Margaret Guitron---Machismo

Broken down into its components, the machismo is the being or the expression of being “macho.” In Hip-Hop we see that machismo or the expression of being “macho” is done so to give power to the “devalued black man.” Machismo can be expressed through either the flaunting of sexuality, money, physical power (i.e. strength), or the devaluing of women.

In Nelly’s “Tipdrill” music video, for example, we as viewers are witness to several acts of machismo through the devaluing of women. Throughout the whole video there are scantily dressed women dancing around what seems to be a summer pool house. These women’s rear ends are what is the central theme of the song; we hear such lyrics as, “it must be your ass ‘cause it ain’t yo face.” Such lyrics strip women into mere body parts, disposable to men’s use. Along with these lyrics, we see some very explicit images where women’s booties are being slapped around, men are grinding behind them, and some women are grinding on each other in a Jacuzzi. It is very obvious that women’s central role in the video is to sexually entertain; at one point a girl is being thrown dollar bills at her by Nelly. The video concludes with Nelly swiping a credit card through a woman’s butt cheeks all whilst he smiles big for the camera in approval. Overall, we see the power that Nelly and his crew of men have over these women: slapping them around, throwing money at them, and using them to their desire. We get a sense that they own them with their money…the same could also be said of the women owning the men through their sexuality but in the end what we see is that the exchange of goods is not equal as these women are being heavily degraded in dignity. Every act of woman’s submission in this video is used to bring forward the power that the video’s men have over women, all indicative of machismo.