Jill Scott Talks about the Images of Black Women in Music

Last Updated: Wednesday, July 5, 2006 | 11:23 AM ET

Soul singer Jill Scott is urging music fans to stop buying albums if they are offended by sexist lyrics and imagery.

“It is dirty, inappropriate, inadequate, unhealthy and polluted,” said the Grammy award-winning singer. “We can demand more.”

“Singer Jill Scott is urging fans to ‘challenge the music industry with your purchasing power.

(Jim Cooper/Associated Press)

Scott spoke Monday at the Essence Music Festival in Houston, Tex., at a panel called Who You Calling A Ho? Sisters, Take Back Our Sex!The singer was especially incensed by the portrayal of black women in pop music lyrics and video, which she deemed “degrading.”

“We can force things. We can change things. Challenge the music industry with your purchasing power,” said Scott, according to the Associated Press.

The seminar also featured former video dancer Karrine Steffans, author of the book Confessions of a Video Vixen, and actor Shemar Moore of the TV show Criminal Minds.

Steffans admitted her lack of self-esteem led her to a career as a video dancer: ”I was always told I was ugly. I didn’t realize my own power and my own worth.”

Self-confidence needs a boost

Moore supported Steffans in trying to bolster the self-confidence of young, black women: “Ladies, you are queens and you need to believe it.”

Scott said she wants to see different depictions of women in music.

“There are many stories to be told that aren’t about our sexuality.”

Scott’s comments come in the wake of a battle of words between rapper and actor Ludacris and media mogul Oprah Winfrey.

Ludacris has accused Winfrey of being against rappers because she doesn’t feature them on her show. The rapper said in a May GQ article the talk show host edited his comments out of her show featuring actors from the Oscar-winning movie Crash.

The fight got bigger as other hip-hop artists joined the fray. 50 Cent supported Ludacris’s comments, saying that Winfrey caters to a primarily white audience. Ice Cube added the accusation that “maybe Oprah’s got a problem with hip hop.”

Winfrey has rebuked the claims, saying that while she enjoys rap music, she does not condone the negative images of women that rappers propagate through lyrics and videos.