Females in Hip Hop and more

So the other night in my hip hop class, we were talking about women in hip hop. And it was at the moment that Dr. Schur asked us to think of women who were hip hoppers that I realized how few women I actually listen to. Besides Jean Grae, Lady Sovereign, MC Lyte, Lauryn Hill, and Queen Latifah, I had a hard time of coming up with women in hip hop heads... This was really frustrating to me. I really like hip hop because it really encourages people to come, have fun, and be who you are, but that message just does not seem to be reflected in who is producing music and who is getting distributed. Dr. Schur said to me something like the language of authenticity seems to only be accessible for males. I wonder what it will take to make hip hop more gender friendly? It's a really big question that I want to reflect on more, but for now, I just want to point out that it frustrates me that hip hop does not have more popular female MCs (background vocals do not count)

In other news, I just finished a sweet graphic novel version of the US Constitution (thanks Brian). It was really cool; it reminded me why I started studying political science and why I really like AP Government in high school

Oh and I am absolutely excited for two things: This weekend I get to see my girlfriend and visit Eden Theological Seminary!!! And, next Thursday I get to eat lunch with the former president of Amnesty USA Bill Schulz!!! I know. You are all jealous. Well you should be because, well, it's super awesome...

Oh yeah, and Model UN is just around the corner, I realized today! What the hell? I have to go represent Haiti in St. Louis in basically 3 weeks, I believe. I'm not really as prepared as I wanted to be, but I am excited for it.

OK well, that's not really as thoughtful of a post as I would like, but it is a nice update, isn't it? Have an enjoyable rest of the week!

Hip Hop Revitalization

Hey hey.

Welcome to November. Just kicking off the month with you all out there, and it is a beautiful fall this week. Got out to the driving range. That was lovely. I couldn't seem to hit the ball straight, but it was nice to get some exercise and fresh air (yes, you do get exercise playing golf... try hitting a bucket of golf balls and not feeling sore in your abdominal muscles).

Recently, I've been getting back into listening to a lot of hip hop, sort of wading through all of the up-and-comings on my iTunes Podcasts... I've got about four CDs that I really want to get right now, and I wish that I had the money to get them all. For those of you out there who don't know, one of the best places for some good hip hop is actually north of the border. Halifax and other Nova Scotian cities have great hip hop scenes that have produced the likes of Buck 65, Sixtoo, Classified, and my newest favorite SJ the Wordburglar. Awesome, right? Anyway, I just got a few DVDs of Scribble Jam, this yearly hip hop festival that features all elements of hip hop (emcees, DJs, graff writers, B-boys/girls, etc.), so I'm really excited for those, too.


And to top it all off, there is going to be a hip hop class offered in the spring and I am SO taking it. I've actually been talking with the professor of it a bit, and we have sort of kicked back and forth some ideas about readings and artists that we like. It's made me really excited. So basically all I want to do all day is listen to hip hop, watch hockey, and of course, update my blog!!

I think this may have come up before, but I love hip hop. I hope to come back when I'm not exhausted and write about my life for hip hop, as well as comic books... two things that really are meaningful to me beyond their surface coolness.

OK, bed time. Sleep well and enjoy the lovely weather!