spent part of this week covering the billboard r&b hip hop music conference here in atl. went to pick up my media pass and took a minute to listen to the artist showcase that was going on. a down south rap group was up and they had a young lady in their crew. she had a mic in her hand but her booty seemed to be the part of her that was most important to them. every couple of minutes her booty became the prop of a lyric or maybe just for the audience to have some sort of visual while the song went on.
and i feel pretty young. i don't feel like an old head, but i shook my head and swiftly walked out of the room. and here comes my rant. it's not any different than a lot of purist hip hop rants you hear. and i'm not even a hip hop purist. i grew up in the south so i have spent some time in my life shaking it to " scrub the ground" and "hydraulics scarred," so clearly i have a special place in my heart for dirty south hip hop. but i do believe i have a bone to pick with one of my favorite genres of music.
i miss women in hip hop. not shaking it in a video. not singing on the hook. not playing the love interest who spends her five minutes cutting her eyes and looking seductive. i miss female emcees. and i wasn't feeling that this young lady's booty was way more important than if she could rip 'em to shreds with her 16 bars. and while i'm at it, i miss lauryn. i'm glad we got lupe but who is the next mc lyte? queen latifah? monie love? bahamadia? i'm really jonesin' to hear a female emcee who knows how to tell a good story, ride the beat, who's subject matters covers all aspects of life, not just her body and sexuality. (sigh...rant over...at least for now)
this weekend i didn't get my female emcee fix, but i heard some wonderful music by two great women artists. leaf and janelle monae. leaf has been featured on the tv show girlfriends and recorded her live cd project this weekend. janelle monae did her thing at lenny's bar for her birthday show and she's already sold 10,000 units of suite 1: the chase, the first suite from her debut cd. check out some pics.
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