This past Friday, April 22, 2005, we began a two-month long celebration of Women in Hip Hop called B-GIRL BE in conjunction with Intermedia Arts and Juxtaposition Arts in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The opening-night festivities included the premiere of our gallery exhibition, which features work from Lady Pink, Martha Cooper, ITHRIVE, TooFly, PHEM9, Siloette, Evolve, and Faith 147. For more information on the upcoming events visit Intermedia Arts' B-Girl Be Site.
Big ups to the folks at Moxie Salon, who selflessly donated their time, energy, skills and $ - donating $30 for each haircut all day today to B-Girl Be. The most incredible, elegant, and talented Desdamona, Sarah White (and her sweet, beautiful daughter), B-Girl Seoul who all rocked during the day; plus the myriad of women who repped onstage including Pavi Elle, DJ Jen, and so many more. Not to mention DeAnna Cummings from Juxtaposition Arts, who DID HER THING curating the gallery exhibition and bringing in awe-inspiring artwork from South Africa, Germany, Puerto Rico, Kansas City, Phoenix, Switzerland, and of course the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul.
We had an amazing crowd at Intermedia Arts - men, women, children, babies, mothers, grandmothers - everyone having a good time. Gotta shout out the God, I Self Divine, and his beautiful Wife & Sun; his family was most definitely in the house and his son is a young B-Boy in his own right who took over the floor after B-Girl Seoul rocked. I have to give the most sincere thanks to the DJ, Stage One, who for not a lot of dough (shit, it's a fundraiser people) came out with ALL his equipment - tables, speakers, mixer, cables, crates, the whole nine - and ripped shit not only at the Gallery but at the La Bodega afterparty. Yo, on the strength, tonight a DJ saved my life. Stage One dropped crazy dope joints that I ain't even expect to hear, plus he loaned his tables to the DJ Lady Luca, a dope female DJ who was most definitely in the house. Luca played all my favorite old-school funk classics. It was so serrrrious I had to take a break from taking money at the door slash checking IDs to jump up and break for a few minutes!
The brother of one of the ladies who rocked at La Bodega (sorry I don't know her name!) came up to me & Desdamona during the afterparty, stopped, shook our hands, and was like "Man, thank you, thank you guys man, women in Hip Hop, I love this, I love all these women in hip hop, I didn't know this was here like this, man, thank you. That's my sister up there, that's my sister. Thank you." Even that alone was enough. Rachel Raimist's video installation had heads checking so serrrious, EVERY man and boy in the spot was like, "who's that woman", "what song is that she's singing", "who's that female rhyming there", "can I buy an album from that woman", "where can I find out more about her"... YES!! YES! That's what the fuck I'm talkin about!! THANK YOU for appreciating the immense and irreversible beauty of who we are and what we do! Just to get some acknowledgment, it makes a difference.
Article comments
1 - DeAnna
Say that! Can I get a witness?
MJ you hit it all on the head. Friday was phenomenal! The Summit in June is gonna show and prove to anyone who doubts that this is the real deal.
Much Love.
De
2 - Desdamona
MJ - keep it comin'....and it don't stop.
times they are a changin' and I can't wait to see what's around the bend.
peace
des
3 - Eric Olsen
great energy Miranda Jane, sounds like quite a time - thanks and welcome!
4 - rae
please keep these lessons coming. my students desperately need to learn their history. they need to recognize and respect.
could ya, would ya write more about more books, more films [thank's for the shout-out in this post!], and just more, more, more...
buying a rap cd DOES NOT make you HIP-HOP. you need to give back everything that you take from this space.
blessings always
5 - Femmarsenal
This is exactly what womanism needed to get a good start in the process of taking back our God given rights Misogynistic testimonials infect infant minds crowding the membrane with immorality and half-truths. Ladies how can we rid our Universe of neopatriarchy if we fail to unite and become one. Can we possibly embark on our future if our past is present? If we remain voiceless we may all be converted into so called “tip-drills” take pleasure in having change thrown at the same place we forge children. I beg you in the respectability of our ancestors who labored to wage war for our sovereignty, please seek reverence in you femininity and embrace your womanly possessions, they obtain more merit than credit given Pride yourself on being a designer of sentiments and incorporate loyalty into your daily routine .
B-Girl Be is revolutionary!!!