Maria Medina response to DaveyD
I was going to include this in the TWOMP Newsletter, but I think its so important it deserves its own space…Even though this is piece is a response to Davey D’s article and Breakdown FM segment “Women Hold Up More Than Half the Sky within Hip Hop,†(which you can find on www.daveyd.com) and it spotlights the voices of Seattle women in Hip Hop such as Dr. Mako Fitts, E.Mandisa, Piece, Kitty Wu and Onion, it reflects a critical and controversial perspective that is well-needed in the broader discourse of women in Hip Hop.. I have abbreviated her response to accommodate the newsletter, but to see the full text including transcriptions, check the Twomp Blog
–Julie C
I have a lot of respect for the women Davy D mentions in his article on Women in Hip Hop. Many of the women he shouts out to in the NW are artists who have made my life more beautiful through their music. Piece’s voice has been a part of the West Coast for years, and I personally know younger cats whose lives she changed through her work in juvies. Davy D writes a lot of important articles on hip hop. The women’s nights he also gives props to really have rocked Seattle. Though he doesn’t mention SoKo (you can really feel the hood in her flow), he does shout out to others like Julie C who always kills it when she’s on stage.
Most of the panel discussion from the 206 Zulu anniversary seems to privilege women as nurturers over all else. I have a great deal of respect for mothers in our community, but I think it’s important to recognize that woman as foremost a nurturer/mother is a social construct. Some women are amazing mothers, while others choose to walk a different path. The split between la Maria and la Malinche is prevalent in our walk, the shake of our hips, and the way we choose to love. The archetypes of Madonna versus Mary Magdalena are very present in the way our society privileges some roles over others; the dichotomy of woman as the whore, the harlot versus the mother, the daughter, the nurturer is present. Most women are both in some sense of being. Some of us reject the role of mother as instinctual, but respect the mothers who surround us. Some of us choose to femme out, to own our sexuality, and are shunned within the hip hop community when our sexuality does not conform to standards of conventional deportment. Some women privilege their own style of mother/nurturer/feminist over what other women are doing. I think this actually excludes a whole school of potential revolutionaries and activists.
This split between Madonna and Whore is even apparent in the piece that Davy D writes about the 206 Zulu panel. While there was discussion around women’s sexuality, he focuses primarily on women as nurturers, when he writes “Instead of entertaining the usual banter about men in Hip Hop calling women bitches, these sisters who are doing big things up north, focused on the topics like the importance of creating spaces for
Women to nurture and heal, holding down multiple roles, overcoming obstacles and most important motherhood within Hip Hop.” I didn’t attend the panel. Instead I listened to the audio link on Davy D’s article, though it was edited, so I wasn’t privy to the entire discussion. I listened intently because I wanted to know if the women on the panel were really privileging motherhood as the most important topic in hip hop. While motherhood was a topic they shared as important in their roles in the community, one of the other issues I found when I listened to the recording was the question of whether or not women in the hip hop community are free to fully express their sexuality. Davy D does not mention this in his article, a topic that is very important, because we need to end sexual oppression. Right now sexual oppression is a battle we fight as women artists within the community in very aggressive ways.
Affiliates | Webmaster May 2, 2007 | 
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