Hip-hop portrayal of women protested

The hip-hopping street party was in full swing, college kids talking, laughing and listening to the music. Asha Jennings, 21, wasn't joining in. She and her girlfriends were confronting college party-goers in Atlanta, Georgia, challenging them about what they say is a nasty cultural shift, the transformation of hip-hop from a musical forum into a misogynic rant. Jennings and her group pushed men -- and women -- at the party to think about how their support of the hip-hop industry perpetuated images that hurt the black community. "I want people to start thinking critically about how these images affect black women today," said Jennings, a Spelman College alumnae and now a law student in New York. "We're telling people [black women] are bitches and hos and sluts and not worthy of respect," she said. "And that's exactly how society is treating us." It all began last April when Jennings organized a cancer fund-raiser at Spelman, where Jennings was a senior at the time, and invited hip-hop artist Nelly, whose sister has leukemia. Someone pointed out his video "Tip Drill" and Jennings was upset. [more]