The Player Way Analysis

Words: 586
Pages: 3

The Player Way – MA$E (ft. 8ball & MJG)

Gender roles are ever-present in hip hop, a culture dominated by African American males. Gender roles are “socially and culturally defined prescriptions and beliefs about the behavior and emotions of men and women” (Anselmi and Law 1998, p. 195). A great majority of hip hop music promotes sex, love of money, and drugs.
Mason Betha, known as MA$E, is an African-American hip hop artist from Harlem, NYC, New York, that was very popular in the 1990s. MA$E was signed to Bad Boy Records which is Sean “Diddy” Combs label. MA$E’s song “The Player Way” comes from his 1997 multi-platinum debut album, “Harlem Way” and features popular hip hop artists and duo 8ball & MJG. In the song, MA$E’s lyrics talk about many aspects of gender and culture. The song is filled with rhymes about sex, money, violence, and drugs. MA$E talks about how he is a “player” and is after money and sex.
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I give the world to a woman, but I don’t love hoes. I’m a player, baby and don’t you forget. You need to get with it, let me hit it and split it. In the bed, on the floor, hot tub, every day. The player way, the player way.” In the hip hop culture it has always been popular to not be a “sucker for love” and to play women to get sex. The males, and even females of hip hop value money and sex about real love, relationships, and success. It’s all about getting the most sex and the most money however possible. This is evident in the lyrics of the chorus in which 8ball says