My Art, My Culture – Women Media & Hip Hop
MY ART, MY CULTURE – WOMEN, MEDIA, & HIP HOP SERIES
presented by BETTI ONO – DAUGHTERS OF DILLA – 70X30
When jamming the radio, or hitting the club, it can be hard to find hip hop spaces that have a genuine interest in the experience of women. It’s usually a male-dominated narrative of strip clubs and cash. As someone who loves a good twerk session, I needed a place (outside the club) where I feel like I could have a genuine dialog about female empowerment in hip hop media without feeling like my opinion would be instantly alienated.
The “My Art, My Culture” event series is DEVOTED to fostering a community of female solidarity and empowerment within the hiphop industry while showcasing local artists, and the event delivered. The women-worshipping “Better than Perfect” exhibit by Jessica Sabogal provided the perfect backdrop to the night, with art from Lexx Valdez of Daughters of Dilla in the atrium. (You may recognize them from previous posts here, here, and here).
The event donned an all-female local music line-up (Queens D Light, Dway, Dom Jones) complete with female DJ (Deeandroid). Panels consisted of the performers along with radio personalities and media makers in the industry.
Take away points:
-Should you say it? Don’t hold back on calling out your experiences as a woman in the face of turning off a top 40 audience. There’s a deficit of stories being told. Tell yours and stay raw, not a copy.
-Should you dance to it? More often than not, bangers are in the production. Your lyrics don’t have to make grandma faint in order to be club hits- get them instrumentals.
Most of all, this event was inspirational because it let me know that there is a community in hiphop with women’s interests in mind, and that all we ARE working on all levels of the industry to introduce new visions and we are doing it and doing it and doing it well.