although the genre was primarily male-oriented, the rise of female rappers such as Roxanne Shante, Queen Latifah, and MC Lyte soon allowed it to expand its representation across genders.

With time, hip-hop came to represent far more than just an innovative and vibrant form of artistic expression. It functioned as a significant medium for critical commentary on the adversities encountered in inner-city life, expressing deep-seated frustrations regarding gang violence, unemployment, systemic racism, social marginalisation, gun-related issues, drug problems, and police brutality affecting African American communities.

Groundbreaking songs such as NWA’s “F… The Police” and Public Enemy’s “Fight The Power” became global sensations, as they struck a chord with audiences outside the United States who also experience the oppressive nature of white supremacist violence. In its formative years, hip-hop was characterised by a profound awareness of Black and African identity, articulating the necessity for social reform and justice through its lyrics. Nevertheless, it also had a disturbing side, rooted in sexual violence and overt misogyny, from the very beginning.

In rap, women are commonly referred to as “bitches”. Prominent examples of tracks that insult women include NWA’s “A Bitch Iz a Bitch,” which claims “all women have a little bitch in ’em – It’s like a disease that plagues their character.” Snoop Dogg, the famous rapper who just a few months ago served as America’s chief cheerleader at the Paris Olympics, has a song titled “Ain’t No Fun (If the Homies Can’t Have None),” which can only be interpreted as a four-minute celebration of gang rape. Likewise, the Marshall Mathers LP – the third and most successful studio album of hip-hop superstar Eminem – features a significant amount of overt, violent misogyny.

Another industry heavyweight, Dr Dre, has also faced accusations of misogyny and violence against women throughout his career. In 2015, he faced so much scrutiny for his past conduct, and his decision to exclude the women he is known to have abused from his biopic Straight Outta Compton, that he issued a statement in The New York Times, apologising to the “women he hurt” in the past. The apology, however, was not accepted.

A year later, Lifetime released Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge & Michel’le, based on the true life story of R&B singer Michel’le. The film depicts Dr Dre as a violent and abusive man, who assaulted his then partner Michel’le to such an extent that she required corrective surgery. Dre never challenged the accusation that he regularly beat Michel’le during their relationship.

Russell Simmons, the co-founder of Def Jam Records, has also faced a multitude of sexual assault and rape allegations.

So Combs is, without a doubt, not an exception in the hip-hop landscape.  When Diddy is brought to trial, the hip-hop industry will inevitably also undergo an examination. In the most shameful circumstances, it will be forced to reflect on its inherent misogyny.

This may be the one good thing that comes out of Sean Combs’s crimes against women. Indeed, the industry must urgently confront its unsettling evolution from a respected art form giving voice to the struggles within Black urban communities into a money-making vehicle fraught with sexual exploitation and violence. It is also essential to analyse how a movement rooted in a desire to give a voice to and better the lives of inner-city African Americn communities has eventually morphed into an outlet for insulting and attacking women, especially Black women. This is a pivotal moment to scrutinise the underlying motivations for the substantial financial investments poured into the commercial degradation of all women.

Eminem, Dr Dre, and Snoop Dogg’s continued success expose the hip-hop industry’s continued inclination to support male violence against women. It should be questioned how and why ballads of misogyny and hate created by the likes of Snoop Dogg and Diddy have become the industry standard while tracks that emphasise social consciousness, like those by Public Enemy, have been marginalised. This approach has been a moral disaster, but financially advantageous, as the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reported that hip-hop generated $15.9bn in 2022 from music streaming and sales.

In 2017, the arrest of Harvey Weinstein underscored the systemic nature of sexual exploitation and marginalisation that women face in the film industry. Unfortunately, hip-hop is grappling with a similar challenge. To be sure, the abusive depictions of women are predominantly the outcome of an industry that has long deviated from ethical standards and displayed tremendous reluctance to engage in meaningful self-reflection or change.