Nikki Giovanni probably gets heartburn each time she sees Lil Kim’s pasties. Julia de Burgos’s spirit must rumble in her grave with every mention of Jackie-O or Foxy Brown’s couchies.
Angela Davis, Sonia Sanchez, Celia Cruz, Maya Angelou, Lolita Lebron, strong intelligent women, poets, activists, who have open the paths for hip-hop’s divas, must frown on us each time they hear the words of the women prevalent in our culture. And they should.
Don’t misunderstand; I am not a playa hatin’! (Besides, as Ursula Rucker said, “Playa hatin’ is played out!”) I love the bling-bling of hip-hop’s Lil Kims and the vibes from the Angie Martinezs of the culture, but I just miss the lyrically strong MC Lytes and the powerful femininity of the Salt & Pepas!
With all the trials and challenges that woman face and work hard to overcome daily, we need more positive sources of hip-hop to keep our heads bopping and our spirits strong. I’m not saying we need zealot Tammy Faye emcees, but as female artists we have the responsibility to not only entertain, but to also inspire other women.
Sonia, Lolita and Angela didn’t tear down adversity and oppression for us to forget about the struggles they conquered. These are now our opportunities and we can’t ignore or forget the grandmothers of hip-hop who made our presence in the culture a possibility. We cannot afford to miss out on passing their wisdom and pride to our daughters.
We are the breakdance babies and are responsible for teaching the breakdance granddaughters that there is more to being a woman in hip-hop than the “video ho”, “chickenhead” or “ghetto queen”. Let us give thanks by inspiring self-respect, education, inner light and leading through example just like Nikki and Maya STILL do!
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