Free all ages DJ workshop every 1st Wednesday of the month from 6-9PM at the Electric Tea Garden (1402 E. Pike St., Seattle). Equipment is provided. We are using Technics turntables, a Rane TTm56 or Vestax 05Pro scratch mixer, an Allen and Heath Xone 92 dj mixer, Mackie monitors, Shure and Ortofon needles and Serato. Feel free to bring your records or use ours.
By Niema Jordan
Published: June 4th, 2008 | 7:15pm
THE DREAM GIRL
Aima the Dreamer
Photograph by Matt Reamer
AIMA THE DREAMER AKA AIMA PAULE Hometown: Born in Chicago but creates in Oakland, California. Age: 27 Sound: Conscious and thoughtful rhymes over dance worthy hip-hop and experimental beats. The power of music: Aima has a vision for her music. “I want to use MCing as a bridge between communities of all different races, genders, age, sexual orientation, class, and anything else that we use to separate ourselves,” Aima says. “I want to use MCing to communicate my story, my life, and create an idea of a better world.” As a member of rap duo Mamaz, Aima isn’t avoiding the mainstream by any means. “I would love to bring my message to every radio, TV, broadband, iTunes, and whatever other form of communication that reach the people,” she says. “I want little girls singing my songs and little boy learning how to respect women.” What’s next? A tour in France and the debut album from Mamaz. URL:aimathedreamer.com
THE VETERAN
DJ Zita
Photograph by Ben Mayorga
DJ ZITA AKA MARITEZ APIGO Hometown: San Francisco and Oakland, California Age: 32 Sound:Classic hip-hop, smooth R&B, and the best in dancehall. Pump up the B.A.S.S.: DJ Zita, who only spins vinyl (no iPods here), is well known in the Bay Area for the way she rocks two turntables. With a goal of building the talents of female DJs, Zita, Pam the Funkstress, and Neta founded a crew called Bay Area Sistah Sound (B.A.S.S.). The collective fills a void in the Bay Area’s hip-hop scene. “If there is a female DJ at an event, it’s one woman spinning with a group of men, usually promoted by men,” Zita says. “We figured we could be doing this ourselves.” What’s next? Look out for her July: Where My Ladies At?! A Tribute to the Queens of True School Hip Hop. URL:djzita.com
THE CONSCIOUS ENTREPRENEUR
Invincible
Photograph by Apollo Brown
INVINCIBLE AKA ILANA WEAVER Hometown: Detroit Age: 27 Sound: Soulful hip-hop with complex lyrical content. Carving a space: “I learned English by listening to hip-hop,” says the Midwest-based MC who was born in Champagne, Illinois, but moved to Palestine as a 1-year-old. Now she uses hip-hop culture as an educational tool for others. An MC and an activist at heart, Invincible works with Detroit Summer’s Live Arts Media Project and the U.S. Palestine Youth Solidarity Network in addition to performing at youth empowerment conferences.
The lyricist, who’s also a member of the all-female collective Anomolies, started her own label Emergence Music and is using cooperative economics to build her label. “Hip-hop is a way to learn business and cooperative economics,” Invincible says. “It’s about building community in general through the music. I’m not just an entertainer.” What’s next? Her debut solo album ShapeShifters. URL:emergencemusic.net
THE NEW SOUND
RYE RYE
Photograph by Courtesy of RYE RYE
RYE RYE AKA RYEISHA BERRAIN Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland Age: 17 Sound: Hip-hop, house, dance, and club. The Game is changing: The young M.I.A. protégé is out to make music on her own terms. And she doesn’t plan to use her body as a form of marketing. Despite popular images, she says more female MCs are going the same route. “The new generation is not about exposing your body; it’s about making fun music,” Rye Rye says. “You don’t have to be sexy; you just have to have fun.” When asked about the state of women in hip-hop and her hope for progress, Rye Rye says she thinks women will be more noticeable in the future. “Females are coming up with more uniqueness and their own styles,” she says. What’s next? Working on her debut album. URL:myspace.com/tharealryerye
GOLDEN RAPPER–NEW ERA
Sontiago
Photograph by Matthew Robbins
SONTIAGO AKA SONYA TOMLINSON Hometown: Born in Pennsylvania but now lives in Portland, Maine. Age: 32 Sound: Lyrics and beats that challenge and adhere to old-school hip-hop constructions. Living in the moment: When she was younger, Sontiago played the clarinet and the piano, so the arts are extremely important to her. So important that she works with young girls to help them develop as dancers, poets, and lyricists. “I want to see the arts continue beyond my generation,” she says. But as she encourages the youth, Sontiago isn’t one to dwell on the past. “I don’t see hip-hop going back to a golden age. We were at a pivotal point in history, and it’s hard to mimic that,” Sontiago says. But she doesn’t plan to give up on the craft. “The keys to success are persistence, practice, and persistence.” What’s next? European tour and another album. URL:myspace.com/sontiago
MEDIA MAVEN
DJ B-Girl
Photograph by Marshall of Manik Skateboards
DJ B-GIRL “CHILLZ” AKA MIA BEARDSLEY Hometown: Born in Seoul, Korea, she now lives in Seattle. Age: 31 Sound: Experimental rap and trip-hop with an old-school feel. Stepping up: In the midst of building her own media company, DJ B-Girl has put a lot of thought into the role of women in the music industry. “There are a lot of women in control behind the scenes,” the entrepreneur says. “But they are sometimes just going with the flow and aiding the process of repetitive destructive imagery and ideas being spread to our communities through the mass media.” Enter B-Girl Media, the record label that DJ B-Girl “Chillz” hopes to expand into an independent media channel. “I’d like to portray a more honest and realistic picture to our communities and youth.” What’s next? “Cultivating B-Girl Media, new releases by two new artists, and reppin’ the two-oh-six.” URL:bgirlmedia.com
THE BEAT MAKER–RHYME SAYER
Run_in_Watta
Photograph by Jenny Bouchier
RUN_IN_WATTA AKA JULIA BOUCHIER Hometown: Edmonton, Alberta Age: 32 Sound: Thought-provoking songs with a soulful backdrop and effortless and yet skilled rhyming. Talent not gender: “[Producing] was just another way of proving to my self that I’m not just good for a girl, I’m good, period,” says the Canadian rapper and producer. “If you hear my production, you can’t tell whether I have boobs. Talent and hard work speak for themselves.”
Despite the negative messages in the media about women and the inequality in hip-hop, Bouchier keeps her mind on the positive. “I’m not worried about how my figure looks like to make beats or do shows,” she says. “I can’t speak for other women, but I’m on the rise, and there is no limit for what I can do. I don’t put my self in that category — women in hip-hop. I am hip-hop.” What’s next? Creating music as a producer and rapper. URL:myspace.com/runinwatta
THE PARTY ROCKER
DJ BackSide
Photograph by Amaka Nwigwe
DJ BACKSIDE AKA RITA FORTE Hometown: Oakland, California Age: 26 Sound: Old- and new-school radio favorites with blends and remixes that are sometimes nontraditional but make a ton of sense like “Whoop There It Is” mixed with “Soulja Boy.” The Catch 22: With a little more than five years in the game, DJ Backside has observed several issues in the hip-hop scene. “Female DJs and female MCs are rare, so we will always be picked apart and scrutinized — at the same time praised, sought after, and revered for doin’ something of rarity,” says DJ Backside, who coined the phenomenon “diamond-in-the-ruff syndrome.”
DJ Backside describes herself as being on the fence with hip-hop. “Some of the songs coming out in hip-hop these days are just thoughtless and elementary,” she says, noting that these kinds of songs are not new. “But it seems in recent years, those songs are getting most of the promotional dollars and support from major record labels.” What’s next? BackSide Blends and The Western Breed compilation DVD. URL:myspace.com/djbackside
THE MISSING PIECE
FM Supreme
Photograph by myspace.com/fm_supreme
FM SUPREME AKA JESSICA DISU Hometown: Chicago Age: 19 Sound: Raw passion from the lyrically inclined. It’s about timing: A staple on Chicago’s youth slam scene, Supreme has dedicated a lot of time and energy to cultivating her craft. “I think that to survive in this game, a true MC needs patience and perseverance,” the poet-rapper-scholar says. “In due time, positive MCs will get the recognition they rightfully deserve.”
Until then Supreme is planning her next steps, which include creating a production company, getting a distribution deal, and earning her doctorate so that she can teach hip-hop and African-American studies. “[I’ll] write a few books on the correlation of the two and speak on my experiences as an African-American woman entertainer and academic. Hopefully with my influence as an artist, I can continue to break barriers and educate.” What’s next? A mixtape titled The Go State of Mind. URL:myspace.com/fmsupreme
THE PERFORMING ARTIST
Queen GodIs
Photograph by Sean Palmer
QUEEN GODIS Hometown: Brooklyn Sound: Lyrical and soulful reflections. Multi-talented: “I consider myself a performing artist first,” says the rapper, poet, and actress. Queen Godls’ debut, Power U, spawned her off-Broadway piece “Birth of Power You,” and she continues to merge genres to create works that promote female empowerment. For Queen GodIs, hip-hop isn’t just music or a culture. It’s an entity. And together they have a relationship that goes through the cycles of any other partnership. But no matter what happens, she goes back. What’s next? A show with the Hip-Hop Theater Festival, which travels every year around the U.S. URL:myspace.com/queengodisbiz
GET THE HIP-HOP ISSUE: Venus Zine’s summer issue is available from June 1–September 1, 2008, and features Missy Elliott, Santogold, MC Lyte, Yo-Yo, Remy Ma, and many other leaders in hip-hop. Order the issue here or purchase a copy at Barnes & Noble, Borders, Chapters.Indigo, Newbury Comics, Waldenbooks, and record stores.
Angel 179’s colorful murals dot the Seattle-area cityscape with whimsical creatures and graceful lines. She’s been painting for a decade, and shows no signs of slowing down; given the opportunity, the opinionated artist behind the murals will deftly transform not just concrete but skateboards, sneakers, and stretches of canvas. “If you don’t love it, don’t do it,” Angel says firmly. “Go into everything with that intent.” Angel isn’t in it just for the love of art, though: she is dedicated to making her community a more beautiful place both visually and spiritually.
Angel got her start tagging in the CD, and though she made a quick and earnest foray into breakdancing, her true element was the visual. In middle school, she began to paint murals as a volunteer for community organizations and schools. “I had a really good upbringing from the community. Seattle’s good for that,” Angel says, and credits a tight group of friends and mentors with helping her to clarify her calling. “They were able to help me come up with my own definition of what hip hop is, what I think graffiti is. And from there I was able to develop my ideas of what being a woman in hip hop is, a person of Mexican descent in hip hop is.”
The talented painter shows her artwork nationally and makes a living doing freelance graphic design. In addition, the community support she received as a teenager meant so much to Angel that she has returned as an adult to teach classes to youth at Seattle public schools and community centers. “I want to help people who were like me growing up, who were confused, of color. There were people who came back for me, and I want to do that for others,” she says. “I can’t live off that, but it’s something I’ve dedicated myself to doing.”
Though she firmly believes in the power of community affirmation and mentoring, Angel doesn’t shy away from controversy. Her work often features religious symbols, a choice not always popular with her family. “My grandparents don’t like that I paint Catholic things, they think it’s blasphemous. It’s scaring my grandma,” she says. But as an artist, Angel knows that provocative symbols can be the perfect way to explore universal and personal human emotions. “The cranky baby Jesus that [Angel's Virgin Mary] holds, that’s kinda like me, scared or confused, angry or hungry,” she explains. “When people look at my [work featuring Virgin Mary], they say, “oh, is that woman you?” And I say, “No, that little crying thing is me!”
A woman in the male-dominated world of hip hop, Angel has seen and experienced her share of sexism. “Everybody thinks you’re a ho or someone’s girlfriend, and so they overlook you. I’ve had that happen at art shows, even, with people on the inside of the community… A lot of my artwork is mistaken for men’s artwork, they would think it was my boyfriend’s art, or that it was my boyfriend who got me into graffiti. But I was into graffiti before I met anybody,” she says, making it clear this is not about impressing a guy or following someone else’s lead. “Seattle was always a little bit more open for women… But we’re always gonna have to deal with sexism.”
With so many jobs and an increasingly hectic travel schedule, when does Angel paint? “I get up super early. I love the quiet. I don’t think if I was working a real-deal 9-5 job that I would be able to do art, and I would just come home and watch TV. Which is not what I want to do.” Ever moving forward, Angel’s excited about her plans for the future. She talks about doing murals with kids in Mexico, or pushing the boundaries of her artwork here in the States: “I want to take my paintings and make them three-dimensional. Make it a performance.”
Find out more about Angel 179 and her art on her website, and on her Myspace.
Written by Katelyn Hackett. Katelyn covers local hiphop and other topics for Seattlest.com, Seattle Sound Magazine and writes freelance for other publications.
Erika White, aka Kylea of Beyond Reality, is a Seattle icon and veteran of Northwest hip hop. “I was in the sixth grade when hip hop started coming along, so I’ve been involved in hip hop culture since the ’80s,” she explains. “Look at a picture from 1985 to 1987. Everyone has a picture with your Run DMC shirt and your arms crossed.” But unlike many of her fellow hip hop enthusiasts, Kylea took her high school passion for rhyming to the next level: she released, marketed, and received critical acclaim for her single, “I Reality,” and, years later, for her solo album produced by Bean One called A Soul’s Journey. Kylea’s involvement in hip hop, however, goes well beyond her released work.
In the mid-’90s, Kylea co-founded Jasiri Media Group and was at the forefront of the burgeoning Seattle hip hop scene. She can tell you stories about everyone from Sir Mix-A-Lot (”In high school he would dj and make mixtapes, compilation tapes, put on little shows… Anyone who was hating on Mix, that’s just because they’re haters”) to Jonathan Moore, aka Wordsayer, from Source of Labor (”He was the founding person getting the local scene opened up, doing shows with artists coming through town like Ice Cube and The Roots”). Kylea can track the growth of the scene from virtually no local performers back in the late ’80s to the present day, when “a rapper in town is a dime a dozen.”
“The Seattle hip hop scene is about who you know, and who they know,” Kylea says. “More than money, you have to have support. And money can’t necessarily buy you that all the time.” Beyond Reality is a family business these days, though it began as a collaborative effort between Kylea and one of her best friends from high school. Kylea’s son, now 10, acts as hype-man and her nephew, AB, backs them up on the 1’s and 2’s. Organic, feel-good, soulful: The Stranger has dubbed Beyond Reality “true school” and named Kylea the top female emcee in Seattle “since the mid-90s”.
Performances are few and far between nowadays, but Kylea’s not complaining. “I feel like I’m a dope emcee. I can put out a lot of these cats that think they’re dope emcees hands down, with my mouth covered up. … I could still pull it off if I wanted to, but anyone who knows the history or wants to know, they can go to EMP, holler at me, do some research, and they can find out about me. …There’s other things in life I want to do that don’t necessarily involve me being an emcee.”
What is Kylea doing now? “I’m djing. I throw parties, and I cook… My son’s getting ready to be ten. I don’t have to be rhyming, but music, food and friends are always gonna be something that I’ll be involved in.” Kylea’s also talked about opening a restaurant. Her advice to women getting started in hiphop: “Stay true to yourself, build alliances with other people, and do your research. Take criticism, but don’t let anyone tell you to dress like this or do this or say it like this if that’s not really you. Go out, check out the scene, find a way to find your place and do what you have to do.”
Street Performing in Seattle Back in the Day circa ‘83
Lane Davey, known in b-boy circles as Laneski, was one of Seattle’s very first b-girls. Of course, back in ‘83, “nobody used the term B-Girl,” she writes. “Being a girl [breaker] was such a novelty, it wasn’t really a problem.” And dancing as a career? “Not in my day. That really cracks me up. I would have to watch MTV all day long just to see one Hiphop video, if I was lucky.” At the age of 14, Laneski was inspired by the dance moves in Michael Jackson’s videos to take a breakdancing class offered at the Bellevue Athletic Club by the Seattle Circuit Breakers Crew. Her gymnastics background gave her the strength and agility to quickly pick up the tough moves they taught, and “the guys in the crew sort of adopted me by the end of the six week class and began asking me to dance with them whenever I could.”
She was mentored by Dee Rock, a b-boy, dj and leader of the Seattle Circuit Breakers now known more famously as DJ Mr Supreme. “He taught me all about the culture, the style, and gave me a tape of b-boy footage which became my learning tool. You weren’t a b-boy if you didn’t know what was up with the culture and the style, and you had to be able to tag your name and walk all funky. You had to know what was new and fresh in every element.” Laneski and her fellow breakers paid close attention to fashion and style. She remembers sailor hats with graffiti on the flip, Adidas suits, kangol berets, Pumas, name belt buckles and chains, Lee jeans and plaid Gotcha shorts. “It was strictly New York. Anything from L.A. was considered wack.”
DeeSki, aka Joe’l Herd, taught Lane how to dance in the clubs: the prep, the peewee herman, the cabbage patch. “People would battle with those dances too. Some got so funky, they would literally be dancing with their heads just a few inches from the floor. The clubs had so much crazy energy. I got in all those places at 14 and 15 years old. It wasn’t strict back then, even the lamest fake IDs were fine.” Battles certainly weren’t restricted to the clubs, though. “I went to the mall to find a battle, and if you had your shoes tied b-boy style, you were fair game. My girlfriend used to get mad at me for walking around looking at everyone’s shoelaces all the time.” Now, though, things are more organized. “We all kinda know each other and we know what everyone’s going to do.”
“It was about power moves back then,” Laneski explains. “It was raw and we were making it up as we went along. You didn’t hear people saying that’s the right way or wrong way to do something; it wasn’t wrong, it was new.” Though b-boys today may look more polished with their moves, “it looks so practiced that it all starts to look the same after awhile, and everyone’s worried about if they did it right or wrong instead of just getting funky and being spontaneous.” Laneski specialized in the power moves, such as flairs, swipes, turtles, and suicides, and this was more than good enough. “I would go in the circle and not even uprock or footwork or anything, just pop into a move and I would win.”
As one of the pioneers of the b-girl movement, Laneski has a unique perspective on what it’s like to be a woman in the breaker culture. “Too many girls think because they are cute they can go in the circle and do the same basic footwork ten times in a row to get attention., but they are preventing the guys from keeping the momentum of their circle….The women need to earn their respect. Girls try to be a spectacle and push the girl thing sometimes when they need to just fit right in with the guys and practice hard enough to keep up with the circle. There will always be those guys who don’t want to see a girl in the circle, but…for every guy who insults you, there are probably 100 who secretly admire your dedication to do what you do.”
For Laneski, being white was more of an issue than being female. But that doesn’t mean she’s not angry about the hiphop industry’s insults to women, or that she’s happy with the way media portrays her fellow females. She writes about attending B-Girl Be in Minneapolis and encountering many unheard-of female hiphop artists from all four elements, some of whom had been performing as long as she has. “We are talking some seriously talented, intelligent and beautiful b-girls that never get acknowledged, which makes it hard for other women to get inspired to have skills.”
Is the outlook bright? “Women are coming together, discovering our own roots and embracing our own impact. We are almost our own element since we do things our own way without own flava.” That’s a yes. And Laneski’s advice to women in hiphop: “Remember that fame and fortune does not bring you happiness, but following your destiny does. Hiphop is a calling, as much or more than it is a career.”
B-Girl Bench Breaking Practice facilitated by Beloved 1 meets Tuesdays from 8-10PM at The Vineyard Church on the corner of 42nd and Brooklyn in the U district. The entrance is on the side of the building on 42nd, above the Thai restaurant.
B-Girl Bench monthly DJ Workshop is every first Wednesday of the month at Electric Tea Garden (1402 E. Pike St. Seattle 98122) from 6-9PM. Equipment will be provided for an open table/hands on environment. Learn from experienced DJ’s B-Girl, Lady Jane, Joy and Ricki Leigh! This workshop is free to women of all ages. What are you waiting for? Come through!
Ladies First is a hip hop show hosted by CARA and facilitated by Heidi Jackson. Come for the all womens hip hop performances and open mic every first Saturday of the month at Hidmo Restaurant (2000 S. Jackson St., Seattle, WA 98144) from 8-10pm. Brought to you by C.A.R.A. All Ages, $5 Cover.
What skills and resources do we need to succeed in the music industry? What makes Hip Hop a unique platform for us in general? How do we provide a network, support system, and leadership as women in Hip Hop? What responsibility do we have to the community, the youth, and other women in the industry? How can we bridge the gap and help support women in different parts of the country and the world? What forms of independent media can we use to get our voices and art out there that is realistic and accessible? We are trying to answer a few of these questions here at B-Girl Bench.
Mission… B-Girl Bench is an online, physical and mental space for women to be empowered as leaders, mentors and artists who promote social change and increase the visibility of women in Hip Hop.
Vision… B-Girl Bench is part of a larger, universal idea that supports transformative leadership of all people in Hip Hop from the local to global perspective.
Goals…
Create opportunities for women to take the skills they learn out into the community.
Attend events in the Pacific Northwest region and beyond that promote women in Hip Hop and bring women in from collective women-centered spaces.
Provide internship and apprenticeship opportunities for women to further their development and knowledge in Hip Hop.
Build networks of women in the community by creating a directory of women in Hip Hop as a resource platform.
Outsource the talents of the collective to mentor and educate the community at large.
Resources and Funding…
If you are able to make a contribution to B-Girl Bench, or would like more information for bookings, events, panels, or projects, please contact us at this time.
