Bold Individuals That Challenges Hip-hop'crisy En Style

BITCHESZINE HAS MOVED

2011-04-18T16:49:00.000-07:00

I should have done this like last year but, ooops. BITCHESZINE has now moved to BITCHESZINE.COM I will no longer be using this make post.

peace j9

j*9 interviews Jo Bean

2010-04-26T14:26:00.000-07:00

Jo Bean's CV is as interconnected as King Cross Station, having worked with a carousel of artists from the UK and the US, with names like, Slum Village, Floerty and Mos Def to name but a few. She has been involved in the Music Industry for 15 years and the role she plays in that labyrinth is Radio Promotion. Check out the interview below. (For all aspiring artists take notes, she offers some sound advice).

J*9: Describe yourself in three sentences
Jo Bean: I am obsessed with music, been doing this for a long time, I am a quiet but can make noise when needed.

J*9: What is an average day like?
Jo Bean: I do radio promotion, so I am currently chasing up DJs to get feedback on tracks. This is my biggest hurdle they get sent so much material nine times out of ten they will hit the delete button. So it is hard work. If everybody came back to me with feedback it would make my life so much easier.

J*9: How hard is it to get Artist’s music out there?
Jo Bean: There are loads of different sides, you got people doing Press, Online, TV and through Social Networking sites. It depends upon how big of a team is on board. I have been involved in campaigns where there are so many people that it takes a lot of money and time. When it is independent artists they are often doing it themselves, especially through the whole youtube, myspace or even selling their Cds on the streets.

J*9: Is it easier having a record label behind them or doing all the promotion yourself?
Jo Bean: Well you have to start from the bottom, you need to get support from people out there, the DJs, Pirate Radio Stations they all have to be on it. What is happening now is that the Major Labels are not even looking at you until you have some heat on you. They want you to do all the work as soon as you do the work, they are thinking this ones looking okay.

J*9: It seems before Record Labels were willing to invest in up and coming talent?
Jo Bean: Back in the day Major [Labels] definitely took more risk with artists and they used to develop people slowly. These days if you release a single and it bombs then that is it you are dropped. In the hip-hop world Majors do not take them seriously, which is why a lot of artists have gone down the independent route. Years ago people wanted big advances you don’t get that now, but you have to pay it all back anyway. Them days are long gone. Even in America all the old school hip-hop guys are doing it themselves, they are putting it out on their own labels and keeping all the money for themselves.

J*9: So how did you get involved in Music Promotion?
Jo Bean: I started off working in record shops and I got a job working in a soul label many moons ago. I moved on to a radio promotion company, I have been in that type of role ever since. I have done label management for All City Music and I love the label management side of things.

J*9: Why is that?
Jo Bean: It was Dan Green Peace label; when I was running it he let me get on with things. It wasn’t just one role, which can be boring you get to have your fingers in many different pies. You are dealing with gigs, promotion, looking after tracks, distributions and then you get too see the end result. In a Major label you would only get to do one little bit and I have experience in everything and that is what I like.

J*9: What was it like working at All City Music?
Jo Bean: All City Music was owned by Dan Greenpeace he manages Sway on the label there was Pyrelli, Baby J, Shameless etc. We also managed Rawkus Records when they came back out, but it disbanded because that audience had grown up now so it harder to get the music out there.

J*9: Grass Rootz is your own thing?
Jo Bean: It is specialist radio Promotion mainly all hip-hop, bit of r’n’b and no grime! I have to be huge fans of the musicxa if I am not feeling it then I can’t project it.

J*9: How do you promote the Artists you work with?
Jo Bean: I work for a lot of new artists so it is really creating a buzz about them and it depends on who else is involved. If you are dealing with American artists, it helps if they are coming over doing tour dates it is whatever you can do to get their name out there.

J*9: What is an effective strategy to promote yourself?
Jo Bean: If it were fresh talent, I would only take it on if I thought it was good. I get sent a lot of material and think nope that’s not happening! But I am pretty straight with people and will tell them if I think it is not strong enough because all of the competition out there. You have to have good material, you may think you are the greatest but that’s in your front room! You need to create a strong profile and you need charisma. I have been to so many shows and the guy on stage has nothing about him or can’t relate to the audience. You need to get on as many support acts as possible. A lot of people expect things to be handed on a silver platter you have to do it all yourself.

J*9: How do you determine good music?
Jo Bean: You hear the beat and you think this have a little something, it is a combination of what they are saying, their flow. You have the ear; you just know what is good. I listen to music and think it is not my cup of tea but it works. If you send me ten tracks I could pick that one that works.

J*9: You have worked with quite a lot names in hip-hop, has there been any that stood out?
Jo Bean: Little Brother they are lovely, Kidz in the Hall are sweat hearts and they are some nice people. They are just like regular people, they happened to have this name and gone on too good things, that is all it is. But is normally the people around are not so nice.

j*9 interviews Jay Diamond

2010-04-26T12:10:00.000-07:00

Jay Diamond is a multitalented, Singer, Journalist, DJ, Filmmaker, Event Organiser and amongst may other things she is a true creative. She is witty beyond words, wise as an owl; and after watering and feeding me in her swanky flat in Brixton, we got down to business. Check the interview below.

J*9: how did you get into DJing?
Jay Diamond: I started on Pirate Radio station called Unity in Manchester and it developed after that. I started to buy more vinyl, go in the studio practice and play out the occasional night. The show really blew up and I started writing for UK Hip-hop and British Hip-hop. Now here I am in London, with my own show on Rinse.

J*9: Are there any moments that stood out for you when you were at Unity?
Jay Diamond: When Top Cat came through it was amazing, he is an old school artist and is very well respected. Each show is different and met loads of different artists passing through.

J*9: You won a bursary from BBC Urban Music Fund, how has the fund supported you?
Jay Diamond: That was for my music, radio, and journalism. Last year, I took myself to New York and filmed this documentary about hip-hop over there. I came back and decided to move to London and I did loads of promos, I got in touch with Rinse Fm, They gave me a demo show and now I do their Breakfast show on a Saturday morning.

J*9: How do you prepare for your shows at Rinse?
Jay Diamond: Oh god! A lot of the preparation is about finding out about new music and what is good. I am not down with listening to other people’s show and listening to what music they are playing. I like to do things different but it gets me into trouble sometimes. What is a nightmare is organising the music, remembering where I got it from and putting it into different sections. I don’t sit at home practising set for hours; I just get on with it.

J*9: How is your show different from the other DJs?
Jay Diamond: I’m from Manchester it might sound basic, but I feel it makes a huge difference. My approach and sense of humour, the way in which I take the piss and so constantly, people are like you can’t say that. Also, I am not caught up in my ego, I just want to have a laugh; I’m just about playing good music you either like it or you don’t.

J*9: What is the difference between playing on the radio and playing out?
Jay Diamond: There is a massive difference! If people don’t like it they will just walk off the dance floor its in your face like that, they expect to be entertained. I playing according to what they [ravers] are feeling, but that does not mean I don’t play music I don’t like. But on the radio I have more freedom, I can play a hard ass track that you can’t really dance to but sounds top. People are listening for music sake maybe to hear something new or interesting.

J*9: Which is easier to do?
Jay Diamond: Playing out is a lot more exciting, you look in one corner and people are feeling it and look you somewhere else people bopping along. Even if it is the type of atmosphere where people are not going to boogie but are nodding along, that is a job well done for me. But I don’t get to be very experimental. The radio is great I get too interact with listeners on a personal level they can text in, msn and emails. You get to have daft debates about what your favourite sweet was when you were young. Rinse is especially about UK music so it is a good showcasing for up and coming artists.

J*9: Tell me about the documentary you made.
Jay Diamond: Well I wanted to develop my Music Journalism and I had this idea about going to New York and I could not stop thinking about it everyday on the way too work. So I bought my tickets and I went. I ended up in Bedsty, my peeps that were staying in Atlanta was like what the fuck are you doing in Bedsty! I spent a month there and met the most amazing people I went to Chuck D house, met Johnny Juice, Om’mas Keith. In New York I could go to places on my own and gravitate to people to hang with. I thought it would be like that in London, but people are so cold here. New York is much more hardcore than London in many ways. In New York people are interested in because you are something different; but in London something new is a threat.

J*9: How else did the bursary support you?
Jay Diamond: I also used it for my music, I am currently about to release my EP and tracks that had been played on 1Extra which is my soulful stuff. I had some A&R people interested in my Electro material. My aim is to put my music out, some of that money was put aside for production, studio time.

J*9: How hard is to get break in Music Industry.
Jay Diamond: There is music that you love and the there is the Music Industry. If I was strictly Music Industry, I would be playing all commercial music and through that way I would get a gig every night. I am bit daft so I don’t.

J*9: I think it is so important to have that level of integrity.
Jay Diamond: Of course. I can’t remember the last time I played song and I thought I fucking hate it. But I guess that is me being passionate about music. But with some people they are passionate being famous because they are a DJ. With the hip-hop that I play I know there is a place for it and then there are people with no concept and want me to play 50 Cent.

J*9: To wrap up, are there any forthcoming projects that you are allowed to talk about?
Jay Diamond: I am working on some projects around my Electro sound. On the Soulful side, I have a nice response to my song ‘Touch’ and I will be working on my EP. I also want to develop my radio show, I want to start getting guests in and getting some good new music. I am going to do some poetry work, I haven’t written poetry in a while. Just like to keep myself creative.

Images Courtesy of Ben Yacobi

Celebration of Fatima's 'Mind Travelling' EP

2010-04-11T08:31:00.000-07:00

Last night, I headed down to check Fatima and singer/song writer and ultimate groove thing, she was throwing a celebration party for her 'Mind Travelling' EP, which was amazing.

Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the soultress doing her 'thang' but she has an amazing personality that is warm, relaxed and utterly hilarious which resonated with the audience.

Here is her amazing video, 'Soul Glo' and make sure you cop that EP!

Check her Myspace for more details: http://www.myspace.com/fatimaworldwide

Window Seat – Exploration of the Black female body

2010-04-11T07:16:00.000-07:00

After watching ‘Window Seat’ music video which is the first single to be released of the Erykah Badu’s new album ‘New Amerykah: Return of the Ankh’ I thought, what is the point of this? So I watched it again and then again. Is Ms Badu trying to challenge societies views on nudity? Did she want to generate dialogue about the representation of the Black female body? Or simply, did she want us all to see how amazing her body is, after having three children?

Whatever the agenda may have been, Badu has been charged by for disorderly conduct, Sgt. Warren Mitchell: "After much discussion, we feel that these charges best fit her conduct. She disrobed in a public place without regard to individuals and small children who were close by." In an interview with MTV, Badu said of the reaction her video caused: "I expected it to provoke dialogue, and it's an important statement to make. It's about freeing oneself of the layers and layers of things that we have learned as Americans in this country."

CBS reported the act as “strip tease” which I beg to differ, as there was nothing sexual in how Badu was revealing her body. In fact, she provides a refreshing dichotomy in how the black female body is represented in Western Media. The Black female body represents promiscuity, sexual deviance and danger, all enough to distract White men. She shows the Black female body its natural state: free of social constructs. She unveils herself one piece of clothing at a time, freeing herself and her body of restrictions or shackles that is placed upon the Black female body.

Perhaps, if the video was about her impersonating a stripper whilst revealing her body, it would have been controversial yes, but acceptable. Why, because she would be promoting the stereotype Black women are sexually lascivious. It is ironic that the likes of Lady Gaga can flash her crotch on screen and it be considered ‘art;’ but when a Black women gracefully shows the Black female body in its glorious form, she gets blasted.

Sources:
http://www.rttnews.com/Content/EntertainmentNews.aspx?Section=2&Id=1265699&SM=1
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20001724-504083.html

j*9 interviews Lucy Pink

2010-02-15T13:40:00.000-08:00

J*9: How did the Diesel Radio Station Start?
Lucy Pink: It all started in May 2008 and it was a pop up project and we were above the Amersham Arms in New Cross and it was just meant to be for 6 weeks. The idea was that we got bands, musicians, DJs and artists to host their own shows where they come in and take over. Then we went off air and were never to come back again, but in September 2008 they asked us to come back for another 6 weeks and then we went off air again. In April 2009 we started off again and we have been going ever since. Its kind of varies between 6 weeks being really full on and the few months with one live show a day.

J*9: So how did you get involved?
Lucy Pink: Emma our Creative Director put the idea to Diesel and we had done a similar thing for Bestival and I have been doing that for 6 years. I worked with Emma and the team on the Bestival radio as well so when this came up, she picked her radio team and I was on that list. I was working full time when the first project happened and my work gave me six weeks off because they knew this is what I wanted to be doing. The second time it came up, I thought I can’t ask them again but then I thought I could ask them again. I know this is really cheeky but I want to go do it again they were like yeah go do it! It was like having a family as a work place who were so supportive.

J*9: What has been the response since you first started the project?
Lucy Pink: It’s been huge, huge, and huge. When they know about it they like this is great. When the artists come down to do their show they are like we have had the best time. Or people who come as guest see the space and feel the vibe, they like I want to come back and do something here. Dawn Pen did that recently she was like when you are going to get me to do a show? I was like anytime, she came and guessed with Roots Manuva. She just dropped by but after spending the night here she was like I want to do one. As it is Internet based we are getting a good international response and it is not just listeners from the UK. We have done broadcasts out in New York, which was insane, Berlin and Milan and venturing out here there and everywhere. When they [artists] are doing their show we guide them we don’t tell them what to do. They will be like can I play this really random record that I found and we will be like of course you can.

J*9: Is there a set format or is it down to the artists?
Lucy Pink: It is completely down to the artists as the shows are one-offs. I do a weekly show for Diesel and Tom Ravencroft as well we are in-house producers but every other show was one-off. It’s not that format of breakfast or drive time, its completely random you could have Drum & Bass at nine o’clock in the morning, or Smooth Jazz at eleven at night. You don’t really know what is going to happen throughout the day, which is pretty cool.

J*9: What guests have you had on the show?
Lucy Pink: The one show that stood out was the Banana Clan showcase. We had Roots Manuva, The Banana Skins Bands, Ricky Rankin, Jimmy Screech. Roots had guessed on my show and I was like why don’t you do your own show. So he came down to do his own and took over the space and made it into a performance area. Roots had invited Dawn Penn she turned up with her guitarists and they rocked with this full live show and were being broadcasted at the same time. Everyone had so much fun; it was like friends coming together to do an event.

J*9: What were the highlights?
Lucy Pink: Being in New York was the biggest, I got to interview Consequence and Ryan Leslie these huge super stars out there which was mind blowing. I got to link with the End of the Weak out there and did some stuff with them. In show wise there have been so many!

J*9: Did any guests surprise you?
Lucy Pink: I think the most comedic and random one had to be Kashmere and DJ Ghost. They were using stuff here like xylophones and random instruments that you find at children’s parties they were not even trying to be musical. Dan Greenpeace and DJ Excalibah were getting involved it was like they were at their mates house having a laugh. We keep things under control but we are like do whatever you like. Sometimes it can go the other way, people turn up and you think they may do one thing but come with a complete band. I thought Speech Dubelle was coming in for an interview and she turned up with a full live band. This is fantastic but now I need to run around the studio and set everything up.

J*9: How did you get into radio?
Lucy Pink: I started at uni and I got involved straight away. I started spending more time on radio than my degree. I did a weekly show there and it built up and we were getting sponsorships from local record shops that gave us all our music. I guess that was how I got into hip-hop, but I was more drum & bass back then. When I left I came to London and did hospital radio and did just as much as I could. Starting making pod casts, going out on the scene, interviewing people, I guess I saw it as practice and to get to where I am. Practising and perfecting my craft and just meeting people, understanding it all, I’m not there yet, I have still got a lot more learning to do.

J*9: How long you been on radio?
Lucy Pink: Seven years, it has only been in the last 2-3 years that it has become more established and more regular. There is still so much more to do and I write my to do list every day.

J*9: What items are on your to do lists?
Lucy Pink: Perfecting my editing and DJing skills. I am more a radio DJ than live a DJ so practising my mixing so I can do gigs. I don’t want to be one of those DJs that are really bad! I just want to get the show built up and not miss any opportunities.

J*9: Are you more into indie radio or something major like the beep?
Lucy Pink: I would love to do something like the BBC because that is like the top point. I enjoy doing this [Diesel FM] and I love doing this and I’m seeing where it can all go and what happens. It just the case of contacting people and getting everything perfected. If 1Extra came knocking, I’ll be hell yeah! Nothing is really permanent it is always leading to other stuff.

J*9: Do you remember your first show?
Lucy Pink: It was awful! I was co-presenting with this guy who is still a friend of mine. Listening back to them I sounded really nervous and a bit false, I guess you are your biggest critique. But with our shows we really loved music, once we started talking about music it sounded really natural. It was those opening links, I think because I was really nervous. But show really developed and they kept us going for three years and we had the prime time slot. Someone must have thought it was all right but when I listen to him or her I cringe!

J*9: I think it’s the case of listening to your own voice, I personally hate it!
Lucy Pink: But you have too! Especially when I have done my pod cast, I need to arrange it in way that makes sense to the listener and just ignore the fact that you hate the sound of your own voice. Now I do it a lot, to work out where things can be improved or can’t be said. When you are just talking you don’t realise how often you would say a certain word or phrases. It’s like oh my god I just said wicked 50 times in half an hour and it sounds really shit.

J*9: How do you know when listeners are feeling the music?
Lucy Pink: Feedback, people using social network sites like twitter, facebook, my space sending in comments and people are responding straight away. With my show as well, there is a lot of underground and up coming artists so we get feedback from them and get sent lot stuff. The show it is really different from a DJ set, so I hand picked all my music or get sent stuff and filter through and see what I like. If I have a guest on I will play a lot of their stuff in the interview. I don’t plan to start off chilled and then heavy; it kind of just bounce around and that is what I love about radio.

Check Lucy Pink on:
www.dieselumusicradio.com
http://lucypink.podomatic.com
www.myspace.com/lucyadam

The Female MC by Krista Keating

2010-02-06T11:51:00.001-08:00

The female MC. She exists. I know she does. I've seen her at my local open mic. I've seen her on cheesy reality shows. I've heard her on college and independent radio. I've seen her at female MC showcases. I've read her flows on web cyphers. I've seen her on My Space. But how come I don't hear her on KMEL or see her video on MTV or BET? Yeah, I can catch some out dated joint by Lil' Kim or Foxy Brown and Lauryn Hill's flows never get old, but, where is the new generation of female MCs?

It's a man's world. I get this. Men run and ruin this world at their will. Women clean up the mess, however that may manifest itself. Hip Hop, the progressive counter-culture that we may be, still subscribes to sexist values that choke the female MCs voice. The male dominated industry of Hip Hop still lacks faith in the female MC.

A few weeks ago I was at a function when a few men started to talk about Hip Hop. This issue having been on my mind for awhile now prompted me to tell the men that there are no new female MCs on the radio and quite frankly Hip Hop, the industry, doesn't seem to give a hoot. The response, by one Bay Area MC, was "Who gives a shit? If there were females dope enough to be heard, they would be." His response angered me. There are most certainly female MCs trying to be heard who are dope enough to be put on. And there are most certainly wack male MCs getting breaded out for spitting garbage!

One might say that just like the women's liberation struggle, only women can uplift women. Thus, the responsibility of putting female MCs into the mainstream falls on the shoulders of women. But the truth is that the heads of major labels, major radio stations are not women. The labels are run by men. It's a man's world.

So, just like with the women's struggle for equality, the challenge to put talented female MCs into the mainstream, requires that men join our cause. If the same ol' cookie cutter gangster, ride or die female MC is what the mainstream allows for, why haven't we had a new one of those in few years? What's the problem?

The entertainment biz is cutthroat. It's musical chairs, there's never enough room for everybody to play. If you are trying to blow up as an MC, the threat that the next MC will take your spot is real, and can happen at any given moment. The public fan base is wishy-washy and easily distracted, often only offering unconditional loyalty after your dead and gone. Investment into an MC can be risky. But with no female MCs to speak of, why not take the leap? Why not offer up something new to a male gangster MC saturated radio line up? Isn't that why Lil' Wayne gave us Drake or why T-Pain resurrected the auto-tune, to come new? The same shit over and over gets played out, that's why T-Pain's auto-tune craze is already falling off.

I am a grown woman. I have kids to raise. The truth is a pain I need in order to arm my children for the real world. The reality that it's a man's world doesn't distract me from other truths, such as, women have the right to be heard, even if it unsettles their men's world.

The truth is that a crop of female MCs to shake up the game would be both a wise financial and cultural investment into the future of Hip Hop. Let's step our game up!

Text: Krista Keating
Check Krista on:
http://www.jzybelle.blogspot.com

J*9 interviews Diss Miss of Dutty Girls

2010-02-06T11:24:00.000-08:00

J*9:Tell me, why did you call yourselves ‘Dutty Girl’?
Diss Miss: ‘Dutty Girl’ wasn’t a crew name, but it was a club night that I’d launched 6 years ago. I liked the name because it just seemed to sum up what I was trying to do with the night. Of course not everybody will take it in the same way as I meant it, it just seems to resonate with people, and that’s what a name ideally needs to do! I was doing bar work in a Jamaican pub in Bristol, The Star and Garter. The landlord there is nicknamed ‘Dutty Ken’ my friend who also worked there wrote ‘dutty girl’ really small on the corner of her T-shirt. I’d noticed it, and I said: ‘Please, please, I have to have that name for my night!!’ I really liked it and it’s all a bit of fun really! The name is similar to how Missy Elliott took the name ‘bitch’ and used it to talk about her, switched it and made it positive. Calling ourselves ‘Dutty’ was a risk of course; some people don’t get it at all!! It’s about owning your own sexuality as a woman (yawn, yawn I know!), but we really are truly ourselves, just normal girls!! We don’t believe you have to act like either sluts or tomboys to be accepted in hip-hop or bass driven music. Hopefully we are just the happy medium!

J*9:What has the reception been like to Dutty Girl?
Diss Miss: Really, really good! We have been lucky to do a lot so far and have had some great experiences supporting other acts and doing a bit of traveling. We also had a lot of success with our regular club night. We had some great acts come down over the five years like; No.Lay, Tor, C.Mone, Tali, DJ Sarah Love, Graziella and more. We’ve scaled down to do a small monthly crew night now because it was all just so much work, and we had to prioritise. We have more time to get on with our studio stuff, which needed to take precedence for now. We’ve done a few festivals and carnivals so far, and this year we’re getting ready to hit Bloc Weekender in March with all our own material, we can’t wait to blow up the spot! It’s one of our first chances to bring our finished tracks to a big audience, up until now we were more of a DJ/MC thing, now it’s more of a finished act.

J*9:How do you all collaborate with each other?
Diss Miss: DJ Dazee and I work together on the production, using Logic mainly to make the backing tracks for the MCs and Singers. They have a lot of lyrics and songs that are ready for beats so we’re just keeping the instrumentals coming to keep up with them at the moment! Sometimes they tell us what kind of track they want, or they give us the lyrics so we can make a track to go with it, and sometimes we just make a track and give it to them to do something with. We all work together in different ways though, whether it’s DJing together, making mix tapes, coming up with song ideas, we’re just all good friends really, so all the ideas come from just hanging out together and acting really stupid (which probably gets really annoying for other people!

J*9:You are perhaps one of the few female hip-hop collectives comprising of the 4 elements, what was your aim with this?
Diss Miss: To be honest that was always my aim, but it hasn’t quite worked out like that. We have DJs, Producers and MCs but are still yet to bring in Graf writers and Girls. Over the years I’ve met some girls that either graf or break-dance but we’ve never really gelled in to a crew yet. I think that the girls that are in the crew mainly came together because of the music, it’s our first true love and the relationships just happened. If we were to meet B-girl or graf girls that were into the same music and had a similar attitude to life then I think it would definitely work. But the possibility is always there, we could easily bring together a lot of girls from all elements to represent the Dutty Girl ethos and do a J*9: A as a crew and individually you have supported some big names like Estelle ?uest love, Dj Jazzy Jeff, how did that happen?
Diss Miss: Yes, it’s been fantastic! I supported Est’elle myself, as a DJ that was great fun! It was few years ago now, before she went so big! But I had a good chance to meet her and even interviewed her, she was a really, really nice person! I’m so glad to see a UK female mc/singer make it so big! I think it must all be down to her great attitude on life! I supported ?uestlove last year too, he is a real hero of mine so that was something else, he was so lovely, I could hardly speak to him much though as I was so nervous of playing just before him! Generally, I guess we’ve been lucky and we’ve built up our act and our reputation well, so a lot of people in Bristol and beyond are hearing about what we do and booking us.

J*9:What is your favorite genre of music?
Diss Miss: If you had asked me that question five years ago I would have said ‘Hip Hop’ at the drop of a hat! I’m still tempted to, but now I’m so much more versatile in what I like. I think good music is good music, and obviously we each have our own perception of what that is, but luckily some of us do agree on it! I’m definitely big on baselines, I love Reggae, and I guess a lot of what I like is some kind a derivation. So if my life depended on it and I could only listen to one genre ever again, it would probably be that!

J*9:What was the first record you bought?
Prince – Purple rain!

J*9:How did you first get into hip-hop?
Diss Miss: My most prominent memory of it is when I was about 13, my best friend’s brother was driving us home from school and was playing a ‘2 Live Crew’ album in his car. I was hooked from there on! I was just amazed with what they were saying and knew I had to find out more! I’d already heard some popular hip-hop of course but that was my first taste of some real underground stuff. I guess the obsession started from then on.

J*9:How did you first start DJing?
Diss Miss:I first started DJing in the late 90s, I was getting into hip-hop more and more and just started to amass a collection of records. Any serious record collector knows that real compulsive need to just HAVE certain records and the NEED to just keep on collecting! So I ended up with a massive collection over time. I also had some good friends that DJ and I used to go to their nights and parties all the time, and although I loved what they played I’d noticed that quite often they would lose the crowd as there would often be a dip in the vibe when they weren’t really playing the right tunes to keep us dancing. It frustrated me and I realised I would be much happier behind the decks than I was on the dance floor. That way I would be able to keep the tunes coming and keep on dancing too!

J*9:What is more important, beats or lyrics?
Diss Miss: Totally equal, a good balance of the two would be perfect! But, if I’m hearing something new I look for innovation in a track

J*9:What are the key ingredients of getting the crowd going?
LDiss Miss:t’s all about reading the crowd, it seems obvious to say but some people still don’t get it I guess! You have to be true to yourself and play what you think is truly good of course, but you really do have to play for others. I’ve played all sorts of crowds and I think it’s at least 50% about being prepared for anything, making sure you have back-ups in your bag! I think I’m a versatile DJ I may go to a gig expecting to play loads of new dubstep you’ll get there and realise it’s not going to go down well, so I’ll end up playing dancehall or something. But at least the people are happy and they’ve danced. I can’t stand when DJs are so bloody minded they want to play all the fresh dub plates they have and don’t care if people are getting into it.

J*9: You also run female hip-hop nights are it important that they’re specific events just for women?
Diss Miss: The nights we used to run did involve mainly female acts, but there would generally always be some male input on the night, whether it was for the open mic or whether they were actually on the poster itself. But it was always important to do it mainly as a female thing as it was about showcasing female talents and giving the girls their own platform for that. The crowd liked it because of the lack of ego; machismo and boisterousness that you might expect at a lot of male led hip-hop nights. Some girls find it very hard to come up against the guys and that is not because they aren’t as good, but it’s just that females are often less aggressive in their approach and much more humble generally, so they find it hard to fight for the spotlight sometimes.

I used to think it was very important to have it all separated like that, and I guess it was, just to give the girls the opportunity, but I’m a little bit less bothered now to be honest, I think we’ve done it for long enough now! I used to be on this whole-hearted mission to get women more noticed in hip-hop! And to some extent I guess we did, but now it’s time for us to put our own music first and stand up in the music scene regardless of our genre. The mission is the same though. I just realised after a while that we could put on night after night in Bristol and not make much of a difference to the big picture, where as we can release our own tunes and start a revolution! Ha ha!

J*9:Do you feel compromised to play other female hip-hop stuff?
Diss Miss:To be honest, I would never play anything because I felt I should. I’ve built up a great collection of female hip-hop, because I was interested in knowing what had come before, but I don’t play much of it out. My mantra as a DJ is to play good music that people want to dance to. I’m not a radio DJ or a chill out DJ. I play so that people can dance! I would be more likely to play some ‘Salt and Pepa, Missy Elliott or JJ Fad’ in my set than some Jean Grae, although I probably have more real respect for her as an artist than the others, if that makes sense! I’ll listen to Jean Grae at home, and when I’m out I play what works on the dance floor. There’s always room for innovation or a wildcard in my sets but a lot of female hip-hop is not dance floor worthy sadly. That’s why with Dutty Girl we do make music for dance floors; we’re not moaning on about our hormones and trying to be quirky all the time.

J*9:As women in hip-hop is it our responsibility to support each other to build a community?
Diss Miss: Absolutely! It’s everybody’s responsibility to build healthy relationships in life anyway and it’s always important to support people and build regardless. Where women in hip hop are concerned it becomes just as - if not more important, like any minority group we need to have networks and support for each other. I find it really sad when some women don’t see it the same way. I guess we have that thing of being so few and far between that some believe there isn’t going to be enough slices of pie to go round, so they get nervous and on the offence all the time. It’s just not productive though is it?

J*9:You have your own shop, how did that kick off?
Diss Miss: I started the Dutty Girl shop not long after I had started the club night; it was something I just fell into really. I’d been ill and had had to take time out of work, so as I was getting back on my feet I was wondering what to do, I knew that hip hop was what I needed to do with my life (as it were!!), but I had to find something that would keep me busy and make me money day to day. One day when I was down at the record shop in the market, the guy there, who I knew quite well, suggested that I rent a shop, as the unit next to his was coming up for lease. It just felt right, so without much thought I did it! I started selling vintage clothing, some customised clothing I made myself and I got some Dutty Girl merchandise made up – hoodies, t-shirts etc. It worked for me because it felt like it was all still incorporated into the music still. We’ve moved now to a bigger shop and I have a business partner, so it’s great having someone to share it all with and it’s a much bigger space. I love having a window to display stuff too! We launched our website recently and the online shop is coming very soon!

J*9:Do you have any up coming projects?
Diss Miss: We are working on putting out an EP and we’ve just started working with a manager so things are looking good. We’re putting together a line-up for next month’s Weapon of Choice night here in Bristol, which is kind of like Bristol’s ‘Secret wars’. It’s an all-female line up again so that should be really fun, and there are a couple of really good female writers doing the boards, so that’s really exciting. Other than that we’re just hoping for lots of festival action this year and we’re getting on with studio stuff. I think 2010 could be really good for us! Starting with Bloc Weekend!

Images
Group picture: DJ SafeSoul, MC Sarah B, Singer Klair, DJ Izzy, DJ Diss Miss, DJ Dazee

Check out the Dutty Girls on:
http://www.myspace.com/duttygirlmusic
http://twitter.com/DuttyGirl
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dutty-Girl/21513380633?ref=ts

j*9 interviews D-Sew

2010-01-17T10:16:00.000-08:00

It is cold, its January and I am running five minutes late to meet D-Sew a female rapper from East London. It was a huge pleasure to meet her and have chat about her music, influences and plans for the future. Our conversation started out on a positive note - as we were both wearing matching checkered shirts. Check the interview below.

J*9: How were you exposed to music?
D-Sew: My first tape was Michael Jackson ‘Bad’; I have been influenced by the Bollywood scene, Pet Shop Boys, Duran Duran. Also my Sister in the late 80’s early 90’s was into Bobby Brown, Prince & Cookie Crew so I became exposed to the soulful side of music. When I was young I was in a group with my cousin and we used to do showcases for our family. She used to do the dancing and I took more control in the singing

J*9: How did you first start writing?
D-Sew: I was 11 and my first song was a love song. I was just writing about my feelings at the time. I liked this guy and he just overlooked me, it really hurt my feelings and so I thought I need to write this down.

J*9: When did you start spitting?
D-Sew: When I was like 16or 17 and I used to write poetry. During this time I started listening to Rinse and Kool fm when drum & bass was at its peak in the mid 90’s with DJs like Micky Finn, IC3. I started to construct my words in more of a rhyme and I used to pretend that I was actually emeceeing on the radio.

J*9: When was your first performance?
D-Sew: It was at school assembly and I did an acapella of Mariah Carey ‘Hero’ with two other girls from my music class. I felt like that I had a voice from that age. My first ‘proper’ performance was at the HQ in Brixton. I hadn’t performed in years and I felt like I blossomed and people around me were encouraging to do my thing.

J*9: How you talk and emcee you sound like two different people.
D-Sew: When you listen to Grime and Drum and Bass you are hearing these fast spitters and I grew up on that. I grew up listening to Wiley, Dirty Goods and Neeko they are not soft rappers they are in your face and that is how I evolved with my style.

J*9: How did you get involved with the People’s Army?
D-Sew: It was the launch of the very first People’s Army event in January 2008. I loved their revolutionary ideas, the beliefs and causes, standing up for justice. It was through word of mouth and got to meet Logic and Lowkey [Members of People’s Army]. I was really feeling the movement and thought I will back it.

J*9: Are you affiliated with any other collectives?
D-Sew: Black Piranhas are a collective of very diverse musicians of producers, rappers, singers. It’s just us coming to together making tracks. I like them for different reasons it is more musical love.

J*9: How do you get our name out there?
D-Sew: I am trying to kick down doors; the [music] label industry is closed. We are not being heard enough and you have to do it yourself nowadays; creating your own empire and put your music out there. So I do my podcast and invite everyone in and play everyone else’s music. I also network a lot by going to events and building up contacts.

J*9: Hip-hop that people are listening, buying and seeing is really materialistic and shallow, as a conscious rapper how do you feel?
D-Sew: What like 50 Cent?

J*9: Yea, for example.
D-Sew: Putting the materialistic video’s, the bling and all the rest aside when it comes to 50 cent, I think he is still an iconic role model to a lot of people in the sense that he has a business head on him & a great focus. He came through & up going through extreme experiences in life and where he is now well I commend him for it in that perspective.

J*9: My problem is that he doesn’t live that lifestyle anymore so why are you still talking about it?
D-Sew: I think 50 cent still raps about his past experiences merged into his current lifestyle because may be he just can’t let go of his past. Why he gets so much attention is because he knows how to make money. He uses that as his focus and talks about the rougher side of life. He’s always been about the money and that comes across in his music relating to his current lifestyle and how he was hustling back in the day. I think that is the key relation in his music and why he often brings up his past.

J*9: What rappers do you listen too?
D-Sew: Mos Def, he breaks it down. I love him because I feel he is true to hip-hop. J Dilla I love his productions and that is how I got into making beats.

J*9: How do you know when you got a good beat?
D-Sew: It’s a buzz that I get in the belly, you can play a synth and if you tweak it up slightly and put some base into it goes from this sounds alright to yeah I am feeling it. I usually stick to playing the melody first, then layering various instruments around it & then finally adding drums. To get that yeahhhhh affect & buzz I would then tweak everything up using tools in the mixing process.

J*9: I heard you met DJ Kool Herc?
D-Sew: Yea I did when I went out to America in August [2009] in the Streets of the Bronx. DJ Ready Cee arranged the hook up on that one. What a moment that was!

J*9: Wow. You met a hip-hop pioneer.
D-Sew: [She laughs] I managed to get him on camera. Words cannot describe that experience. For him to shout me out was amazing. He felt a vibe in me which was special. He lives up to his name definitely.

J*9: What projects are you working on?
D-Sew: I feel like I have so much of myself to show, I am working on individual solo project that will be out in 2010 and it will show my skills and my passion for music. It is something that been working on my own and it will represent me. I want it to be organic and pure and pretty much original.

Check D-Sew on:
The D-Sew Show - www.dsewmusic.podomatic.com
Youtube - www.youtube.com/dsewtv
Twitter - www.twitter.com/dsew
Gmail - dsew.music@gmail.com

j*9 interviews Choxanne from all female graffiti crew 'Girls on Top'

2010-01-07T11:26:00.000-08:00

Choxannne is graffiti artist and has been doing so for the past twelve years, she is part of the respected all femle graffiti crew Girls on Top. She was also involved in the UK’s first and only all female graffiti exhibition in 2008 and is a part of Paint My Panda customisation street art crew.

j*9:What got you involving in writing?
Choxanne: I used to see loads of really good graffiti on my way to a youth club when I was about 14 or 15 but never did it myself. I was more trying to be a skateboarder; I just liked what I saw around me really and got more and more interested until I started doing it myself. I had always liked painting and drawing as a hobby so it was definitely something I should be doing.

j*9:How long have u been writing?
Choxanne: I have been writing graffiti for 12 years

j*9:What did your first bomb feel like?
Choxanne: I was nervous about getting caught but did more!

j*9:Have you ever been caught doing illegal’s?
Choxanne: No comment!

j*9:How would you describe your style?
Choxanne: Funky fresh

j*9:Who have you collaborated with?
Choxanne: Kelzo Akel, Skyhigh and Luna more than most

j*9:What it like taking part in Girls on Top, the UK first female graffiti exhibition?
Choxanne: Well the crew had only just expanded so it was early days, it was good for us because we got quite a bit of attention from it but a lot of the crew weren’t really ready for the show and I think that showed in the work, so while it was fun and a new project to do it wasn’t a tight enough show for any longevity

j*9:Was it through this exhibition the Girls on Top Crew formed?
Choxanne: No it formed years ago but got revived when I started painting with Mira, I then held a girl jam in 2007 and invited a load of different girls to paint for fun and from then I expanded the crew and we got offered the show from that I think.

j*9:What do you females stand for?
Choxanne: Free thinking & fressssssssssh attitudes.

j*9:What do you think of the UK graff scene?
Choxanne: I think there’s a lot of talent around and very skilled artists but there is also a lot of negativity around and people dragging each other down. There is also not enough scope for a lot of writer’s talents we need bigger legal walls and shop shutters and buildings to be painted ideally but the councils actively discourage this, there is a lot of narrow mindedness towards the art form but then the UK is a bit backwards at times so I’m not really surprised! People still think you are mad for doing it as it’s hard to make money at the moment. But I am still here!

j*9:What place do you think women have in the UK Graff Scene?
Choxanne: A very small one! There really aren’t many girls pushing it here that i know of i could count them on one hand! There are a lot of talented artistic girls don't get me wrong there are more street artists but not many graffiti writers :(

j*9:Do you have any favourite artists on the scene at the moment?
Choxanne: mickey & phemme9 are my favourite female graffiti writers; they have great funky styles not just technical ability

j*9:Are women starting to get some recognition?
Choxanne: Only the ones who work really hard or have been writing for ages, you can’t fake it
j*9:Tell me about any upcoming projects you may have?
Choxanne: I am part of a company called paint my panda which specialises in hand painted denim jackets (inspired by the old New York painted jackets) and other fashion items like caps, bags and shoes, along with private commissions, live painting at events and youth projects, so far it has been received pretty well, and I have a couple of big murals to paint next year, I am glad to still be painting :)

Check Choxanne at:
www.paintmypanda.com
www.myspace.com/girlsontopgraff
www.flickr.com/thcuk
www.flickr.com/paintmypanda

Hip-hop Feminism Literature

2010-01-03T14:42:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year, I purchased a few books on hip-hop feminism to help me along my way of creating BITCHES. In fact I can say, all of these books had a huge influence in my understanding of ‘black feminism’ and how it differs from ‘feminism’ which to be fair is based upon the experience of white middle class women. More importantly, how women are used as a currency of exploitation by mainstream hip-hop. (I say mainstream because conscious stuff, as it name sake is not interested in that rap). All of these women refer to themselves as ‘hip-hop feminist’ they grew up in the culture, appreciate it but yet see so many flaws in terms of the construction of masculinity and femininity. It also rooted my knowledge of all these females who were as the pioneers of hip-hop but for some reason they are never mentioned or given a shout out. So if you have the time please do check out these books.

j*9 interviews DJ Ychuck

2009-12-29T13:03:00.000-08:00

J*9: You have an unsual DJ name, how did Where did you get your name from?
DJ Ychuck: My last name is Onyschuk. It’s kind of a difficult last name to pronounce (its Ukrainian) and people are constantly saying it wrong! They have called me 'O-chuck', 'oni-chuck','ychuck.’’ When I said ‘ychuck’, my friends were like 'that's a wicked name...that's your DJ name!' It's a funny name and it's stuck with me through time. Some of my best friends call me Chuckie!

J*9: How did you get into hip-hop?
DJ Ychuck: I started getting into hip-hop when I was at high school. I think I first heard real underground hip-hop on a ninja tune compilation that a nice person who worked at a record store gave to me. I also listened to a lot of college radio, and fell in love with late night underground hip-hop sets. I bought all the Tribe Called Quest records, and kept progressing from there.

J*9: What was the first record you bought?
DJ Ychuck: The first full length 12" I bought was Pussy Galore! On Pussy Foot Records. It’s a great compilation! http://www.discogs.com/Various-Pussy-Galore/release/205196

J*9: How did you first start DJing?
DJ Ychuck: I started DJing when I was seventeen. I actually grew up in the height of North American rave culture, and got into drum and bass before I got into hip-hop. I always used to hang out beside the DJ booth, and I remember being mesmerized by what the DJ was doing with all the knobs and faders. My dad bought me my first DJ mixer as a graduation present, and I set up a bunch of old turntables (they didn't even have pitch control on them!) and tried to start mixing records. Later on I saved up to get some real DJ gear, I spun records with a lot of buddies, played in a lot of people's basements, and made a lot of 'train wreck' mixes along the way while I learned how to make mixtapes!

J*9: Have you played in other parts of the world?
DJ Ychuck: So far, I've been lucky enough to play in the US, and in Europe. In the US, I played in San Francisco. I was actually invited by QBert to appear on his 'Turntable TV' DVD series, and while I was filming down there I played at a club with DJ 8-Ball (DMC West Coast Champion)and Rafik (DMC World Champion) Last year, I was gigging in Germany for six months. The highlight of the trip was playing at the We B Girlz Hip-hop Festival, where I opened up for Bahamadia and Roxanne Shante.

J*9: You are also turntablist DJ, how did u start that?
DJ Ychuck: I was actually really lucky that I discovered turntablism! When I was younger, I used to hang out at a graffiti store. In addition to djing, my little sister was into painting graffiti (she's a dope visual artist, I used to mostly bomb) and we used to go pick up paint and markers and I'd shop for records. I used to buy drum and bass records, while my sister would check out the paint. We met a nice guy who worked at the store, and he knew that I really dug my turntables. He recommended that I check out some ITF videos. I bought an ITF video, and that night my sister and popped the VHS tape in the player and were totally stunned after we watched the first DJ's battle routine. I think it was the first time that we ever saw a DJ scratch and juggle! We must have watched the tape about four times that night. Around this time, (2000-2001) there were still a lot of raves going on in Toronto (my hometown) and I was able to see amazing turntablists at raves in big venues. I was going to raves every weekend to see DJs like Roc Raida, Swamp, Klever, A-Trak and the Funky Teknicianz. It was an incredible time.

After a few months of carefully observing real DJs, I was totally motivated to learn the art of turntablism. I was lucky enough to find a mentor, DJ Labo, who taught me to properly scratch and juggle. This was around 2000-2001, which is now considered to be one of the 'golden eras' of turntablism. He also introduced me to the Toronto battle scene, and to a whole lot of really good DJs (Toronto produces some of the sickest turntablists on the planet!!!) I couldn't get enough of the turntables...I actually dropped out of college (I was studying jazz guitar at the time) so I could have more time to practice scratching!

J*9: What is more important, beats or lyrics?
DJ Ychuck: I used to think it was the beats, because I'm really into listening to productions, and I really enjoy the soundscapes that producers create. However, these days, I'm really feeling lyrics too, although sometimes I listen to the flow of the lyrics more than the words. But I think it's really important to have a strong message you want to communicate as well. I know that lyrics can sometimes 'speak' to people in a way that they can easily understand, and make a song truly memorable. In a well written song, both elements are equally important.

J*9: What are the key ingredients of getting the crowd going?
DJ Ychuck: Playing the right records at the right time and of course making sure that you have some bangers in your crate too. I think that a good DJ really takes his or her time to build up a set, and focuses on taking their audience on a real journey.

J*9: Is it easier for girls being DJs?
DJ Ychuck: I think that it's a challenging for anyone to be a good DJ!

J*9: Does your gender affect the type of music you play?
DJ Ychuck: Absolutely not. I play what I feel is right for the moment. I think that the message that I want to communicate to my audience determines the type of music that I play.

J*9: Do you feel compromised to play other female hip-hop stuff?
DJ Ychuck: No. I really like a lot of female artists (like Missy, M.I.A. Beyonce and Mary J. Blige to name a few), but I play their tracks because they make dope records, not because they're females. I play music if it's good...I'm not concerned with the gender of the person who made it. I do think that women have certain strength to them though, and I like it when female artists channel their funky, soulful vibes into the music they create.

J*9: As women in hip-hop is it our responsibility to support each other to build a community?
DJ Ychuck: I think that people should support each other. Men should support women and vice versa. The only way that the earth will ever really be able to progress is if everyone begins to work and build together.

J*9: What is the future of hip-hop?
DJ Ychuck: I think hip-hop is going to be further influenced by electronica and dubstep. I've been hearing lots of really cool, wonky electronic hip-hop coming out of cities like LA. There are some really good artists out there right now like Nosaj Thing, and Flying Lotus who are pushing the music in a new direction. Today I just heard of this producer called Shlohmo who's really original and makes really spacious, futuristic beats. I also make produce some new school hip-hop beats under the name Sara Simms so you'll want to check out some of my productions in 2010.

Photography, creative direction and makeup and styling by: Melle Oh
Additional styling by: Shehan McLelland
Jewellery by Crushed

Check out DJ Ychuck on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUk3WILeMAY&fmt=22
http://www.djychuck.com
http://www.facebook.com/djychuck
http://www.myspace.com/djychuck

My New Fashion Icon

2009-12-28T14:50:00.000-08:00

I have decided that after 10 years of watching the ‘Fresh Prince of Bell-Air’ that the character Hilary had an amazing wardrobe. So to pay homage to this forget style icon, I will try my upmost best to relive her fashion-forward outfits. I squeal in excitement as I write this, I can’t believe her savviness only came to my attention now.

She encapsulated the nineties body-con style that was at a fever pitch from fashion designers like Alaia Azzedine down to every single rap artists music videos. The bold-block-colours, Chanel 2.55 handbags and round-toe-mid-heels all screams 1992.

So, it shall by new look of 2010.

Some Old Skool Fun

2009-12-28T09:53:00.000-08:00

Here is some old skool hip-hop tunes I found in my mum's shed. I believe that shed of her's is a Narnia to music of the past. Enjoy.

Can we ever reclaim the word Btich?

2009-12-25T13:34:00.001-08:00

This week I had an interesting online discussion with Leddie, she is one half of the hip-hop duo Leddie and Smoggy. The gist of the debate was is the word ‘bitch’ an unacceptable word to use. We both had our own thoughts on the matter, read below to make up your own minds.

Leddie: Don’t agree with it being called "bitches" though ... Kind of shows the misogyny in Hip Hop, lol and how it affected us ... Glad you’ve put in the info it’s about "Bold Individuals That Challenges Hiphop'crisy En Style" though still.

Janine: hmmm...double edge sword. It’s a feminist zine/website for girl’s involved in the five elements of hip-hop culture. I choose to use that word for the exact reason, constantly used by some male rappers to put women down, so I thought fuck it, I’m going to make it mean something, hence the break down. Also tend to find when a woman is described as a 'bitch' it’s because she doing her own thing and not boasting some mans ego...

Leddie: Yeah, that’s true ... But, The Word 'Bitch' is Said in derogatory Manners within Hip Hop, Even if its instead of saying woman they use Bitch like it’s an acceptable thing and we should 'learn' to like being called it, That’s why I don’t agree with women using it in tunes like "Chilling with my bitches" or shit like that .I’m a Woman, and if a man can’t learn to realise that women aren’t objects and are actually human beings, He isn’t a man. Like I said though, at least u broke it down in the info, I just don’t really agree with the name of it.

Janine: You don’t agree with the word 'bitch' because of the context that is used, which I guess in relation to hip-hip tends to be negative. But I feel anyway my blog is not about perpetuating misogyny, I want it to say women are called bitches in a negative way, but let’s reclaim that word to our ownership and mean something else. So it is recognizing its historical use, but changing it to mean something empowering. Cause all the women that I have interviewed or wrote about are females doing their thing in male dominated industry. I will admit I choose to use the name BITCHES for shock value, but it’s not some gimmick, it about showcasing talented women...

Leddie: I don’t agree with the word bitch being used because I think it degrades the whole purpose of what we’re trying to achieve as women within Hip Hop. Our aim is to be seen as the powerful, Strong outspoken women we are ... But were being degraded within commercial Hip Hop, and then were giving into their submission, like a "bitch" is all we are able to...

Janine: I agree, the word 'bitch' is used demandingly, but why can't the word be reclaimed to mean positive. By doing so, is that not a political or feminist statement in itself? You used the word to mean something bad, but I am going to spin it on it to mean something I want it too? The same way the word has been used to negative, can it not be changed to mean something positive, as in all it is a word created by man, therefore can be changed by women?

Leddie: To me the word 'bitch' can never be used positively ... To me, it is like a respectable black male or male, using The "N-Word" ... To me, it’s Disrespectful and although people use it as a Greeting, or casually, to me, it’s a direct negative and violent condemnation of character. It’s the fact that we 'allow' ourselves to be called bitches, by females and males, its lost its bite and we just allow it to happen ... Even women in Hip Hop used the term "bitch", for example, Lil Kim - "Queen Bitch" ... To me, its degrading yourself to their level to fit in to Hip Hop. I don’t want to fit into hip hop, I make Hip Hop music, But the state of the Hip Hop culture, on a whole in my opinion, is Absolutely Disgusting because nobody respects themselves or each other, yet we all act like its fine and get on with it.

J Star 9 interviews Amelia Ideh of Put Me On It

2009-12-18T10:56:00.000-08:00

Amelia Ideh runs the influential 'Put Me On It', a blog dedicated to promoting good music from independent artists. She is a little lady, with lot going on, not to mention the fact she works in PR and is also an event co-ordinator. She is responsible for the monthly nights like ‘Pause’ at the Market Place and equally ' at the Gramophone. She is indeed a woman that runs things.

J*9: Describe yourself in three sentences?
Amelia: I'm a workaholic, but I'm half Nigerian so it's genetic - we're born hustlers. I'm creative yet organised - I have a degree in contemporary dance where I specialised in choreography (so it was surprisingly good training for what I do now). I sometimes feel like a cross between a hippie and a Care Bear.

J*9: What is an average day like for you?
Amelia: I work from home so it's pretty boring - get up and get to work! I spend an insane amount of time on the internet and often find myself still working at 3am, I love going out to gigs, contemporary dance and the theatre but I don't seem to have the time I used to for clubbing.

J*9: You run the blog put me on it, how did you start it?
Amelia: It began as a space where my friends and I could share news about music and events - we were constantly calling and emailing each other about it so I thought the blog would make it easier. It was my baby so of course I ended up posting the most but I still run it for the same reasons I started it for.

J*9: What did you hope to achieve?
Amelia: I don't think I had a goal in mind at first; it really was just to save time! After a while things developed and a lot of artists and DJs came back to me saying my support was actually having an impact so now I want to use the blog, events I produce and my networks to share amazing music and support the people who are making it.

J*9: You work in music promotion, as it the industry as tough as it seems?
Amelia: The toughest thing for me has been coming from an arts background where everyone is very nice and supportive - they want to collaborate and nurture each other in order to move forwards as a culture. The music industry seems to be much more of a competitive and male vibe which is just not very me! Luckily I think some people find that refreshing, but I've had to develop a thick skin, people can be unbelievably petty and patronizing.

J*9: How easy is it for you to promote independent artist?
Amelia: I think of PR as being one third of an equation. Good music and good marketing will result in good publicity - plenty of independent artists have had to get good at doing their own marketing which is the whole point of a label really, though the kudos can help.

J*9: What was the initial attraction to the world of PR?
Amelia: I held an artist consultation session at the Roundhouse a while back, and asked a group of musicians, vocalists, producers and DJs what they felt the hardest parts of their jobs were. The overwhelming response was spreading the word. I wanted to develop a company that could make a difference, and I had some experience of working in marketing and PR, so when people started coming to me asking if I could support their projects, I said yes.

J*9: What keeps you motivated with the type of work you do?
Amelia: Good music. I have had offers to work on projects I really don't believe in but I can't do it. I want DJs and journalists to be happy to hear from me, and generally they are which makes my job much easier and more fulfilling. I also don't work on projects I wouldn't want to write about myself, for example I could never write about someone's work just because they were paying me to promote it, because I always blog from the heart. At the moment I'm working with Accidental Records (Matthew Herbert's label), which is my favourite label - so I don't need much motivation - it's a dream come true!

J*9: You won a Performing Arts Fund from the BBC, how has that aided you in your career?
Amelia: The support, the process and the money which come with it are all amazing - but to be honest the biggest deal to me was the sense of affirmation. These people believe in me and my ideas, and they are willing to invest in me - that has made a world of difference to my confidence. The investment money means a new website and some bigger events next year, which I'm really excited about.

J*9: You are also an events manager have there been any nights you have been particularly proud of?
Amelia: Recently my Halloween party at the Market Place "Bitches Brew" was pretty amazing - an all female line up of emerging singers, DJs and artists who were all fantastic, and the place was rammed full of lovely people! I'm proud of everything I've worked on though - Pause (especially the Soul Power party we did this summer), Deviation, and Lookout! Have all been great experiences.

J*9: What are the key ingredients of making a good event?
Amelia: DJs you can trust to respond to the dance-floor instead of ego tripping, inviting the nicest people you can ("cool" people are fickle so don't court them), noticing the details (is the dance floor too bright for people to get comfortable dancing, does it smell nice in here?) and remembering to enjoy the party yourself.

J*9: Tell me about the first record you bought?
Amelia: I'm not quite sure which was the first but it could have been Cliff Richard and The Shadows, Holst "The Planets", Rick Astley or Danni Minogue. I was a strange 6-year-old. Long before that though I just used to listen to my Mum's records - loads of Michael Jackson and Motown.

J*9: Are you working on any projects in the future?
Amelia: Loads, watch this space!

Check out her site: http://www.putmeonit.com

J*9 interviews F.Lady of Cat Fight Magazine

2009-12-13T04:52:00.000-08:00

If you have not heard of the influential ‘Cat Fight’ magazine, where have you been?Cat Fight is the first graffiti magazine dedicated to female writers and was created in 2005 by Dutch Graffiti artist FLady. J*9, poses a few questions to this amazing writer check out the interview below.

J*9: What got you involved in graffiti?
F.Lady: Other people’s scribbles in the streets of my old hometown caught my attention when I was about 16. It made me wonder who would do such a thing, how they did it and at what time of day? Their names were weird and the tags had style beyond normal handwriting. I just had to try it.

J*9: How long have you been producing graffiti?
F.Lady: My first illegal piece was in the beginning of 1998.

J*9: How would you describe your style?
F.Lady: Graphic lettering with candy colours. But recently I have started practising tattoo style characters which is more illustrative.

J*9: You are formally trained as Graphic Designer how does that affect your work?
F.Lady: My background has an influence on the colours and forms I choose for pieces and artwork. When designing screen prints having graphic design skills is really practical, even when the original is a drawing I can use the computer to try out some colours before we really start the printing process.

J*9: What graffiti artists have you collaborated with?
FLday: With a lot of nice people from all over Europe and beyond. But I like most to collaborate with my crewmates.

J*9: Tell me how Cat Fight Magazine started?
F.Lady: It started when I finished art school and wanted to get better at Indesign. And I needed to come up with a good project to do so. So I thought of this concept for a magazine. A magazine that had never been made before and I thought it was a good thing to have. There was no medium yet that highlighted female graff. The sites that were there had outdated info and pictures and only a few female writers were really internationally known. So I sent out a mail to every writer I knew and after a few months the first magazine was there.

J*9: What did you hope to achieve with the magazine?
F.Lady: First just to showcase what was out there so people could see. But after the first issue the magazine developed a bit further and issue after issue you could see the quality of the works improving. This was really important to me. Not only the network was getting bigger, more and more girls found Catfight and got inspired.

J*9: How do females use your website?
F.Lady: Mainly to download the mag. There is also a forum connected to Catfight and Graff Girlz where you can show your skills and discuss Graff related things.

J*9: Is it important to have resource like Cat Fight for female graffiti artists?
F.Lady: To answer that is quite hard. But if I wasn't making the magazine, I would definitely check it out to see what other female writers are doing. To get inspired by their styles, techniques but also to see the diversity of what is out there.

J*9: You are also a part of Bitches in Control, how did you two form?
F.Lady: At the time I was still in art school me and some friends had an art gallery for young artists. Lowlita and I were both working there and we hooked up. She was doing a lot of stickering in the streets back then, and I was both into graffiti and stickers and posters. As we were working there we started working on artworks together too. The gallery has been closed for some years now but we still work together.

J*9: What was it like being featured in Graffiti Woman?
F.Lady: Working together with the writer was crap, but the book turned out
quite ok. It is the only book of its kind so you kind of have to appreciate it, and I do think it has a certain value.

J*9: How does your gender affect your work?
F.Lady: It makes me want to use pink in everything I make.... ha ha no way! Gender and graffiti both influence my work. It makes me more versetile as an artist. Being able to make blunt typography is quite a manly quality, but I also make fine feminine illustrations and
typography.

J*9: Is the graff scene still as sexist as it once was?
F.Lady: In every male dominated scene there are macho men and nice men. I tend to hang out with nice guys and put the rest on ignore!

J*9: Are women starting to get some recognition now?
F.Lady: Yes, definitely. There are way more women in the scene nowadays and they get noticed for their skills.

J*9: Do you have any favourite artists in the scene at the moment?
F.Lady: LD crew from Amsterdam and Faith47 from South Africa.

J*9: Tell me about any interesting upcoming projects...
F.Lady: My newest crew the Fly Force is a badass all female hip-hop crew and we are planning to travel to every continent to show our skills. We’ve already been to South Africa this year and our next stop is hopefully Brasil. With the Bitches in Control we have an exhibition planned for May in Paris which is going to be loads of work, but I’m already looking forward to it.

Check out these link for more of F.Lady
www.catfightmagazine.com
www.bitchesincontrol.com
www.theflyforce.com

Jay Star Nine Interviews Street Artist Suzko

2009-12-04T11:35:00.000-08:00

J*9: Describe yourself in 3 sentences.
Suzko: I suppose I’d describe myself as a true artist: a bit fucked up, over and under enthusiastic about everything, overly ambitious but lazy, way too sensitive but hardcore. Just one big contradiction.

J*9: Off the creative things to do, why did you choose art?
Suzko: Art has been my life since I can remember. As a kid, I could never go anywhere without a pencil and would scribble and doodle everywhere and on everything, much to the annoyance of my mum. I guess it was kinda a release of thoughts and feelings that maybe I couldn’t express at that age.

J*9: What inspires you to create pieces?
Suzko: The city and London life inspires me in a big way. New trends and sub cultures interest me. I have recently been focusing on the London cycle courier scene which has exploded in the last year and it’s pretty easy to get inspiration as my boyfriend is one of them. Other urban artists inspire me, graffiti artists, manga and also traditional art forms; the renaissance period and the old school Italian masters.

J*9: How would you describe your style?
Suzko: For the last year I have been experimenting with a new style. I have been using posca pens on canvas primarily used by graffiti artists which creates a poster, pop art feel in bright fluro colours. I’ve been doing alot of commissioned portraits which has been great cos it brings in the money and its always cool trying to find that unique look within the subject. But really my true passion is hidden within the darker side of things. I used to paint in oils and would twist and distort figures into mythological creatures and weird fantasy style bird-like characters. There are some pretty freaky things that go on in my imagination and I do my best to recreate them onto canvas.

J*9: How is your style unique?
Suzko: To be honest, I don’t know if any artist could really say that their work is completely unique. All artists take inspiration from other peoples work and hopefully it evolves into something new and different.

J*9: When did you realise you had this talent?
Suzko: I think I’ve always known I had talent but my parents always really supported me as a child and told me how good I was so it probably started there. However, no matter how much natural talent you have, you always have to practise, and continue doing it otherwise you can lose it abit. I never went to uni, so when all my friends were going off to do that, I went to work and lost all enthusiasm for what it is that I love: art. For three years I did nothing so when the time came to get back into it, it was really hard. I had to kinda re-teach myself all the basics, but it does eventually come back to you.

J*9: What other street inspired artists do you admire?
Suzko: There’s a French guy called Amose who covers loads of areas with his collective, Mercurocrom, including digital images, illustrations and graff murals. He creates weird elongated and distorted characters which I love. Another guy from his collective is Erone and his work is right up my street. But these guys have already made it and what I really want is to big up all the unrecognised talent out there. There are so many amateur and outsider artists with so much going for them. Cat Johnston, Zoe Moss, inkfetish and Sichi being but a few.

J*9: What is the best piece of art you have created?
Suzko: It’s really difficult to choose one of my pieces which I think is the best. I spend so much time working on them and staring at them for hours that it’s hard to see them with fresh eyes. When you look at something for so long it strips it of its purity and you can never see it for what it really is. Having said this, I do love one called ‘Baby and Tash’, which is a portrait of my grandfather holding me as a baby. The colours I used give it a real comic book/superhero feel.
I honestly don’t feel like my gender affects my art in any way.

J*9: Where in the world would be your ideal place to produce some art?
Suzko: Two places I’ve never been but have heard are amazing are Berlin and New York. I’d love to go out there, especially Berlin as it full of artists, musician and all creatives. However, probably the most idealic place for me to be to do art would be somewhere like Indonesia. A place where rainforest meets beach, sitting in some broken down little beach hut with no material distractions, just nature. I’m not a hippy, I swear! Ha-ha!

J*9: Tell me about any upcoming projects you may have?
Suzko: No real plans for future projects yet. I wanna get back to my dark side; create some proper twisted characters in oils. I really wanna teach myself to use spray cans as well cos then I could get into doing big murals and stuff. That would be great!

Check Suzko on: http://susielowe.carbonmade.com/

Man, I feel like a Woman

2009-12-03T14:49:00.000-08:00

Today, I bought a book called ‘Graffiti Woman’ by Nicholas Ganz. It got me thinking, ‘Does gender make a difference when producing gendered themed book?’ This work of photography features a cross-section of female graffiti artists from all over the world. Each artist brought her own style to graffiti as an art form and was an enjoyable experience to page through. But, this thought still lingered. It would have been more empowering if a female had been the curator of this book; then it would have been a collection of female graffiti art by a female author. It suggests that these women are only worthy because their talents have been recognised by a man. If women were given equal space in the many graffiti books that are focused on men, then essential we would not need a book of this kind. As the man or woman that would make such a collection of work would be mindful if it appears that one gender is dominating the content.Ganz admits in an interview,‘Women are often forgotten or underrepresented in the graffiti and street art related literature. Men didn't take them seriously...graffiti was and still is very sexist and male dominated.’

Getting your Nails Did...

2009-12-01T11:59:00.000-08:00

Upon my travels around London, I picked up my trusted friend, 'The Metro' and I found this piece about a Japanese Nail Fair. Well, we all now the Japenese are the most creative brunch. Obviously, it is in the sushi as they have spawned some of the best designers, Yohji Yamamoto, Nigo of Bathing Apes and Rei Kawakubo founder of Comme des Garçons. For cry out loud they have Harajuku district. This is clearly a sign fromm God because I need to get my nails did.

Kid Sister f. Kanye West "Pro Nails"
Uploaded by foolsgoldrecs. - Explore more music videos.

Here is Kid Sister for some moral support.

jay STAR 9 interviews Renna from Brick City Boutique

2009-11-29T07:03:00.000-08:00

For those who don’t know prepared to be educated. Renna runs Brick City Boutique, a successful monthly night for those wanting to sell and buy their artwork with a street inspired style. The night is an amalgamation of the four elements of hip-hop culture: Djing, Emeceeing, Bboying and Graffiti. Since it is a female running the show, B*I*T*C*H*E*S had to meet up and find out more about this creative fem.

J*9: Describe BCB in three sentences?
Renna: BCB is a platform for up and coming street inspired artists it includes those form the Fashion, Art and Music worlds. The idea is to create a springboard for young people who are coming up in the scene to perform on the same stage as established artist on the hip-hop scene.

J*9: How did the idea come about?
Renna: Well, I have been running my own jewellery business for the past three years that is based around street art and my own graffiti and personalisation. When I first set it up, I find it quite difficult to find a market place for my product and to fit in any part of the sector. I thought wouldn’t it be great to have a market place with all elements of hip-hop happening under one roof. That is the ethos of BCB. To have a place for street inspired artist to sell their work to a like minded audience.

J*9: How did you set it up and get people involved?
Renna: I approached a couple of people in the hip-hop scene, and that was DJ Snuff from End of the Weak. I asked him and End of the Weak to be the stage host because I know they are prolific in the hip-hop scene and is an international collective. They also run an open mic night and I want that to be a part of BCB for young people to voice their skills. It seemed natural to go them because of what they do and he loved the idea. It also open up a lot of doors and through that channel I went to Sensei FM and then links were made with basement Sessions as to who I collaborate with as well. It came to life of its own.

J*9: When you had your first event, how were you feeling?
Renna: I was really nervous. I have done events before but more on the underground scene, but this was different I was opening up the stage and it was just a big responsibility but exciting t the same time.

J*9: So what is the secret to its success?
Renna: Everyone gets what it is about. With an event like that it is kind of unique in what it stands for. People on the hip-hop scene are open and supportive and they can see the potential of it. I have been approached by some important names in hip-hop and asked if they can perform at the next event. That is such a buzz.

J*9: (interrupts) Can you name drop?
Renna: (laughs) Not right know! Because nothing is set in stone yet. That is just such a boost. People are starting to come to you now and that makes it worth it.

J*9: BCB has a really relaxed and easy going energy, how do you create that?
Renna: The hip-hop scene that I know and love in the UK, in other places like Prague, Berlin in fact where ever you go, there is so much love involved in it and thinks that shines through. With an event that focuses on hip-ho p culture you are always going to get that love and unity and that is what I love about it.

J*9: BCB is really unique in what it does, how does that make you feel?
Renna: It makes me feel great. In a way I don’t see myself as a part of it as it has taken a life of its own. I like going to it just like everyone else. I am proud to be a part of the hip-hop scene it feels good.

J*9: Who is the BCB crowd?
Renna: The typical audience would be into anything hip-hop. So emceeing, break dancing, Djing, I get a lot of young emcees coming down because of the open mic opportunity and also to meet other artists. The general crowd of BCB are young enthusiasts who are artistic and expressive. They are the typical hip-hop-heads that you could spot, none of that fake gold chains stuff!

J*9: How do you know when nights have been successful?
Renna: I guess the looks on people faces when artists are performing on stage, the turn out and if people are up dancing, that’s how I generally gage it.

J*9: So apart from BCB, what else do you do?
Renna: As I mentioned before, I run a graffiti jewellery business and my collection is called ‘Ghetto Soul.’ The idea of Ghetto Soul is similar to the ethos of BCB and is about my dedication to hip-hop culture and the celebration of the four elements of hip-hop. On top of that I teach in a College on retail course and I teach on a fashion course run by DV8 Training.

J*9: Now that you mentioned your jewellery collection how did get started?
Renna: I studied a HND in Jewellery, my designs were started to collaborate with my graffiti. One day I was doodling away, I thought I wondered if could turn this into a ring. It seemed logical to mix my graffiti designs with my jewellery making and I gave it a shot and it work. I made a ring for boyfriend and everyone said I should follow it through and wanted pieces for themselves.

J*9: So how did the name ‘Pieceology‘come about?
Renna: When I was trying to think up of a name. I was studying jewellery and graffiti and thinking about how I could make these pieces work. The word ‘piece’ stems from master piece and ‘logy’ means the study of and it came to me.

J*9: What inspires you to make pieces to jewellery?
Renna: I would get an idea and I would just want to pay with it and experiment. I make things which appealed to me and what represent the hip-hop culture that I am emerged in.

J*9: So what got you into hip-hop, what was that song?
Renna: The first hook line was Wu Tan song it must have been when I was 15 years old and it took me with both hands. I loved everything hip-hop from that moment. Then all the important hip-hop groups that were out at the time and then there was no looking back.

My 1st Ever New Era Cap

2009-11-05T13:48:00.000-08:00

For the first time in my life, following a the massees. I am completely loving New Era Caps and plan to buy a whole lot more. Not only do they discriminate and employ beautiful people, they have an array of colours and
designs to keep you entertained.

I'm heavily inspired by hip-hop and felt my first purchase shouldd reflect that.

Sa-Ra Creative Partners @ Deviation 4/11/09

2009-11-05T13:21:00.000-08:00

Sa-Ra was performin set at Deviation held at the ever-so-cool Gramophone, a bar and club in East London. Thinking about the few gigs I have been able to make they are number one.

The night was so sick, pulling out signature tunes like 'Rose Bud' and 'Hollywood' which sent the crowd into a frenzy.

The most appealing factor of the night was the refreshing and down-to-earth attitude, they mingled in the crowd and several times gave thier thanks for us being there.

It's official I am marrying Taz, and here is the song that sent the crowd pumping.

Akomplice Clothing

2009-10-21T13:43:00.000-07:00

I don't like talking about boys on BITCHES as it is dedicated to my ladies. But on my random Google searches, I stumbled across this American brand Akomplice clothing. I absolutely fell in love with their t-shirts which are banging. There is huge hip-hop feel towards the designs which resonated with some well known pop cultural references to all things hip-hop. The yellow tee is one I have ordered and naughtily cop of their site.

Check out their stuff, it is seriouly on point.
http://www.akomplice-clothing.com/

The Same but Not Really...

2009-10-21T13:42:00.000-07:00

I could’nt help but notice the glaring similarities between Nicki Minag and Lil Kim. I do believe most female rappers post Kim and Foxy Brown were marketed upon the whole ‘sexual explicit we are just as bad as the boys thin,’ which worked for them and this formula pretty old now and boring. Both talk about their sexuality to a rather provocative degree, the only female in an all male group, wear practically nothing. The only exception is that I like Lil’Kim because she is an intelligent business woman and a talented lyricist who can rap whilst Nicki Minage is just simply awful.

Where are the female Rappers?

2009-10-21T13:06:00.000-07:00

Here is an interesting article I found on CNN- of all places. It is a spew about the lack of successful female rappers in hip-hop. The writer makes some valid points that I agree with. But lets face it, the industry is sexist, women are there to sell rappers sexist views.

Check the link below: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/10/14/women.in.hip.hop/index.html

I want those mofo earring

2009-10-20T14:32:00.000-07:00

Absolutely loving those chunky door knockers that Miss Keys are rocking in this vid. Just so delicious. Me want. Me want badly.

Teenage Love Affair Sneak Peek
Uploaded by yardie4lifever2. - Explore more music videos.

So Enjoying Hocus Pocus

2009-10-20T14:26:00.000-07:00

These Parisian Rappers came to my attention, I guess I kind of forgot about them. They lyrcist in French and I dont understand a word, but who cares? It damn good music.

Check out the vids

Mama Mia your Hott!

2009-10-19T10:40:00.000-07:00

Mia Toms is a talented and unique twenty- one-year-old singer-song writer and rapper from Finland. We first clapped eyes on each other after meeting at the club Plastic People, where notice that we had the same fluorescent-yellow Reebok Classic High-tops. Since then we have been inseparable in cyberspace and Jay Star Nine (j*9) talks to Mia (MT) about her music and forthcoming EP.

j*9: How old were you when you wrote your first lyrics?
MT: I must have been 15-16 years old, I still remember the first song that we did with a good friend of mine, and it was called ‘’Brother’’, instant HIT!

j*9: When did you realise you had this talent?
MT: The first time I stepped on stage to perform my own song, it was magical and seeing the audiences reactions, even my arch enemy couldn’t say shit, it was priceless!

j*9: What inspires your writing?
MT: All my lyrics are based on emotion, I write stories about my life or others close to me. When I see things happened and they get a strong response from me, that’s when I truly need to pick up the pen. Writing lyrics, its like a poor mans therapy for me.

j*9: What is your best song?
MT: Well as an artist it is hard to pin point what is the best, because they all my babies and I think the listener should make that choice, but I’m very fond of two songs in particular, ‘So In Love’ and ‘Too Fast’

j*9: What was it like performing your first song?
MT: Awesome and scary at the same time!

j*9: What has been your best performance to date?
MT: Performing at Helsinki Senat’s Square on New Year’s Eve in 2008. It was huge and televised live.

j*9: How do you keep your old material fresh, like the day you wrote them?
MT: The thing with old material is that, when they were written and made, they reflect that certain period of time.I believe on moving forward, so I’m not sure if keeping old stuff fresh is a matter of concern, when the new stuff that comes out should sound fresh because sometimes they don’t.

j*9: Tell me about the album you are producing?
MT: Well I’m making an EP with 6 songs that I feel are my most powerful ones. They are a collection of different states of mind.

j*9: What is your most attractive quality?
MT: My smile, you can’t say no to this face!

Images sourced from:
myspace.com/maikiamusic

Brick City Boutique 19/10/09

2009-10-19T09:39:00.000-07:00

Brick City is a monthly open door boutique at Elbow Rooms, Islington where those from the independent sector knock heads andd sell thier goods. So I took a picture of these banging garmz.

Pause @ Market Place 18/10/09

2009-10-19T09:01:00.000-07:00

What a banging night it was.

A slow start but once the beats were drop there was now stopping booty. The night is montly and is organise by Ameliam who runs the influential blog, put me on it.

Favourite tunes of the night

is French Vogue for Real?

2009-10-14T11:21:00.000-07:00

Today I picked up the G2 supplement and read about how French Vogue had 'blackened' up a white model. What made matters worse, before I had even read the editorial - I assumed the model was black!

I felt really disgusted, but then it is French Vogue- France is notoriously racist country. I don't think France has the history like the UK and US of 'Minstrel Shows.' These were shows performed by White men who would blackened themselves up, draw big red lips, and woolly hair to mimic the supposed behaviour of black people. I feel this is a 2009 and version of this.

I am offended as a black woman for numerous reasons. The editorial itself is about successful models in Fashion and none of our 'token blacks' are mentioned e.g. Iman. Naomi, Wek or Dunn. This particular image relates to this editorial by saying we rather have a white model painted to look black than have an actual black model. Also these images use the age old stereotypes of black women being these exotic otherness, she is styled as ‘African Princess’, think animal prints, beads, feathers etc. If she was painted unrealistic ebony black then it would simply and literally be a white woman painted black. But In other pictures of this shoot she is painted an unrealistic white - why? It’s the fact that she is made to look like a particular race that annoys and angers me the most.

Such a cool Blog

2009-10-06T11:09:00.001-07:00

http://forota.net/wordpress/category/fashion/page/2/
checkk it out

Amazing Afrocentric Prints

2009-10-06T10:57:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across this image online. The photographer is called Paolo Roversi, the collection of images were aptly named 'Afrocentric' and was produced for the New York Times in 2007.

Big Tune. Rewind Selecta!

2009-10-06T10:48:00.000-07:00

The many reasons why I love Erykah is because she is so intune to my needs, thinking and passions.

Some skilled photography

2009-10-06T10:42:00.000-07:00

Photography is not my forte but I think the below pictures of Camden Locks are pretty cool.

Boombastic Shirt

2009-10-06T10:35:00.000-07:00

Whilst in Camden, this market trader had this boombastic shirt on...so I thought I would take a picture for you lovelies

My Twin Sister

2009-10-06T10:30:00.001-07:00

Completly lovin this girls style,why? Because she looks just like me. I met my long lost twin sister in Camden whilst eyeing up her sexy outfit. You could literally seing her uber coolnes ooze out her pores!

What a hidden Gem

2009-10-06T10:28:00.001-07:00

Sarah Love @ Market Place

2009-10-06T10:14:00.000-07:00

A big shout out to my girl Sarah Love- well we are complete strangers but that don't matter. Any who - this sister was throwing some slamming tunes which meant us party people could equally throw some slamming shapes.

Best tune of the night:

Malcolm X Biography

2009-09-08T13:53:00.000-07:00

I don’t think I have heard and (mis)read about someone as intently as Malcolm X. This man intellect is so seducing at most I wished I was his wife Betty when reading his life story. I felt from the very first to the last chapter I knew Malcolm, truly believed what he stood for and he so rightly prophesised his beliefs would diluted and misconstrued as a “preacher of hate.” But he is not, he is more than that and when taking into context his life you can’t but help understands why he believed certain things. Yet much is not written nor talked about how he also began to broaden his views as the “white devils” after his life changing pilgrimage to Mecca. I really love and respect Malcolm X for the integrity that he stood for and believing and fighting for a real cause even if they try to silence you. The truth shall always prevail. Please do him justice and read his tale.

Serious Graff in Brick Lane

2009-09-08T13:47:00.001-07:00

Nice Kicks

2009-08-30T13:37:00.001-07:00

BACK OFF!

2009-08-30T13:33:00.000-07:00

For those who are under the age of 30, the phrase 'back off' a term apart the london youth dialect means bum. Normally used in the context to show admiration and appreciation to a womans buttocks.

I'm no lesbian but god damn!

And for brownie points she rockin body con dress ad chuncky thighs...sigh

Retro 90's

2009-08-15T15:50:00.000-07:00

This is me on the far end in the purple nikey t-shirt rocking an early 90's look. Remember branding was key in those days and so was orange lipstick. Although that ugly logo spoils my beautiful pic.

Oh some tracks from Livin Proof (08.08.09)

2009-08-09T08:13:00.000-07:00

KP & Envyi - Shorty Swing My Way
Uploaded by R33f. - Explore more music videos.

Angela Lansbury - Murder She Wrote

2009-08-09T08:07:00.000-07:00

Check Jessica Flecther's hair/shirt in one episode of Murder She Wrote I watched. Absolutely slamming!

Livin Proof @ Market Place 08.08.09

2009-08-09T08:01:00.000-07:00

Whilst holding in my pee in the labryth que of the female toilets (sometimes I do wish I had a boy's third leg)I came across so very cool girl after my own heart adopting my style of wardrobe.

Livin Proof @ the Market Place 08.08.09

2009-08-09T07:50:00.001-07:00

Perhaps one of the few times I have been able to get into the livin proof night, I must admit these DJ's know tp rock the mic or more so the crowd. Playing some good ass tunes pre and post my existence. For those who don't know it is a prodominately an old skool hip-hop night- with a sprinkle of funk, soul and r'n'b. My eyes were popping out me head - so many hotties Mc' Hotts. That said I am counting down the days to the next night guys.

(The hotties Mc Hott - especially the one in the black t-shirt. I am a secret white boy lover).

Chuncky Legs, Tropical Colours & Afrocentric Prints

2009-08-09T07:44:00.000-07:00

So said, so doing. I have adopted my desire to appropirate the above heading in my wardrobe. Hope you like...

Songs on my iTunes

2009-08-06T03:21:00.000-07:00

A real classic. Always reminds me of this boy I liked who was real passionate about this track. We had a lengthy convo about it. He liked the hip-hop beat on an r'n'b track. He's a hip-hop dj btw. How poignant, ah?

Dont lil kim look hot - what happend?

The best female r'n'b group ever

Records in my Mum's Shed

2009-08-06T03:05:00.000-07:00

When my mum sent me into the shed, I thought:'fucking do it your self'. This was perhaps the only house chore paid off. I find some 80's records in there and decided to steal them. Yes I Stole form my mum. Don't act like you have'nt done it.

Nicely Dressed People

2009-08-06T02:25:00.000-07:00

I feel a sense of commitment to show you those who share my vision - especially wardrobe wise. I guess there will be an attack the Janine clone's. So ya better prepare.

This Angela a photographer - from the female only spoken word night,'Style and Substance.' Fell in love with how she teamed Reebok Classics with her modernist dress.

Below is a girl I randomly saw in Stratford - looking uber cool. Can't remember your name (so sorry) but this chica is 15 (I know). Just could'nt get over her style. Keep it up.

I met Paris last night on the disrict line. I suffered a mini orgasm whilst eyeing up her leotard. She reckoned she got it from H&M but I think she is lying - because I have'nt seen it. Check out that necklace.

Another lady name who I can not remember but I met her at the Market Place, Oxford St. Absolutely feeling those creps.

One of my fav songs

2009-08-04T02:13:00.000-07:00

I can listen to this song on repeat several hundred times and feel like it is the first time I have heard it.

Hitting it on the Head

2009-08-04T02:08:00.000-07:00

Bell Hooks, what a fucking literary genius. I swear! I do believe that Out Law Culture is a must read, as it takes it from the view point of a black feminism as many mainstream feminist believe we still do not exist. She provided intellectual insight and cusses of Naomi Wolfe - I am glad some one has! And provides some real soul food for thought.

Paper Waster

2009-08-04T01:55:00.001-07:00

What a pile of bull shit. Yep the 'Beauty Myth' by Naomi Wolfe, was a painful read at times I knew would have more fun ripping out my eyes and slitting my wrists simultaneously. Of course, by most White middle class American feminist, they believe this political viewpoint was created for them and them alone. Not once does Ms Wolfe consider how the beauty myth may affect women of color or those from working class background. She provides not insight as to how black women perceive mainstream magazines that is catered for white women with little or no representation of themselves. Thus the affect it may have upon how they feel society may view their attractiveness. Or how working class women who normally cannot afford such luxuries to make them beauty and how promoting an affluent lifestyle may impact upon them.

Pedagogy of the Oppressed

2009-08-04T01:41:00.000-07:00

A very serious book that outline, analysis and deconstruct how the elites are and stay in power. It is not another Marxist's read that preaches to the converted, it provides practical methods of how to enlighten those who do not realized their conscious state of being oppressed. Once that is achieved - then bring on the revolution!

A story of a Broken Heart

2009-08-03T06:27:00.000-07:00

When I blew the fragments of my heart in the sky I hoped you would pick up every last piece.
But you left behind an important part part of me.
Since then, your love has never fulfilledme.
Flowing outof that unfixable gap.
Falsely bonded with glue.
You were blind to its incompleteness.
And never notices our love fading throught that crack.
So when each piece began to decay and fall apart,
You became ignorant to how you broke my heart.

A Stolen Heart

2009-08-03T06:11:00.000-07:00

As I was digging my way through the depths of my emotional debris.
In the process finding and much needingly ridding of broken hearts, insecurities and ex boyfriends and finally creating some space in my cattle-market-heart.
I realised whilst dusting off my fear of commitment, that I have lost my heart.
Which is a bit of a bitch as I promised to give too two people and loan it to another.
What do I say when I turn up heartless? 'Sorry I'm not the loving type?'

With all lost things, you go to the place you had it last?
But my ex said he sent it back in the post, but forgot to label it fragile.
Which now explains how it got broken.
But I remember mending it until it looked brand new with no scracth in sight.
So where is the damn thing?

After weeks of soul searching, online dating and blind dates.
No avail.
This blood pumping muscle had done a runner.
Three months had past and began to put up 'lost heart' posters everywhere - with the cutest picture I could evoke symptathy with.
I was running around like a headless chicken - my emotional desperation was at an all time high.
I was even considering a heart transplant.
I wanted a heart and I want it now.

I setup a media appeal - it went nation wide.
Crime stoppers were offering rewards. The Sun had me on thier front cover.
Yet, she was still missing.

After a year the police gave up the search. But I never did,
They said she is probably dead in ditch that heart of yours.
I cried. I missed her so.

A few hoours later my bell rang.
But the person did not stay.
There was a box neatly tied with a bow.
I opened it, inside was a note, it read:
'Untill you are ready to give me away. I will come back home. Love Heart'

My New Love for Afrocentric Prints, Body Con and Chuncky Calves

2009-08-03T05:14:00.001-07:00

Tropical Wardrobe

2009-08-03T05:02:00.000-07:00

I have decided that my palette for my wardrboe shall be inspired by these flowers, they are indeed my new muses. Which perfectly mirrors my new love for early nineties afro centric prints, body con dresses and chuncky calves. Please take not of below vids.

Graffiti in Crete (Part 2)

2009-08-03T04:49:00.000-07:00

In the same city of Heraklion, these crafty artists sneakly out up some political stencil graff again communicating thier ideas of, anarchy, freedom of speech, and military control.

Graffiti Cretan Style (Part One)

2009-08-03T04:38:00.000-07:00

After randomly deciding to go to Crete, Greece for a much deserved break. I stumbled upon some amazing peices of graffiti in Heraklion, the island main city. I guess hip-hops visual art form is a true lingua franca; I may not speak Greek but completely understood what these artists were saying.

Its been long time....

2009-08-03T03:10:00.000-07:00

As Timberland says: ' It's been a long time I should'nt have left' but im back and ready to go.

Be A Fly Gal

2009-04-14T03:41:00.000-07:00

"If you're a fly gal, then get your nails done Get a pedicure, get your hair did."

Styling: Jay star Nine

Photography: Emerzy 'Koax' Corbin

Model: Latoya Ize

Missy Elliot - 'Work It'

THE POWER OF A SISTER

2009-04-14T03:35:00.000-07:00

Chuck D from the infamous rap group Public Enemy has decided that 2009 is going to be the year of the female emcee. Making it his crusade to find female talent, he says: “In 09, my fighting the power is for women in hip-hop. Especially, groups, song writers and label heads. There are very few women rap groups, less than what we had twenty-five-years-ago.”

Apart from pointing out the obvious, Chuck D, now-turned-label-boss, is making a valid point. Female rappers have virtually disappeared to the no-career-land of hip-hop oblivion. Let’s takes a quick test. Name your top three rappers of all time. Now, out of them, how many were female? If all three, then you were clearly guilt tripped by the previous sentences. One to two, well done for applying positive discrimination. Zero, you might as well call yourself Snoop Dogg, and show how your“pimp-hand is way strong.”

The contribution that women have played in the progression of hip-hop is pivotal, but as usual but has been forgotten. Tanya Winley, daughter of Paul Winley, founder of Winley Records, (the first record label dedicated to hip-hop music) released ‘Vicious Rap’ in 1980. It was the first commercially recorded hip hop song to feature social commentary rather than just party rhymes. Such records would remain a rarity until the success of 'The Message'by Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five.

However, the true female pioneer of hip-hop is Roxanne Shanté, considered by many to have made the first answer song in hip-hop history. In 1984, a then fourteen-year-old girl brought out ‘Roxanne’s Revenge.’ It was in response to U.T.F.O track, ‘Roxanne, Roxanne,’ in which the group dissed the protagonist of the song for spurning their advances. Roxanne Shanté hit back by saying: “So, if you're trying' to be cute and you're trying' to be fine, You need to cut it out 'cause it's all in your mind.” The long and the short of it was that these grown men got told off by a teenage school girl. Lauryn Hill was the first rapper to be awarded ‘Album of the Year’ at the Grammy Awards in 1999. The role which women have played in advancing the genre is akin to a witness giving evidence in a Mafia murder case: silenced and never heard of again. If this is the unfortunate status quo for female rap, how can this moribund genre be saved?

The current state of hip-hop is like a sufferer of Alzheimer's. This once conscious genre has regressed to the maturity of a teenage boy on heat. Both male and female rappers are recycling the same old, clichéd sexual braggadocio and gangsterism. It seems light years ago that hip-hop had something intelligent and remotely cerebral to say. The present capitalist nature of the genre has resulted in it being stripped of authenticity and the female voice has been reduced to the ‘jezebel image.’ Female rappers of the Golden Age of Hip-hop had more poignant things to say from, female equality to safe sex. But their contemporary sisters seem more concerned about receiving oral sex. Queen Latifah’s lyrics advocated a positive feminist stance. Her song ‘Ladies First’ (with the UK female rapper Monie Love) championed respect for women.
In the late 90s MC Lyte showed that female rappers did not have to compromise their sexuality to get their voices heard. Sha Rock, part of the first rap group from the Bronx, Funky Four Plus One More, provided intelligent lyrics which proved her worth. These rappers were a product of the zeitgeist; the post black-power-generation was still in tune to Afrocentric ideas and the real roots of what hip-hop was all about.

By the early nineties, the mood of hip-hop was beginning to change. The brutal attack on Rodney King in 1991 by the LAPD and the murder of Latasha Harlins by a Korean shop owner were both catalysts for the LA Riots. The many ‘hood’ films, such as, ‘Menace to Society’ and ‘Boyz in the Hood’ brought South Central LA to national attention. Along came Warren G, Snoop Dog, Dr. Dre and Nate Dogg - all of whom were from the G-Funk (Gangsta Funk) era which was unique to the West Coast. With this area experiencing poor social housing, low educational achievement, high unemployment and continuous police harassment, what was the black male supposed to aspire to? These artists provided an alternative to the erosion of black male masculinity, with their brash lyrics that advocated violence, misogyny and the pimping lifestyle. Rap was the perfect tool for these male rappers to promote their hyper masculinity to which women were an extension of their pimping lifestyle. This in turn naturally provoked a female backlash. Salt’n’Pepper - a trio from New York, espoused lyrics which focused on sexual competence, preaching safe sex and the values of finding a good man. The female rappers from the West Coast too adopted a brooding style. YoYo told us, well, not to mess with her YoYo and Lady of Rage informed us not to annoy her because: “I rock rough and tough with my Afro Puffs.”

Women in hip-hop have been subsequently cheapened and reduced from the majestic, intelligent female rappers to the status of booty-shakers in the male rappers’s one dimensional music videos. The gangster lifestyle determined what rap was going to be about: sex, drugs, ‘the hood,’ misogyny and materialism. If female rappers wanted to be part of that picture, then they had to fit into the already male-decided paradigms. The famous “hip-hop intellectual” Michael Eric Dyson, a Professor at George Town University in DC, has written: “The success of female rappers Has suffered as a result of the prerogative of men who set the standards for what’s acceptable in hip-hop and set the lyrics, the styles and what genres will be most popular.” This is where female rap went seriously wrong - by compromising the femininity of its protagonists.

The simultaneous emergence of late 90s female rappers like Foxy Brown, Lil Kim and Da Brat set the first agenda for female rap. To get into the spot light, you must be the first and only lady of an all male rap crew. If you think about it, most of the contemporary female rappers have stemmed from male groups, such as Rah Digga from Flip Mode Squad, Eve from Ruff Ryders and Remy Ma of The Terror Squad, to name but a few. Once these females made their debut as solo artists, their careers were dependant upon the success and popularity of their male counterparts. Secondly, as a contemporary female rapper, your sexuality and braggadocio must “out male” the men. Andy Cowan, Editor of Hip-Hop Connection magazine, thinks: “The female rap cause was put back immeasurably by the brief reigns of Foxy Brown and Lil’Kim. By reducing the whole female experience to mere sexuality, in Lil Kim’s case near porn, they played into the hands of chauvinistic stereotypes the world over.”

Although, these two females subverted the roles of women in hip-hop, they also conformed to hackneyed stereotypes of black female sexuality. It was rare for females to be so sexually crass in their lyrics and to reduce men to sexual objects. But they reinforced the negative and erroneous image of the black woman as sexually lascivious and sexually deviant which has plagued black women since the days of slavery. Mimi Valdes, the former Editor of Vibe magazine, once said: “It seemed like the female artists mentored by male MCs to look and sound a different. Biggie developed Lil’Kim and Jay Z was working with Foxy Brown. I think they are strong women and took advantage of America’s obsession with sex.”

The plight of the female rap cause has been extensively ridiculed by VH1’s ‘Miss Rap Supreme,’ which was supposed to find ‘the new queen of female rap.’ The show ignominiously ended in April 2008, and the winner Reece Steele is exactly where she started off with: no record deal. Female rappers now have to contend with r’n’b artists who are literally stealing their act. The revamping of r’n’b’ music in the last couple of years has taken on a much harder, more street persona. Ebro Darren, Music Director of the US hip-hop radio station Hot 97, said in an article: “Fergie and Gwen Stephanie do not have street or emcee credibility. But they are selling the hip-hop lifestyle and that is what is getting them the audience.” If the boundaries between r’n’b’ and hip-hop are becoming increasingly blurred, where does this leave female rap?

Whether you have realised it or not, there are no females on the same level as Jay Z or P Diddy, for instance. There are no female hip-hop moguls who are influencing the genre for the commercial gain of women and overseeing how they are represented. If we had more women in rap doing the controlling, instead of being controlled, things would be much better. Ice T, one of the most famous rappers from the West-Coast- Gangster- Rap era, once remarked: “Rap is very aggressive, testosterone based, hard-core music at its base. To rap, you’ve got to stand on the stage and say I’m the best and that is what’s up. It’s very narcissistic music. It takes a special woman to be able to pull that off.”

But, contrary to what Ice T said, I think that in 2009 there are plenty of ‘special’ women who are ready to change the chauvinistic face of hip-hop. Let’s hope they come forward, because hip-hop as a genre urgently needs them.

Golden Touch

2009-04-14T03:30:00.000-07:00

GoldieLocks is one of the few Grime emcees making an impact on the scene. With her pic’n’mix style of, grime, electro and hip-hop, she has worked with a catalogue of artists spanning many musical genres. Sarah Louise Akwisombe is not just a pretty face, she is also a producer and hosts her own Grime night.

Born and bred in Croydon and according to GoldieLocks the best thing about her ends is “Dub Step” (a sub genre of the UK Garage with more emphasis on the bass). Her passion for spitting comes secondary to her first love affair of making beats. After attending a local music course, her tutors suggested she should add vocals to her beats - wham-bam we have the musical maestro that is GoldieLocks. She has been producing since her mid-teens and her song ‘Kid’ was a part of the ‘Adulthood’ soundtrack. So she should be one to know when a track is going to be shit-hot, her advice is: “When you are making your own music, you have to be your own judge. You got to think how it is going to be catchy. Sometimes you start something and you know it is going to be good.” She is a part of the Sick Kids, a Grime crew consisting of: Jackson Kid! Le Le and herself. The trio met whilst working at JD Sports, if she could amalgamate their personalities to create a super being, she plots: “My beat making, Leanne’s rapping and Kelly’s comedy genius.”

The twenty-three-year-old-quarter-Swede has been married for nearly four years and is a through and through hustler. She has her fingers in all the porridges: she self manages, plays two instruments, runs her own Grime night, produces her own t-shirts and has even worked at Starbucks. What is missing from the list? “I am quite a good cook,” she adds giggling and she epitomises “I’m Every Woman’” to a whole new level. So is it hard managing your own career and being a wife, she reveals: “I like being in control of it all and seeing the success I have made. It is a lot of things to do, but if you are not afraid of hard work then it is easy. There are some artists who cannot even book themselves a train ticket.”

She has collaborated with a collection of artists, including, Kate Nash and Tinchy Stryder. But she cites the rapper Example as her favourite and commented on what a “laugh” he was. He had the single ‘Vile’ a response to Lilly Allen’s ‘Smile,’ and has also tried his hand at stand-up comedy. She is currently signed to Pure Groove and the petit spitter insists she is still in control: “It is a publishing deal and that is another side to it. Pure Groove puts out really good music, they are still very much an independent company and think in the same way that I do.”

The blonde-haired-rapper has been strangely compared to the likes of Lilly Allen and Duffie. Marking no resemblance musically, a part from being white female artists, she insists that comparisons like that does not annoy her. “I get why they have to do it. They are trying to get people to listen to your music, but it can be annoying when it is all the time but you get used to it.” Being a female artist must have its constraints especially one in an all male scene, she explains: “If you are good at what you do then it does not really matter. Some people like my beats and some people might think my vocal is crap.” Her monthly Grime night, ‘A Hard Knock Wife’ at The Social (a club off Oxford Street) celebrated its first birthday in February, she says about its success: “There are not that many Grime nights, last time we had Jammer [Grime Producer] come down. When I first started it, it was with all my mates and they brought their mates and so on. There has always been a good vibe to it and it has never been a back-against-the-wall kind of thing.”

If you goggle her name it comes up with 424,000 hits and the secret ‘The Hills' and 'Gossip Girls' addict says: “It is probably not all me, it maybe a Goldielocks Salon or something. I don’t get people coming up to me and I don’t feel famous or anything.” Does GoldieLocks ever plan to fix Baby Bear’s chair? She casually says: “If I broke it, I guess I can fix.”

Images sourced from: www.myspace.com/goldielocks

this is graffiARTi

2009-04-14T03:15:00.000-07:00

Jodie Diaz is a twenty-year-old graffiti artist from Beckton, East London, she has been graffing for several years and her work has been displayed on the platforms at Vauxhall station to t-shirts she has designed. Jay star Nine (j*9) catches up with the raven-haired, Jodie Diaz (JD).

j*9: Off the creative things to do, why did you choose graffing?

JD: I chose to do graffing because it’s all around everywhere you go you can find a piece of art especially in the city. It is away to get your opinion across without words, its bold and its attractive, no matter how grimey it may look at times its an emotion.

j*9: What inspires you to graff?

JD: Everything around you can be inspiring, from music and dance to transport. Making dull everyday items into something new is what makes it what it is.

j*9: what is your favourite type of material/canvass to graff on?

JD: Clothing, trainers, anything you can wear! It has a statement you can carry.

j*9: How would you describe your style?

JD: My style is bold, I like to use bright electric colours which stand out, m style varies with my moods. I love the old skool themes I like to mix old skool tattooing styles with new graffiti, like, swallows, anchors etc.

j*9:How is your style unique?

JD: Unique is someone’s opinion to do something different, my style is different because I use many styles combined into one.

j*9: What other graffiti artists do you admire?

JD: A few artist are unknown like my boys Irate & Munch, they are my push forward and always taught me to never give up. Others like Bansky, Revok, Aztec made a passion for art a living and they paved the path for fresh artist to take the same road if they are determined enough.

j*9 Where in the world would be your ideal place to graff?

JD: Every toilet door in every club in the world! Otherwise anywhere in Europe especially Berlin as it’s so in to graffiti and the smallest piece can be appreciated.

Have You Got An Attitude

2009-04-14T03:05:00.000-07:00

In life only one person can say they are the first to do something and Jeanette Petri is one of those people. She is the first person to create a hip-hop magazine dedicated to the achievements of women within this musical genre. An Attitude is an annual magazine which features both the pioneers and those waiting to make their mark. Jay Star Nine (j*9) catches up with Jeanette via the World Wide Web.

j*9: You are one of the biggest hip-hop heads, what initially attracted you to this genre?

JP: Hip Hop came into my life as a very young teenager with 11 or 12 years of Public Enemy and LL Cool J. Then I totally lost rap music and punk culture with its revolutionary mind was much more important to me. But year’s later hip-hop came back, especially female Hip Hop. By chance, I heard a Shanté freestyle in the radio while sitting in the car and I was addicted from her first rhyme on. Since then I am really addicted to old school (also new school) and I can't let go. I started digging the females on wax everywhere I could find around the globe and played them in clubs, bars.

j*9: You are a woman of many talents: photographer, film maker and editor, why are you so creative?

JP: Being creative is the best thing.

j*9: What has been the best piece of work you have produced?

JP: I can't say...

j*9: You are a DJ specialising in female spitters, why this particular area?

JP: Really simple, because I love to hear their lyrics, beats in the club, to dance to. I am addicted to old school; I love the energy behind it. But I couldn't find a place where a deejay was spinning these beats .As I started to dig all these female spitters worldwide on wax, you couldn't find anything in the web for example for Roxanne Shanté or in books or magazines. Nowadays, nine years later a lot changed, fortunately, and you can find and get information as much as you want in the web. Also a lot of these early spitters are back on stage. But at that time, the only thing to discover the female side of Hip Hop culture was to find them on vinyl. To hear their stories, to enjoy the lyrics and beats. But that was a big challenge and you had to hunt for it worldwide, because you couldn't find more than one 12" in the whole record store. That was really frustrating, but also a good feeling if you got some. Now it’s a little easier to find rare wax on discogs.com, but it has its price.

j*9: Why did you create An Attitude?

JP: I started An Attitude magazine in 2005. One year before I produced the female rap reader "Here's a little story..."a collection of what I could find concerning female MCs and DJs in books. I have been collecting good magazines all my life, studied photography and video in Art School in Germany and I'm very much addicted to Hip Hop. I felt that there is nothing for the ladies or the contemporary female Hip Hop culture is nonexistent or represented in the media. So all this together brought the idea of starting a magazine of my own to keep a Hip Hop culture alive. And I'm very proud that half of the readership is actually male, because I never wanted to do a magazine for the ladies only.

j*9: Do you have an attitude?

JP: What a question!

j*9: Could An Attitude be described as feminism activism?

JP: Personally I have nothing against feminism, but An Attitude is much more like a feminist project. The feminist idea doesn't stand in the foreground. Ok it’s a magazine where the ladies are presented, but the most Hip Hop magazines are used to present males. But An Attitude is much more interested in opening the Hip Hop world to present people with attitude and who have something to say where hip-Hop is what you came to represent. It is all about a fresh, sexy and clever Hip Hop culture having an attitude, that is all.

j*9: What is your most attractive quality?

JP:Just to do it.9. describe yourself in 3 sentences?only need three words: workaholic, tough, shy.

J*9: What is your gulitiest pleasure?

JP:?

j*9: if you could have special powers what would they be?

JP: More financial support.

j*9: What is missing from your life?

JP:More time for taking pictures.

Images sourced from: http://www.jeanettepetri.com/

The Writings on the Wall

2009-04-14T03:02:00.000-07:00

Most ten-year-old-girls are now more concerned about matching their eye shadow to the colour of their top, but Solvieg Barlow is not most ten-year-old-girls. Taking the intricate art form of colouring in to a higher level, this preteen's graffiti art pieces have taken the Art world by storm.

At aged eight she asked her dad for some spray cans after watching some graffiti artists at work in her home town of Brighton. Since then, she has created over twenty large pieces of work in and around graffiti sites in home town. She has also painted on the Berlin Wall as well as Portsmouth Football Club at the Frattch Park Stadium.

Solvieg, which means sunray in Norwegian, she was named in tribute to her grandmother and says about her talent in an interview with The Sun: “I love painting and I hope I can be really good in the future. I am not sure where I get my inspiration from; I must have a good imagination.”

She has just started her own graffiti crew, called, All Girl Crew and on her flickr profile she says: “Watch out for me. I am ten. I am female.” Just the type of B*I*T*C*H*£*S attitude we desperately need.

Just Faffing Around

2009-04-14T02:52:00.000-07:00

Faffinette is a legend in her own right. She is one of the most well known graffiti artists to have come out of France. Her designs have been displayed across the world, including, Japan, Australia, America and Britain leaving no corner of the earth safe.

Born and raised in Toulouse, France, her strong presence in the graffiti and fine art scenes was first witnessed on the walls in her home town back in 1994. She gave us sexy, funny and sometimes aggressive female caricatures that challenged the representation of women.

Her distinctive designs have caught the eyes of many corporate companies who have hunted down the exclusive artist to reinterpret her designs and ‘faffinette’ their image. She has worked with Sony where she designed a six-character toy set for their ‘Time Capsule’ collection. She has also worked in conjunction with, Addidas, Le Sport Sac and even Coca-Cola. Last year she collaborated with the cosmetic company Mac and produced a make-up palette in homage to her candy-coloured spray cans that she uses for her own masterpieces. In an interview, she said about the experience: “It is regular make-up with Fafi packaging and it is a crazy product with crazy textures.” As with all geniuses it is only a matter of time before others become inspired and reciprocate your ideas in their work. In the Mark Ronson and Lilly Allen video for their song ‘Oh My God,’ featured a faffinette inspired character used to depict Lilly Allen.

She has also made up her own universe of characters, including Eniko, Ermie and Monoka who were all used for the packing for her Mac products. They come from the make believe world of Camine Vault, which is a secret place for her and her work to escape to.

Images sourcd from: www.faffinette.co.fr

Words Will Never Hurt Me

2009-04-14T02:46:00.000-07:00

Hailing from East London, Michaela Boakye-Collins is a Spoken Word Poet with a carousel of lyrics ranging from coffee to religion. Jay Star Nine from B*I*T*C*H*£*S catches up with the self described, “funkadelic, soulistic, high-afro-rockin-weirdo.”

Michaela should be a character from a Lewis Carroll novel. Her eccentricity is what makes her endearing to all those that know her. Having a

bout a quadrillion friends in common and always bumping into her at the Theatre Royal Bar in Stratford, it was definitely time to talk to her about her art form. On stage she is electric and her words are volts that pulsate right through you. Her pen is her sword, her vocabulary her amour - leaving you scarred with the vivid memory of her bold and in-your-face style. She is phenomenal. Citing her faith as inspiration, Michaela is a proud Christian, she humorously says: “I see God in a pair of shoes, on a roof and even flickering in a light bulb.” Having only been performing for a few years, Michaela is twenty-one and wrote her first poem at aged eighteen. Her first gig happened after begging a manager in a bar in Ealing to perform her material. Since then, she has performed all over London, including: The Jazz Cafe, Hackney Empire and locally in, Theatre Royal Bar. But her best performance to date was working with the jazz band at a venue called the 'Nuyorican' in New York and describes them as, “the best jazz band alive.” Her confidence protrudes right through her being, in how she sits, talks and looks and when describing her performance style she says: “I infuse a lot of comedy into serious issues to make everything relative to people; I can’t be bothered with all the simile and metaphor stuff. My performance style is pretty passionate and energetic it tells a story even without the words.” With a library of poems under her belt one would assume it would be hard to keep old material fresh, especially pieces that are familiar to the audience, she insists: “I enhance the performance, change it up, add new lines and turn parts into song. You got to keep recreating things. I like my poems to be in transition, so much so, that you would not recognise the same one you heard two years ago.” It is easy to assume that performing your work gets easier but she disagrees: “It is not that much different now, except I’m not so overtly concentrating on the fact that I’m reciting a poem. Now I get to separate myself from the audience, grin at them, do a little dance and think what I am going to have for dinner.” As an audience member she definitely performs poetry for the soul. Cue: snapping fingers. Her poem, ’Miss-First-Class-Degree’ has ruffled some peoples feathers and she informs that she got a bad review where a journalist wrote, ‘it was cliché for a black poet performing a poem about white racists.” It is her candidness not her words that might offend some people. So, who is “Miss-First-Class-Degree with the same qualifications on your CV as me?” Michaela reveals: “Actually, she isn’t white, she is black Caribbean. She lived on my friends halls and this poem is based on those silent ongoing altercations she had with her during her time in dorms.” The poem is about the protagonist asking ‘Miss-First-Class-Degree’ for a pen and her ignoring their request. It is witty and insightful where many probably experience that same situation before.

Living in the multicultural East London she believes that her poetry is type-casted for certain events, she ponders: “There seems to be a glass ceiling between myself and middle class events. I hold my faith accountable for that, rather my ethnicity. Black poets don’t scare people as long as you keep calling it Spoken Word. Its Black: pianist, ballet dancers and fine artists that terrify people, so I’ll leave that horror show to them.” Her first album is to be released this year and is called, ‘Fixing Barbie: The Hologram.’ It will be a
miss-matched-mix of: jazz, electro, pop and drama, she enthuses: “Its more one for the sisters, but the guys will love it too. It is very out-of-the-box; it has: emotional, funny and exciting moments, I’m in love with this, you will be too!”

Images sourced from icheala's facebook page

Work it Baby, Work It!

2009-04-14T02:37:00.000-07:00

Work IT! Is the most happening hip-hop and r’n’b night to hit art-farty streets of Dalston. Its strict nostalgia on all things nineties makes a trip down memory lane that little less embarrassing. Jay Star Nine from B*I*T*C*H*£*S catches up with Sara El Dabi who is one of the trio that makes the night worth dressing up for.

Sara is fucking cool, you know the type of heads that hang around Hoxton looking all
bad-ass and shit. In fact, if you were to look at the definition of cool, her picture would be there. Work It is one of the few nights in around Shoreditch’s too-cool-for-school hangouts where people actually dance. Strangely enough, the pretentious “I’m wearing all vintage Yves Saint Lauren” is left at the door and people come here to listen to good music and wait for it: have fun. Not only that, its distinctive brand sets it head and shoulders above any other nights. Like that same one-night-stand you have every month Work It is that lust fuelled action you look forward to. Having only started off as a night where Sara and her mates could go to listen to Biggie, it has been running for eleven months and its reputation is continually building. On why the trio started the night, the fresh-face-twenty-six-year-old recalls: “There was a huge trend for doing nights that were eclectic, the three of us would be sitting in a bar wanting to go somewhere to listen just too hip-hop and r’n’b.” The nineties nostalgia is what makes the night, everyone from: the Work It team to the ravers makes an effort to push this theme, she says: “When people hear hip-hop and r’n’b from the nineties it takes you back to when you were at your school disco, when you had your first kiss and even right down to your high-tecks with the air bubbles.” The Work It identity is anally consistent, from selling alcohol in paper bags, to a projection screening of cult teen movie ‘Clueless.’ Their logo has a guy with a sky-scrapping-high-top, enough to rival Kid's from the film'House Party '. This strong identity definitely reminds their regulars of all those house parties they went to in 1993. Getting to this point was a real challenge for the team, having taken weeks to decide on a name for this night let alone its purpose. When describing the concept, Sara says adamantly: “Work It became so concept led, because we wanted a strong theme and visually the whole brand and image of the night was important to us. We spent a lot the time on that before doing the first night.” The amount of effort that went into ensuring people had a good time can be seen by the type of comments left on their facebook wall, one person wrote: “Work It made my birthday a night to remember! Such good dancing to all them tunes from way back when...feet [are] still aching!” This is just one of the many kind words left by satisfied customers. The night has also garnered attention from the mainstream press, it has been written about in The Sunday Times and The Guardian. The journalist, Susie Rushton, for The New York Times included the night for her article about the East London Art Scene. What is unique about Work It is that there is no intended 'it crowd,' so Peaches Geldof would spend hours queuing up like the rest of us. Perhaps based upon her own experience, Sara spoke rather frustratedly about particular clubs using door bitches to determine the worthy from the not-so-worthy. There is no guest list or hint of exclusivity. So if you get there early you will get in, further adding to the house party atmosphere. “I get loads of older people coming to our nights saying there are kids who weren’t even around what that music was about. If they want to have a good time and enjoy themselves, does it really matter?”

Apart from running Work It Sara is a freelance Graphic Designer. She met Loren and Rory, (her partners in crime for establishing the night) whilst studying at Central Saint Martin’s and she cites their course as an inspiration behind the night. Having only got in to hip-hop later in her life, she secretly admits it was all about Brandy and Aaliyah. But she was soon seduced by the conscious sounds of: Jurassic Five, Guru from Gang Starr and Talib Kweli, to name but a few. Which explained her eye-popping-excitement when she found out she was to be playing on the same night as Afrika Bambaataa, one of the forefathers of the Golden Age of hip-hop, Sara explains: “We got a phone call from Modular Records [An Australian Independent Record Label] asking if we were interested in hosting a room for an indoor festival they were doing. They told us in a fleeting moment that Afrika Bambaataa was billed and we were like hell yeah we are doing it.”

Having a niche area of music maybe be challenging, but the Work It team are open to diversifying the night. “We are constantly mixing up our DJs; we get loads of people who play nineties: bashment, reggae and two-step garage. It is important to us, but people still like to hear the key tunes.” Sara honestly reflects that Work It does have a shelf life there maybe be a time where people may get bored and go elsewhere. “Work It won’t last forever, we may go on to do a new night, change the concept or the name. It was missing and so many people wanted it. It is strange that all these clubs are doing r’n’b and hip-hop nights, we have got all these surrogate children popping up.” How do you know when you have had a good time and are still talking about it a week later? Sara enthuses: “If I have danced all night and haven’t stopped. That is all I want pure dancing from the beginning to the end.”

Images sourced from www.youworkit.co.uk

Ghetto Gal Problem Page

2009-04-14T02:29:00.000-07:00

Ghetto Gal, is the straight-talking, tell-you-about-yourself, aunt who gives you agony and who would feel no way to murk, you, your mum and your pet puppy.

Dear Ghetto Gal, I dipped my beak into bad waters and now it hurts every time I pee. What the hell is wrong with me?
It seems that a waste man like you have picked up a nice little STI. It means you idiot a Sexually Transmitted Infection. You must have bunked that PSHE class when those clinic people came in. Have you not seen all those condom adverts on Base, it is made for cheap manz like you, who can’t be arsed to spend £4 on Johnnies. So take your limp dick to a clinic before it drops off, by the way is that where you chirpsed her?

Dear Ghetto Gal, I want to buy a new pair of creps, how can I pay for them?
Get your any-guy-self a job and earn those papes the hard honest way. Go to your local Mc D’s fill out a form then flip those burgers like a stripper in a go-go club. True say, you may be earning less than minimum wage but it is heads like you that do not value the worth of a pound. If all of that is a long ting, then you could hold up JD Sports with an AK47.

Dear Ghetto Gal, My bredrin saw my man with some next chick, should I break up with him?
You better throw his PSP out the window and drag his lying-cheat-ass back to his mum yard. While you are at it, cut of his dick and feed it to him. Nah, that shit can’t go down yous are meant to be in a relationship and ting. You also need to hunt down that chick and slap her up. But, you got to be asking yourself questions still: what was it that you were not doing that your man had to chase next gal?

Dear Ghetto Gal, My friend weaved my hair in the most butterz style, how do I tell her I don’t like it?
What you should be doing is shaving her hair off while she is sleeping. So when she wakes up all she can see is her weave all up on her pillow. Trust, this chick is no friend of yours, she is a snake bruv. You done know you can’t be messing with any hairs on a girls head; she did that shit on purpose. So basically, you will like bun and no manz will chirps you on road.

Dear Ghetto Gal, Should I get my nails did or pay my rent?
What a damn stupid question, wasting my time and shit. It’s fucking obvious: get your nails did. You have to be top of the game and be's looking super fly all day long; just in case some boom ting tries to draw you. You have to remember your priorities: ‘looks’ over ‘roof.’ I am sure, your landlord will understand. If not, you can always crash at your mum’s yard.

Dear Ghetto Girl, It is my mum’s 50th birthday, what should I do for her?
Cook her a meal à la carte: KFC. Dress it with some chips, coleslaw, corn-on-the cob topped off with beans and that shit will go down happy. Don’t be tight though and expect her to eat it out of the box and ting, lay it out nicely on plate with a fork as well. Come on man, it is your mum’s 50th birthday it does only come once.

Once You Go Black: The Survival Guide for the White Male Dating the Black Female

2009-04-14T02:22:00.000-07:00

We all know the saying and yep it is pretty true you can’t get better than black loving. Let’s be honest, after mixing your vanilla and chocolate ice creams together and tasting the concoction, you saw black girls in a whole new light. Unfortunately, black girls do not come with a written manual, especially with a FAQ section on comments that can easily offend. We at B*I*T*C*H*£*S are always willing to help those diversify their sexual partners and have compiled a list of things you just shouldn’t think let alone say. If you have already committed any of these misdemeanours - then shame on you. So next time, stay clear from uttering any of these comments. Who knows, you might even get a one-night-stand or well at least not a drink thrown in your face.

You say: “I like black girls because they can cook.”

She hears: “I am talking to you because I see you as my mammie. You know the dependable black house servant who cooked, cleaned and nannying her white master’s children. Yes, I am conjuring up 400 years of the slave trade in one sentence, but what the hell you can be my personal domestic worker.”

You say: “Black girls have the fittest bodies.”

She hears: “Your black female body is for my white male gratification. It is so exotically shaped in comparison to the white girls I usually fuck. I just want to experiment to see if there is a difference and then tell all my friends about it. We all know black girls are really sexual so why don’t you come home with me so I can test the waters?”

You say: “You look just like the black version of...” [Cue: celebrity name]

She hears: “All you black girls look alike and I really can’t tell the difference, so by comparing you to a black female celebrity it should really be a compliment. Plus I am down with the whole black thing because I do know at least one black celebrity.”

You say: “Would the world end if your hair got wet.”

She hears: “Why do black girls fuss over their hair so much? Why does it take you a whole day to wash your hair especially when you put a 1001 and things in it? Because I am ignorant to realise that if I black girl got her hair wet she would melt like the wicked-witch-of-the-west. I ask this stupid question not knowing the outcomes when I mess with black women and their hair.”

You say: “You remind me of my Jamaican ex-girlfriend.”

She hears: “Because all black people are from Jamaica, I assume you must be Jamaican too because, well, she was. I am also trying to tell you how comfortable I am dating outside my race because a person skin colour really does not matter to me; but it really does because I made point of saying of telling you that I had a black girl friend.”

You say: “Is your bum really that big.” [Cue: touching]

She hears: “What is it made of and how do you feed it? I’ve seen it on the television before, but never in real life. I really can’t believe that black girls have such big bums. You should be in a circus freak show for the way it just props right out there. I am allowed to touch it?”

You say: “Am I first white boy?”

She hears: “I know that black girls really don’t date outside their race because I have read a lot of statistics to proves that. So I am just asking to see how racist you are by doing some reverse psychology shit on you to make you feel bad for not having sex with a white guy.”

You say: “All my friends are black.”

She hears: “There was Duwayne and Leon who were the only two black boys in my year, but I never really spoke to them. I am really down with black people and I know everything there is about black culture. I do feel really guilty for the whole slave trade thing, If I could choose I would so be black.

You say: “You are not my first black girl.”

She hears: “I kind of collect black girls, like a weird person who collect stamps, but in a sexual fetish kind of way. I see black girls as a type, because they are just so different to me, like these sexy aliens that I just want to hump.”

You say: “I really like reggae.”

She hears: “I know that all black people listen to reggae. I am trying to show how comfortable I am with black culture and prove my blackness to you. I had even had jerk chicken once before and that was yummy.”