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Archive for 'hip hop'

Jean Grae For President

This summer, I attended the Randall’s Island, New York rendition of Rock The Bells. It was raining and cold, and my umbrella was confiscated as I entered the eight hour festival because it could be potentially used as a weapon – (another victory for the enemies of freedom and justice) Needless to say, the shows [...]

Missy Elliot & Work it, Or, I Need to Shave My Chocha so You'll Eat It Like a Vultcha

In her track “Work It,” Missy Elliot offers a wise approach to the objectification-heavy world of commercial hip hop: “I’m not a prostitute, but I can give you what you want.” The hit single “Work It” both employs the blatant objectification of women (with images, in the video, of women bending over in hootchie shorts [...]

"G.s Up, Hos Down, While You Muthafuckahs . . . Seek Gender and Racial Equality"

I just got back from NYC’s incarnation of the Rock the Bells Hip Hop Festival on Randall’s Island this weekend, where I was struck by the ways that the mainstream, commercial hip hop scene differs from the “underground” or “conscious” hip hop scene that I stood for hours in mud and pouring rain to dance [...]

We're Not Taking This Sitting Down: The Standing Committee on the Status of Women

Okay, okay, I’m not Canadian, and at this rate, I probably won’t be. But Canada is at a commendable stage of self-examination right now: a stage that the U.S. is actually still in. Oh, okay, you’re saying, Marinara over there is hitting the sauce a little too hard for a Sunday morning in Buenos Aires. [...]

32 Flavas of That Bootylicious Radio Monopoly

Recently, I was dancing around my kitchen to my local Clear Channel top 40 station for hiphop and r&b. The song was Crime Mob’s “Rock Yo’ Hips,” and I stopped stirring the corn bean salad in disbelief when Diamond’s solo came on. She was making a (veiled), but definitely unmistakeable reference to Ani Difranco’s song [...]

Can I Kick It: Do Hip Hop Fans Have More Sex?

  Today, while browsing del.icio.us, I came across a recent study, published by Reuters and since retracted, (perhaps because of the outrage sure to result from its borderline racializing generalization) proposed that hip hop fans have more sex in the last five years than people who listen to country music. According to HiphopRnBSoul.com, the study [...]

Kanye West’s Gold Digger: Cashing in On Social Capital

Saturday night’s Mos Def concert was punctuated by frequent samples to highlight the talents of Mos’ DJs. One of the samples they chose was the bouncy blues of Ray Charles’ “I Got A Woman” (click for an audio-only experience; this was pre-MTV). A girl behind me bopping her head to the beat, was trying to [...]