Shani Richards
Biography
"This body of work is a satire of the hip-hop culture. The media has exaggerated 'gangsta' culture. Rappers play on the popularity of the 'gangsta' scene, manipulating the consumer for their own gain. They use hot words, such as bitches, ass, hoes, and niggas to gain attention. This body of work glamorizes these words to reflect the commercialization of black stereotypes. With every style of music, a culture is created. The power of the influence that hip hop holds now far surpasses the mass cultural domination of any preceding commercial music form. Around the world people are falling in the trap of holding hip hop culture up as a window on reality. This body of work is an attempt to expose the exploitation of Black people by the boys who created rap music and corporations who profit off it. It is a critique on a society, which refuses to learn from its past."
Shani Richards is a graduate of Mary Schiller Myers School of Art, University of Akron.
