ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how BEYONCE displays a hip hop feminist sensibility that emphasizes the importance of feminism to the lives of black women through a politicized hip hop aesthetic. It explains hip hop feminism, which is informed by black feminist thought, frames. Beyonce's embodiment of black femininity, at times steeped in the aesthetics of hip hop, carries a specific burden of representation. For black women in particular, the body itself has been a site of contestation over matters of feminism and femininity. However, Beyonce's embrace of feminism – and rejection of post-feminism – has become unequivocal: as she states in a Shriver report on American women's financial insecurity, "We need to stop buying into the myth about gender equality. It isn't a reality yet". Black feminism has traditionally sought to make the experiences of diverse women visible in its analysis of the intersecting conditions of sexism, classism, and racism.
