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clearly that an underclass is not necessarily an enlightened class, and prompting angry outcries by female rap singers. Queen Latifah, for instance, in her 1993/1994 hit music video and song "U.N.I.T.Y." calls for black solidarity and says indignantly: "Who you calling a bitch?!" A chorus tells the black woman audience, "You ain't a bitch and a 'ho" and "You gotta let 'em know." Women rappers also appear on Ice Cube's albums telling the male rapper that their sexism is unacceptable. Coolio, for one, seems to have heard the message, dedicating "For My Sister" to the "young black queens from the neighborhood scene who haven't lost their dream" and is repentant for using the word "bitch," saying: Now I done used the word `bitch' a few times in a rhyme But that was '95, so let me drop a line ... Coolio knows that you ain't no 'ho And its time to put you up on a pedestal ... For every nigger that ditched you For every nigger that hit you Accept my apologies for my brothers, My sister ... Occasionally, sexist rappers attempt a lame defense of their language. In various interviews, Snoop claimed that he calls women bitches and 'ho's only to denigrate their tendencies to exploit men for their money, paying him and his friends attention only when they became successful. [9] Similarly, Tupac Shakur reveals in "Wonder Why They Call U" that men rightly call women bitches and sluts when they play men for money and ignore their responsibilities to their children while partying all night. In "Bitches 2," Ice-T sings that "Ladies we just ain't talkin' about you/`cause some of you niggers are bitches too," implying that anyone can be a bitch, male or female. Nevertheless, many rappers indiscriminately use these words, such that they are virtual synonyms for "women." Even Coolio's 1996 release -- despite the apology that we cited above -- enjoins men to "get your woman on the floor." Clearly, there is a far deeper misogyny in black male culture than rap artists care to admit - - as well as in the white male community that buys and listens to rap. [10] A Contested Terrain Thus, rap music, like U.S. society in general, is a contested terrain in which a variety of different, often conflicting and self-contradictory, positions are articulated. In addition to misogyny, Ice Cube and other rappers are not immune from the kind of racism they condemn when directed at them, making derogatory references to Korean- Americans and other racial minorities in their songs, while restricting the proud badge of "nigger" to African- Americans. In "Black Korea," for example, Ice Cube warns: "So pay respect to the black fist/or we'll burn your store right down to a crisp," thereby inflaming serious racial tensions among minorities themselves that continue to erupt in bombings and killings, such as occurred between various minorities in Los Angeles and Harlem in 1995, leading to shootings and firebombings. Snoop's lyrics indicate that drugs, alcohol, sex, and money are means of escape from systemic oppression, tranquilizers that dull the pain, but they also blunt the critical vision and will. Many rappers, political or not, uncritically reproduce violence in their music. Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg play tough, with Snoop himself "Snoopy Dogg Killa" and pining, "How can I be the 'G' that I want to be?" Ice-T and Ice Cube adopt the "ice" metaphor, signifying their absolute coolness and hardness. Ice Cube describes himself as "America's Most Wanted" and choru