Essential Reading – Home Girls Make Some Noise: Hip Hop Feminism Anthology
by Latoya Peterson
So, I grabbed Home Girls Make Some Noise: Hip Hop Feminism Anthology over the weekend and I cannot put it down. Seriously y’all – every spare minute I spend pouring over the pages. While this one is more intellectual than Chickenheads (which makes it a little less accessible) Gwendolyn D. Pough, Elaine Richardson, Aisha Durham, and Rachel Raimist brought it in this collection.
I’ll be posting excerpts a little later, but I just had to share the table of contents:
Forward, Mark Anthony Neal
An Introduction of Sorts for Hip-Hop Feminism, Gwendolyn D. Pough
Section One
B-Girls, Femcees, Graf Girls and Lady Deejays: Women Artists in Hip Hop, Rachel Raimist
Proven Presence: The Emergence of Feminist Politics in Cuban Hip-Hop, Sujatha Fernandes
Sista’ Outsider: Queer Women of Color and Hip-Hop, Eric Darnell Pritchard & Maria L. Bibbs
With Style and Grace, John Rodriguez
This DJ, Shaden Tavakoli
Beyond Every Ceiling Is the Sky, Darlene Anita Scott
Less Hustle, More Flow: The Role of Women in Hip-Hop Culture, Beatrice Koehler-Derrick
B-Girl Blues (Art), Darrell Gane-McCalla
Hip-Hop Moms (Art), Darrell Gane-McCalla
Lyrical Self-Defense and the Reluctant Female Rapper, Aya de Leon
It’s On the Women: An Interview with Toni Blackman, Elaine Richardson
Not the Average Girl from the Videos: B-Girls Defining Their Space in Hip-Hop Culture, Alesha Dominek Washington
Listen (Art), Maya Freelon
Spit Lyric (Art), Maya Freelon
Feminist and Material Concerns: Lil’ Kim, Destiny’s Child, and Questions of Consciousness, Heather Duerre Humann
i once dreamt of being an emcee, Veronica Bohanan
Section Two
Representin’ (for) the Ladies: Issues of Gender and Reputation in Hip-Hop Culture, Elaine Richardson
How NOT to be 21st Century Venus Hottentots, Fatimah N. Muhammad
They’re Not Talking About Me, Elisa Nefertari Ulen
“I used to be scared of the dick”: Queer women of color and hip-hop masculinity, Andreana Clay, Ph.D
ThugNiggaIntellectual (Art), Ayanah Moor
Whose Pussy Is This? Chyann L. Oliver
Tip Drills, Strip Clubs, and Representation in the Media: Cultural Reflections and Criticisms from the POV of an African American Female Southern Hip-Hop Scholar, Joycelyn A. Wilson
If Women Ran Hip-Hop, Aya de Leon
Lil’ Kim, Hip-Hop Womanhood, and the Naked Truuf, Elaine Richardson
Angry Woman, Elan Ferguson
Expecting the Unexpected (Art), Elan
We had to redefine ‘it’ for ourselves, Veronica Bohanan
Re: Definitions: The name and game of hip-hop feminism, Michael Jeffries
Grown Girls, Tracey Rose
Performing Venus ~ From Hottentot to Video Vixen: The Historical Legacy of Black Female Body Commodification, Kaila Adia Story
for sepia “colored girls” who have considered self/when hip-hop is enuf, Chyann L. Oliver
Poem for Taja, Shaden Tavakoli
Loving Hip-Hop When It Denies Your Humanity: Feminist Struggles and The Source, Shawan M. Worsley
Section Three
That’s My Word!: Cultural Critiques of Gender, Sexuality, and Patriarchy in Hip-Hop Culture, Aisha Durham
Using [Living Hip-Hop] Feminism: Redefining and Answer (to) Rap, Aisha Durham
Static II (Art), Maya Freelon
Love and Other Casualties of War, Darlene Anita Scott
The Count Down, Queen Sheba
Excavating the Love Below: The State as Patron of the Baby Mama Drama and Other Ghetto Hustles, Brittney Cooper
More than Baby Mamas: Black Mothers and Hip-Hop Feminism, Marlo David Azikwe
Can a Good Mother Love Hip-Hop? Confessions of a CrazySexyCool Baby Mama, Tia Smith Cooper
Ho is Short for Honey, Tina Fakrid-Deen
Switch, Tara Betts
The Highest Bidder, Levita D. Mondie-Sapp
Hip-Hop Feminism at the Political Crossroads: Organizing for Reproductive Justice and Beyond, Kimala Price
Easy Way Out (Art), Maya Freelon
Peripheral Vision, Jasmine Hillyer
SISTERFIRE (Art), Favianna Rodriguez
Hip-Hop and This One-Woman Show, Stephanie L. Batiste
Church Burden, Elan
HIP HOP HAIKU, Jocelyn James
Untitled #1,456, Legacy Eyes-of-the-Moon Russell
Hip-Hop Ventriloquism: From Sexism to Corporate Control, Aya de Leon
What is Black Culture, Culture Black?: Rebel, Chyann Oliver
INDESTRUCTIBLE (Art), Favianna Rodriguez
Gettin’ Busy, Goin’ Global: A Hip-Hop Feminist Experiences Ghana, Makiba J. Foster
Can You See Me Now? Am I Clear to You?: A Womanist Manifesto (Redux), Askhari
Letters to Hip-Hop, jade foster
Afterword, Joan Morgan
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I am planning on posting excerpts from some of these. Are there any in particular you all would like to see?
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
Ali wrote:
Ah! MUST read. Thanks for sharing! Looking forward to the follow up posts.
SO many interesting sections. My top pick would have to be “Loving Hip-Hop When It Denies Your Humanity: Feminist Struggles and The Source”.
Others that look interesting: “How NOT to be 21st Century Venus Hottentots”, “They’re Not Talking About Me”, “Ho is Short for Honey”, “Switch”, “Whose Pussy Is This?”,
“Tip Drills, Strip Clubs, and Representation in the Media: Cultural Reflections and Criticisms from the POV of an African American Female Southern Hip-Hop Scholar”, “If Women Ran Hip-Hop”, and “Lil’ Kim, Hip-Hop Womanhood, and the Naked Truuf”.
Posted 07 May 2008 at 8:55 am ¶
gatamala wrote:
*puts in amazon queue*
Loving Hip-Hop When It Denies Your Humanity: Feminist Struggles and The Source, Shawan M. Worsley
Lyrical Self-Defense and the Reluctant Female Rapper, Aya de Leon
for sepia “colored girls” who have considered self/when hip-hop is enuf, Chyann L. Oliver
***
Posted 07 May 2008 at 9:10 am ¶
R-SON the Voice wrote:
THANK YOU!! I’m a grad student trying to put together a research proposal about female MCs in the underground. I’m glad someone still gives a damn about the ladies. I’ve been all about this book. Any other suggestions?
Posted 07 May 2008 at 11:34 am ¶
everybodyever wrote:
Shit, this looks amazing. I’d ask for excerpts but I think I’d end up rattling off the whole table of contents. I’ll be checking for it at Bluestockings.
Posted 07 May 2008 at 1:22 pm ¶
G.D. wrote:
To R-SON the Voice:
You might want to try CHECK IT WHILE I WRECK IT (also written by Gwendelyn Pough, the author of HOME GIRLS) though it mainly seems to be about hip-hop’s image on young women’s images of themselves, but it’s worth hunting down.
Posted 07 May 2008 at 5:56 pm ¶
Francine wrote:
Can a Good Mother Love Hip-Hop? Confessions of a CrazySexyCool Baby Mama by Tia Smith Cooper. This was probably the best section of the book. It focused on women with families still loving hip hop and staying cool. It was great.
Posted 08 May 2008 at 2:44 pm ¶
Patti Binder wrote:
I’m so glad to come across this post– I hadn’t about this book anywhere else and will definately pick it up. Thanks!!!
Posted 25 May 2008 at 10:19 am ¶