“Drop It Like It’s Hot”: Culture Industry Laborers and Their Perspectives on Rap Music Video Production

This paper describes results from a qualitative study of the music video production industry and the creative process in rap music video production and artist marketing. Participant responses are presented in three areas: the music video production process, recent trends in rap music videos, and the music video set as a site of gender exploitation. Findings suggest a concern over artistic freedom of expression and the mechanical production of the "booty video" formula that saturates music video programming and is a template for rap videos. Participants agreed that there is something lackluster about rap music played on radio and aired on music video programming. Additionally, gendered hierarchies on video sets create divisions among women working in various positions, and discourage women from supporting one another, which, from a black feminist perspective, does not accommodate an ethic of care and personal responsibility.