Pondering a Rhetorical Criticism of Dancehall music...

So grad. school is back in session and of course all the three courses I'm taking this semester require term papers. But there are just so many things to write on! I've begun taking a serious interest in rhetorical analysis as a result of a very engaging Qualitative Communication class, so that's the direction I'm thinking of taking my academic career. I think it'll fit in nicely with my PR and organizational communication interests. But it's always so hard for me to select a topic to write on precisely because of all these interests. Lately I've been toying with the idea of doing a rhetorical analysis of dancehall music using a feminist approach.

Why dancehall you ask? Well firstly,although I am from the soca islands of T&T, dancehall is probably more pervasive on the twin isles than you would expect. While I believe that soca is increasingly becoming a cultural force to be reckoned with (and not just at Carnival time), dancehall music is arguably still among the most popular genres, if not the most popular genre in the nation. Secondly, B (my Jamaican boyf) has been exposing me to a lot more dancehall than I used to listen to in the past and frankly some of it is very disturbing, not even from the violence standpoint but just from the female degradation/vulgarity/coarseness standpoint. As a writer and lover of words, I enjoy lyrical wordplay probably more than alot of people but I really don't see the need for the slackness.
Thirdly, being an academic and a born and bred island girl, I deal with the struggle within me to want to wine, wuk up and get on bad when my caribbean music is playing even though I know that the musical content is reducing me to body parts for male pleasure.
And lastly, being immersed into the world of Jamaicaness over the last 4 odd years, it is impossible not to notice the differences between Jamaican men and women and those from other Caribbean islands. Does this aggression and sexual attitude stem from the music or has it produced the music??

And then you might ask me why can't I do this analysis of soca?...because at this point in my blog writings someone would probably be tempted to say that I'm a Jamaican basher :-) which I am SO not, why do you think my boyf is from that beautiful place. But my answer to the why not soca question would be that I feel closer to soca and as such, my criticism of the genre could potentially affect that, although some would argue that this is how one becomes an objective critic. Another reason is that I find dancehall music to be blatantly raw and crude (there are edited versions of the songs for radio consumption!) and lacking subtlety, whereas although soca can be construed as sexual, it makes generous use of innuendo and double entendre, so that even as a young child singing the songs, I wasn't even sure what I was singing about (which may not be a good thing either). But I guess I'm just trying to say, that soca is less objectionable to me as it generally doesn't promote 'daggering' and uses euphimisms to soften its reference to womens body parts. LOL.

So there's the argument. 'B' says I shouldn't waste my time studying dancehall music because even though he loves nothing better than his dancehall, he acknowledges that the people are 'ediats' for what they promote in the songs. This is where it comes down to what am I trying to contribute as a wannabe scholar. What would be the purpose of investing my time into this project be? It's a question only I can answer I know...but for me it all comes down to so many things to write on and not enought time!