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.

www.intermediaarts.org

This hip-hop maven has her work cut out for her, but that’s nothing new.

By Erika Hobart

Published on March 25, 2008 at 7:27pm

Back in its heyday, Fifth Avenue venue I-Spy regularly featured rock and hip-hop acts. It has since disappeared and been replaced by retail and office space. DJ B-Girl refers to her opening for eccentric L.A. MC Busdriver at I-Spy as the gig that validated her presence in Seattle’s hip-hop scene. But her reference unintentionally dates her, considering the popular hangout closed back in 2003.

Breaking into music is harsh, unless you know somebody. DJ B-Girl (real name: Mia Beardsley) had a degree in audio engineering and recording when she moved to Seattle from Bellingham in 2001—but she knew close to nobody. It would be years before she networked with enough of the appropriate people and gained a business savvy about her.

As she stoically points out, “That’s why I’m sitting here talking to you right now…and I’m 31 years old.”

With three failed attempts to release albums in the past decade, it would’ve been easy for DJ B-Girl to fade into obscurity like many of the venues she’s performed at over the years. But earlier this year, DJ B-Girl released her first full-length album, Love or Fate, which helped create buzz about her talent with its slick production and exceptional track list. (Choice pick: “Murder She Wrote” featuring Sista Hailstorm and Julie C.)

“I feel like I can finally say that I’m a producer in Seattle,” DJ B-Girl tells me at Oseao Media Group, the digital music company she works for during the day and many of her evenings. “It feels like the dam that broke and released all the creative energy.”

DJ B-Girl lived with three roommates in the U District when she first came to the city. Money saved on rent went toward purchasing high-end tables and speakers to practice her craft. Days were spent working at Guitar Center, and nights were spent relentlessly pursuing gigs. She works more now than she did then, about 80 hours a week. Despite having a solid footing in the city’s hip-hop scene and her new album to support, she’s got another agenda to keep her preoccupied: helping other female artists find the connections she never had.

Last year, DJ B-Girl ensured she’d be getting even less sleep when she launched her own record label, B-Girl Media, and formed B-Girl Bench, a centralized forum (which meets at Oseao) for local women in hip-hop to meet weekly and research viable options to increase their visibility.

By drawing from her personal experiences and knowledge in digital distribution, DJ B-Girl hopes to help propel Seattle’s female hip-hop artists into the limelight. The greatest hurdle for many aspiring artists (including herself early on) is that they aren’t always well-versed in the business side of the music industry, she says.

“We have artists in Seattle who are talented enough that they should be getting national exposure—and they’re stuck at the regional level,” she notes. “How does that happen after they’ve put in 15–20 years of hard work? How can we help each other out and get to the next level?”

Two words: Media literacy. Rather than remaining passive, she says, artists must build their own momentum by understanding and using mass media to their advantage. B-Girl Bench participants, who include MCs like Julie C. and El Dia, help provide female artists with mentorship on finding promotion and performing opportunities, as well as access to different media outlets. Participants currently host Hip-Hop 101 on Seattle’s public-access television and often air on KBCS-FM (91.3), Bellevue Community College’s radio station.

“The key is to recognize women and the wealth of resources they hold,” DJ B-Girl says. “There’s strong leadership that’s scattered across the city, but we have a common goal and we need to come together. Cases in which an artist goes from the grassroots level to the national level are few and far between. We need to create a ladder for artists to climb toward that level. This is one of the steps.”

DJ B-Girl envisions the artists of B-Girl Bench (many of whom are on her label) touring at some point. She’d like to collaborate with women’s hip-hop organizations across the country and have Seattle artists performing nationwide several times a year. “My vision for B-Girl Media is to get artists as much media as possible while they still maintain their voice,” she says. “The industry tells you what to sound and look like; I want to have a label that reflects who the artists really are.”

By the time the complete B-Girl operation she envisions is up and running, DJ B-Girl could be in her 40s. She’s keenly aware of just how tough it will be to achieve her lofty plans and isn’t reveling in her success thus far. As she sums up in a voice both besieged and determined, “I’ve still got my work cut out for me.”

ehobart@seattleweekly.com

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.

Email bgirlbench@gmail.com for more info.

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.

Contact: bgirlbench:at:gmail.com
Myspace: myspace.com/bgirlbench
Youtube: youtube.com/bgirlbench

DJ B-Girl crashed into the music world almost by accident, circa 1994. She started with a college radio show and then moved on to deejaying at parties. A few years later she ended up going to school for audio recording. While in school, DJ B-Girl started teaching herself how to make beats.

Moving to Seattle in 2001, she began a journey to fulfill her destiny. She started breaking, and also got some regular gigs out at the clubs deejaying. She got known for playing both hip hop and drum and bass, and put out 2 hip-step mix CD’s titles Ghetto Fabulous and Ghetto Rebel Rise. B-Girl had her first track put out in 2003 on Urabon Records, called Girls in Space. It was a CD compilation featuring all female producers in electronic music genres including notables, Shroombab and DJ Sol.

From there B-Girl released The Human Collective EP in 2004 featuring special guests Spyc-E, Wiseproof, Mia and MC Squared. Due to a change of heart in creative direction, B-Girl decided to cut out over half the album, sizing it down considerably before releasing the digital version. Why? Because she wanted to highlight the vocal tracks and leave all of the instrumental tracks. If you were one of the few to get a physical copy of this album, hold on to it. There are only a handful in circulation.

After 2004 DJ B-Girl took a break from the electronic music world, saying “farewell” to drum and bass. She focused all of her attention on hip hop, and ending up making a full-length album called Love or Fate, released in the spring of 2008. It features 11 Seattle emcees, 2 musicians and 1 deejay. B-Girl made all of the beats, recorded everyone at her studio and mixed the album down herself. Steve Turnidge from Ultraviolet studios mastered the album for her.

An eclectic album, Love or Fate pushed DJ B-Girl into the media’s attention. She was did interviews with the Seattle Weekly, Venuszine and Davey D. of Breakdown FM. She had songs with all women including “Murder She Wrote feat. Sista Hailstorm and Julie C.,” and “Life feat. Piece and Toni Hill.” The album also had battle beats that she had played in the Big Tune beat battle, getting 2nd place next to Seattle producer Sabzi (Blue Scholars and Common Market), including “No More Beef feat. Inkubiz” and “Identity Theft feat. Phreewil and DJ WD4D.” But that’s not all, showcasing her many styles, listen to “Need the Game feat. Jerm and Cyreeta,” “Get Low feat. Julie C. and Asun,” or “Livin It feat. Khanfidenz and Toni Hill.”

After Love or Fate, DJ B-Girl went right back into the lab to start working on a new project with Seattle emcees, Julie C. and Jerm of Alpha-P. The result was phenomenal. The Knox Family is a strong and cohesively themed project, boasting slappin’ beats and lyrics that murder on the m-i-c.  Gangster political music that makes you dance. Conscious and street mesh together seamlessly while remaining brutally honest, with a revolutionary pulse. These South End to C.D. emcees have been bringing it to you for decades, only now they have a global audience.

DJ B-Girl is a hip hop teaching artist, heading up a drop-in recording program for teens in the International District at Wapifasa called “Katalyst.” This program teaches youth how to record using pro-tools and culminates with a certification test that allows them to record independently after taking the 3-month program. There are also opportunities for youth to DJ, produce, break, do graffiti art, and learn the business side of the industry as well. For more information please visit www.wapiseattle.org.

DJ B-Girl founded a community organization called B-Girl Bench, that focuses on educating, supporting and networking with women in hip hop. It is an ongoing project involving workshops, shows, videos and interviews. For more information please visit bgirlbench.com or youtube.com/bgirlbench.

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