Two Spelman students decided to take a stand against what they saw as the exploitation of women in hip-hop culture last year.

Asha Jennings, who is now a law student at New York University, said she was motivated by watching rap superstar Nelly swipe a credit card through a woman’s backside in a video.

“At some point you’ve got to say, ‘Enough is enough, and I’m tired,’” Jennings, 23, said Friday, comparing her turning point with Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat for a white man on a Montgomery bus.

Nelly canceled a charity event at the school last year when he learned that Jennings, who was a senior and president of Spelman’s Student Government Association, was planning a protest, together with Moya Bailey, who was president of the college’s Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, and other students. His record label, Universal Records, said it was unfair that Nelly should be singled out.

While misogyny in pop music, especially hip-hop, has been around for years, the students said there has been an explosion of almost-X-rated videos passed around on the Internet or shown late at night on cable channels like Black Entertainment Television, also known as BET.

Earlier this year, Essence magazine sponsored a town-hall meeting on women and hip-hop that turned into a slamfest against TVT Records and BET officials. It drew 500 people, including some men from nearby Morehouse College.

Jennings said her campaign against negative images of women in pop culture isn’t over.

“We started a conversation, but it really didn’t change things enough,” she said. “I think the only way to change the hip-hop industry is going to be to hit these artists in their pockets.”

Rappers MC Lyte, Cheryl “Salt” James and Da Brat and actor Darryl “Chill” Mitchell join scholars for Hip Hop Week discussions this week.