Cdot The Catalyst is a dope lyricist who I’ve been chatting with on Twitter and iChat since last year. She’s cool, uber smart, talented, and well, definitely under exposed. We’ve had so many great talks and I love her irreverence and snark so much that I wanted her to submit this piece explaining her identity as a “femcee.” (I was supposed to post this months ago as part of a project that I never really got off the ground but that’s another story). Check out C Dot The Catalyst as she breaks down her disdain for the “f word” (femcee) and why Nicki Minaj gives her hope…
Apparently the tweets is watchin’ and reading my mind because I noticed a trending topic that read #becauseofnickiminaj…now aside from reading the obvious comments about chipmunk voices, Barbie personas and butt pads, I had my own response. “because of Nicki Minaj…I might have a chance.” My name is Charity Clay and I’m a woman and an emcee. I have difficulties with the term femcee because it implies that the term emcee is normalized to be a guy and I don’t think mic skills have a gender. I consider myself to be a lyricist and only measure myself by who I consider to be the best, but I digress. I was talking about how the popularity of Nicki Minaj is a good thing for us women in hip-hop who consider ourselves to be emcees. Now one would assume that my claim to be a lyricist would indicate some desire to reject the Nicki Minajes of the world because of the belief that they are destroying the purity of hip-hop but I have a different perspective on the situation. Read the rest of this entry »
BET premiered My Mic Sounds Nice: The Truth About Women in Hip-Hop last night and it was good, really good. I was actually surprised at how good it was. The filmmakers did a superb job conveying the tremendous impact of those of the xx variety on the culture. I didn’t learn anything new but it was informative enough for people who may have needed that lesson.
However, there wasn’t much of a solution presented. They tried at the end but most of the people they interviewed had a very industry way of thinking ie, shallow and narrow-minded.
“For me to try to find another Lauryn Hill is like for me to try to find another Jay-Z. That’s not happening. It’s like you don’t find those things those things find us,” said Kevin Liles.
This is the last installment of my chat with Jessica Estevez of iHeartDilla.com. Here we talk about so-called tastemakers taking payola to promote artists, women in hip-hop and how Jessica got into J Dilla. Make sure you check her out at www.BlackWeblogAwards.com and vote for her for “Best Music Blog.” Tomorrow is the last day to cast your votes!
It’s always refreshing when I come across a blogger who has a unique perspective and iHeartDilla.com is definitely a blog that fits the bill. It’s run by creator, Jessica Estevez who put together a team of writers who have a deep passion for talented artists who may have a hard time getting press elsewhere. The hip-hop based website site features fresh new music weekly and at just one year old is a contender for Best Music Blog in the Black Weblog Awards.
I caught up with Jessica Estevez to chat about her blog, her supplementary radio and the inspiration behind her brand and the link to where you can vote for her.
Admittedly, I’ve never been a Trina fan. I was always indifferent because I just never clicked with her music enough (with the exception of a song or two). However, she has been the most consistent femcee with a major deal in the last decade as far as putting out consecutive music. I’ve discovered throughout my journey as a writer that people’s personalities help tremendously. I got the chance to interview her for nearly an hour last week because she guest edited VIBE.com on Friday. We talked about her fitness plan, she gave us a girl power playlist, she revealed how she dealt with the embarrassment of her stolen phone pics getting leaked and she also talked about her use of the word “bitch” and broke down her new single, “My Bitches.” If you’ve heard the song (or any of her music) then you know she uses the word as a positive. What stood out to me the most about her was how unapologetic, friendly and confident she was. She has a beautiful aura and I hope to interview her again. I secretly (but not so secretly, anymore) want to write someone’s autobiography (I’m trying to be like Aliya S. King). Maybe she’ll be the one, but I digress. In the meantime, I’ll dig up some of her old music and give her the chance I never did.
Apparently Laurence Fishburne’s daughter, Montana Fishburne, thinks doing porn will jump start her acting career.
“I’ve watched how successful Kim Kardashian became and I think a lot of it was due to the release of her sex tape,” said Mo ‘Burne (don’t feel like typing out her whole name) according to Global Grind.
Now let me say this: I’ve seen that quote on various blogs but you know how you have to read about 20 blogs and put the pieces together in order to get something remotely close to the truth so that may not be what she said ver batim, however, she really is planning to use this film as a stepping stone into stardom. See the video below where she gives her thoughts on being a female in “the industry.”
Look at this ad, then look at yourself, then look at this ad. You don’t look like the ad.
That’s a good thing, unless you actually like the heroine-chic-Lower-East-Side-crack-whore-circa-1980s look. If that’s the case, then be mad that American Apparel owner Dov Charney doesn’t like ugly people who wear bad shoes. People were up in arms recently because Gawker revealed shady information about the company’s hiring process based on intel they received from former managers. According to documents obtained, managers were given specific instructions on who to hire based on how they look. One manager was told not to hire trashy black girls and to make sure they had nice hair (ironically, nice hair to them was not permed or straightened). Another manager said this:
Of all the pieces I’ve written and short documentaries I’ve put together, this, a piece that I technically didn’t even write is what really got my name out (smh). Some of my best work includes interviews with overlooked and underrated femcees, talk about black women dealing with eating disorders, funny stories about how I run away from men trying to holla, video celebrations of Queen Latifah and Mary J Blige (for reaching milestone numbers with classic albums), but no one cared about that stuff. However, this, an as told to story with Slim Thug where he expressed his ignorant opinion that generalized black women is what gets my name out. Wow (and ouch).
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. Here are 11 things I learned from the incident.
