Hip Hop Feminism Starter Kit

M. Nicole Horsley

Journal of Hip Hop Studies,

Special Issue Twenty-First Century B.I.T.C.H. Frameworks:

Hip Hop Feminism Comes of Age

Volume 7, Issue 1, Summer 2020, pp. 103 – 115

DOI: https://doi.org/10.34718/p2f6-4909

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Hip Hop Feminism Starter Kit

M. Nicole Horsley

The term Hip Hop Feminist first appears in When Chickenheads Come Home to

Roost: A Hip Hop Feminist Breaks It Down (1999).

The unlikely pairing of Hip Hop and

Black feminist consciousness, Hip Hop Feminism initially emerged to address the

everyday failures of representations of Black women in Hip Hop, evidenced by the

misogynistic lyrics and the general exclusion of Black women Hip Hop artists and

producers. Morgan writes Black women within Hip Hop culture “need a feminist

consciousness that allows us to examine how representations and images can

simultaneously empowering and problematic.”

So, what is Hip Hop Feminism? It has been called a movement and worldview at

the intersection of Black feminist with Womanist consciousness and Hip Hop

sensibilities. Morgan has called it “a feminism brave enough to fuck with the grays.”

Emerging as a critical response to provide Black girls and women with an alternative

perspective and ways of engaging the culture, music, lyrics, knowledge and

representation. In its emphasis on the personal as political, Hip Hop Feminism ruptures

ideologies of universal womanhood, bodies, class and gender construction to center the

Black identity as paramount to our experience. Seeking to develop a radical self-politic

of love, empowerment, gendered perspective and social consciousness for the

historically underrepresented, hyper visualized, erased, and marginalized. Demanding

that we cultivate a Black woman and women of color-centered politics to navigate Hip

Hop culture and rap music.

Twenty-one years later, the Journal of Hip Hop Studies returns to Hip Hop

Feminism through a special issue to introduce for some and remind others of the

potential (fullest), pleasure, and consciousness of self-identifying as a Hip Hop

Feminist. You may still be wondering: What is Hip Hop Feminism? How does it

Joan Morgan, When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: A Hip Hop Feminist Breaks It Down (New

York: Simon & Schuster, 1999).

Shani Jamila, “Can I Get a Witness? Testimony from a Hip-Hop Feminist,” in Colonize This!

Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism, ed. Daisy Hernández and Bushra Rehman (New York: Seal

Press, 2002), 392.

Morgan, When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost, 59.

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operate? For whom does it provide a method and means for engaging with the

contemporary Hip Hop culture and generation? This starter kit is for you. It is meant to

introduce you to the understandings, promise, hopes, stakes, jeopardies, and

possibilities of Hip Hop and Hip Hop Feminism.

This workbook is a companion to the issue as it introduces or reintroduces

readers to the concept and essentially the work of Hip Hop Feminism even while there

continues to be an ongoing debate if Hip Hop Feminism is a Black feminist perspective

on Hip Hop or a feminism of its own sensibilities that originates from a bit of ladies first

and the search for a real love. Hip Hop feminism allows the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

to hit differently. So, who can be a Hip Hop Feminist?

Arguably, contemporary Hip Hop Feminism is of the new grays that exist in

earlier understandings to disrupt boundaries of gender, sexuality, and contradictions of

respectability politics. The return to the concept is instructive in providing a lens from

which to look and listen to the culture, music, videos, and lyrics, to consider gender,

sexuality, class, bodies, and inclusivity in Hip Hop. It, however, should provide a safe

space and a voice for poor and working-class Black girls and women, centering their

everyday struggles — at home, in school, working (including those engaged in sex

work), and in need of love.

The inspiration to develop a Hip Hop Feminist workbook developed from a

college course I teach: Hip Hop Feminism: Queen B*tch. An Introduction to the

(im)Possibilities of Hip Hop Feminism. Using the syllabus, I have developed lessons

and talks on college campuses that I have also delivered to community spaces with

Black girls and women, secondary educators, parents, and student organizations. I

teach resistance and anti-establishment readings of our bodies, lyrics, and live and

mediated performances of Hoes With An Attitude (H.W.A.) Lil’ Kim, Missy

‘Misdemeanor’ Elliott, Cardi B, The City Girls; as well as topics related to Hip Hop

culture and sexual hygiene and wellness. I hope that you’re inspired to see the fullness

of your magic, humanity, and beauty while gaining a sense of consciousness and

intersectional thinking that happens when listening, dancing, lip syncing, or simply

feeling a song. I encourage each of you to explore the healing and transformative power

and pleasure experienced throughout Hip Hop culture.

Similar to you, I am sitting at home practicing social distancing in response to

Covid-19, while mourning the most recent vigilante and police killings of unarmed

Black men and women: Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and George

Floyd. The protesting, acts of resistance, and folx speaking truth to power are

happening globally. About the second month, when the world shut down in an effort to

slow the transmission of coronavirus, live performances in the form of house (rent)

parties with DJ sets, MC rap battles, cyphers, and community discussions returned to

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the original elements of Hip Hop. A culture born from the creation of love and

rebellion, the Hip Hop feminist archive draws from cultural knowledge production to

construct a site of inclusion, resistance, transformative possibilities, pleasure, and

healing.

The creation of this workbook aimed at community centers and the children in

the hood who wake up daily to dreaming about getting and being free. This workbook

should inspire, inform, empower, and assist you with creating a vision to imagine our

collective liberation.

Guide

This workbook can be used in and outside of the classroom setting, ranging from

middle school to college. I encourage parents, teachers, and community centers to use

this workbook as a model to develop activities, discussions, teach-ins, and more, based

on concepts and ideas related to Hip Hop Feminism. It provides a space to articulate

and center the political and personal relationship of Hip Hop for the images,

representations, and constructions of Black girlhood, messy femmes, transgender, non-

binary and all types of Black womanhood throughout the African diaspora; addressing

the impact and relationship of antiblackness; and the intersections of blackness,

sexuality, economics, geography, age, and other identities.

Outline

Section I. Pre-Reflection: Leading Discussion

Section II. Concepts/Terms

Section III. Lessons

Section IV. Case Studies

Section V. Exercises

Section VI. Black Women in Hip Hop

Hip Hop Feminism Starter Kit

Section I. Pre-Reflection: Leading Discussion

Take a moment to reflect on the purpose of creating programming based on Hip Hop

Feminism. Let's talk about why, and about how the two connect. Take a few moments

to answer the following questions.

1. Describe the students/people who will foster the discussion. How will you

facilitate programming or lessons? Why you will present the values and beliefs

of Hip Hop Feminism this way.

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2. What is most important to you in teaching/facilitating a discussion on Hip Hop

Feminism?

3. How do you believe your students/people will respond?

4. How do your values and beliefs align with your approach?

5. Return to Hip Hop Feminism and the Combahee River statements. Refine your

core beliefs and values to develop topics and themes related.

6. List possible learning objectives/outcomes--what will they know after the lesson

or program, i.e.--They will know the definition of key terms and concepts.

Section II. Concepts/Terms

Define the following terms and concepts, what do they mean to you?

Black girlhood:

Black Girl Magic:

Ratchet:

Readings

Most readings are accessible online, others are available through your local library or

may be purchased. Develop a relationship with your local libraries and cultural centers.

When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: A Hip Hop Feminist Breaks It Down, Joan Morgan

(available through the local library or purchase). Start with Morgan’s book to develop a

foundation on the history, meaning and intentions of Hip Hop feminism and how she

defines Hip Hop feminist.

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Accompanying articles:

*Assignment readings used are all available online for non-academic or institutional

affiliated users.

“20 Years Joan Morgan Revisits ‘When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: A Hip Hop

Feminist Breaks It Down,’” by Simone Ameila Jordan, March 8, 2019 Vibe.com

https://www.vibe.com/2019/03/joan-morgan-interview-when-chickenheads-come-

home-to-roost

“Joan Morgan, Hip-Hop Feminism, and The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” by Danielle

A. Jackson, August 8, 2018 in the Paris Review

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/08/08/joan-morgan-hip-hop-feminism-

and-the-twenty-year-legacy-of-the-miseducation-of-lauryn-hill/

“Interview: Feminists We Love: Joan Morgan, 2013 (video)” by Tamura Lomax:

https://thefeministwire.com/2013/03/feminists-we-love-joan-morgan/

Joan Morgan’s articles: https://muckrack.com/joan-morgan/articles

Joan Morgan on The Breakfast Club: “Joan Morgan Talks Hip-Hop Feminism and The

MisEducation of Lauryn Hill” https://www.youtube.com/watch?=zeYRRzt2ikQ

Joan Morgan – “Hip Hop and Feminism”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2R8NmNaEuk

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Section III. Lessons

Have everyone read “A Black Feminist Statement.” Develop appropriate activities and

questions to discuss Black Feminism and other themes. For example, list key terms and

concepts from the statement such as politics, coalition, movements, oppression, women

of color (woc), etc. Create an activity based on Black women activists, activism, and

revolutionaries and organizations. Plan a lesson on Black feminism and feminist, Black

Liberation, Black Girlhood, stereotypes, and so on. Discuss the importance of the

Combahee River Collective’s statement. Use the work of artists such as Janelle Monae to

construct and discuss interlocking systems of oppression, later introduce

intersectionality and Hip Hop feminism.

A Black Feminist Statement by The Combahee River Collective (1977) appeared as a

movement document in April 1977, the final version was published in Zillah Eisenstein,

ed., Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminism (Monthly Review, 1979),

362-72:

https://americanstudies.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/Keyword%20Coalition_Rea

dings.pdf

Read the first chapter of The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah (1999). Develop

discussion questions based on chapter 1. Discuss Sister Souljah 360 Degrees, begin with

album cover. Relate to police killings, Black parents of slain victims.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abozq_aaBek&list=RDEMdCqgD8ASnTG3wAI-

jQuQCg&start_radio=1

The Coldest Winter Ever (Chapter 1) by Sister Souljah (1999):

https://medium.com/@atriabooks/chapter-one-from-the-coldest-winter-ever-

c02a05074ad0

Discussion guide: https://durhamcountylibrary.org/wp-

content/uploads/2013/04/coldest_winter_ever_DISCUSSION.pdf

Lauryn Hill’s first solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998), Full album on

YouTube: https://youtu.be/eU0B49AyjXE

Released in 1998, Lauryn Hill’s first solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, is

considered by Hip Hop and Black feminism scholars as an intervention. It immediately

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went to number one on the Billboard 200 and nearly went gold in its first week of sales.

The song “Doo Wop (That Thing)” became the first number one single by a female Hip

Hop artist. It was the first rap project to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

Article (locate magazine articles and interviews):

What Lauryn Hill’s ‘Miseducation’ Iconic Album Means to Black Women, August 2018,

Vibe, Candance McDuffie https://www.vibe.com/2018/08/miseducation-of-lauryn-

hill-black-women-importance

Ratchet(ness)

Readings on Ratchet(ness):

“I Been On (Ratchet): Conceptualizing a Sonic Ratchet Aesthetic in Beyonce's ‘Bow

Down’,” by Regina Bradley (March 19, 2013):

http://redclayscholar.blogspot.com/2013/03/i-been-on-ratchet-conceptualizing-

sonic.html

“Exhuming the Ratchet before it’s Buried,” by Heidi R. Lewis (January 7, 2013):

https://thefeministwire.com/2013/01/exhuming-the-ratchet-before-its-buried/

Lessons on Ratchet(ness):

1. How do Bradley and Lewis describe and discuss the meaning and importance of

ratchetness?

2. View the music video for “Party by Beyoncé” ft. J. Cole:

https://youtu.be/XWCwc1_sYMY

Look at the sculptures of New York-based artist LaKela Brown:

http://lakelabrown.com/ How does she reference Hip Hop culture throughout

her sculptures? Describe elements of LL Cool J’s “Around the Way Girl” that can

be found in her work. How does she feature chickenheads in her work? Name a

few of your 1990s Hip Hop artist inspirations.

Writing and Journaling, finding Audre Lorde, “the personal is political”:

Divya Victor created, “The Audre Lorde Questionnaire To Oneself,”

(https://divyavictor.com/the-audre-lorde-questionnaire-to-oneself/) from an entry in

Audre Lorde’s Cancer Journals (1980).

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The Cancer Journals are comprised with entries in the personal diary, reflective

commentary, a speech, and an essay of Black activist, writer, lesbian, warrior mother,

and poet Audre Lorde documenting her battle against and myriad of fear and

experiences of pain after a diagnosis and later mastectomy in 1978. Victor developed

questions based on “The Transformation into Language and Action,” a speech

delivered in 1977 at the Modern Language Association’s Lesbian and Literature panel in

Chicago.

Readings:

“Transformation into Language and Action”: https://electricliterature.com/wp-

content/uploads/2017/12/silenceintoaction.pdf

https://wgs10016.commons.gc.cuny.edu/lorde-poetry-is-not-a-luxury/

1) When Lorde writes, “Some of what I experienced during that time has helped

elucidate for me much of what I feel concerning the transformation of silence

into language and action,” what do you think she means?

2) Think about a time when you have been silent about experiencing pain (bodily,

emotional, stress, loss, hopelessness). Describe the pain.

Write a short story or poem about-facing your fears.

4) How does Lorde describe silence? Why is it important for women not to be silent

about hurt and pain?

5) List three rap songs that tell someone something about you such as your

personality. How are girls or women represented in each rap song? Explain how

the song captures what you feel when you listen to it.

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Possible quotes to use in developing additional exercises based on Audre Lorde’s work:

· “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation, and that is an

act of political warfare," Lorde wrote in “A Burst of Light" and Other Essays.

· “The love expressed between women is particular and powerful because we

have had to love in order to live; love has been our survival," Lorde wrote in

Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches.

· “When I dare to be powerful—to use my strength in the service of my vision—

then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid," Lorde wrote in The

Transformation of Silence into Language & Action.

· “I have a duty to speak the truth as I see it and share not just my triumphs, not

just the things that felt good, but the pain. The intense, often unmitigated pain. It

is important to share how I know survival is survival and not just a walk through

the rain," Lorde wrote in The Transformation of Silence into Language & Action.

· “If I didn’t define myself, I would be crunched into other people’s fantasies for

me and eaten alive," Lorde said during a speech at Harvard University in 1982.

· “Your silence will not protect you," Lorde wrote in The Transformation of Silence

into Language and Action.

· “I am deliberate and afraid of nothing," Lorde wrote in The Collected Poems of

Audre Lorde.

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Section IV. Case Studies

Dee Barnes

Interview with Dee Barnes, Dr. Dre:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpkcjzUm3os

Dr. Dre finally apologizes for abusing Dee Barnes and says "I was out of my mind"

https://youtu.be/4j4I07fOD8Y

https://rollingout.com/2019/04/19/did-dr-dre-sexually-assault-dee-barnes-during-

vicious-attack/

https://www.vibe.com/2019/04/dee-barnes-silent-on-dr-dre-sexual-assault-question

Karrine Steffans

“Confessions of a Video Vixen” (2005) (local library or purchase)

The importance of Hip Hop journalist, intersectionality, and grassroot activism. A case

study of #MuteRKelly movement: https://www.muterkelly.org/

Hip Hop Journalists

Discuss the importance of pioneer Hip Hop journalism.

How have activists, journalists and cultural critics such as Michaela Angela Davis,

Akiba Solomon, and Lynee Denise, Lala Anthony, and Tarana Burke

(#metoomovement).

Dream Hampton: https://www.dreamhampton.com/blog

Kierna Mayo: https://muckrack.com/kierna-mayo/articles

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Section V. Exercises

Describe Hip Hop Feminism:

List the ways in which Hip Hop has impacted you.

● Personally

● Educationally

● Relationships

After reading the special issue and selected articles, read the lyrics, listen to songs, and

watch music videos listed throughout the issue.

● Discuss

● Listen

● List

● Now that you have read about Hip Hop feminism as a point of view to consider

the role of gender and sexuality.

Listen to a song and watch a video by:

Cardi B & Bruno Mars - Please Me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGNmQwTvS2Y

The City Girls - Take Yo Man--https://youtu.be/P-ggA4V5WTo

Salt-N-Pepa - I’ll Take Your Man -- https://youtu.be/dvoZ9KRJqfs

Janelle Monae - Hell You Talmbout ft. Jidenna, Wonderland Records

https://youtu.be/fumaCsQ9wKw

Sammus - Weirdo (feat. Homeboy Sandman)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RADhBaAVsXQ

Erykah Badu ft. Common - Love Of My Life (An Ode To Hip Hop)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNk3R23Twgw

Queen Latifah - Ladies First (feat. Monie Love)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qimg_q7LbQ

Write a review of the songs and music videos from a Hip Hop feminist perspective.

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Section VI. Black Women in Hip Hop

Here are some examples of Black women who may not call themselves feminist but are

thriving in Hip Hop. These Black women show what is possible and reveal that you can

still be Hip Hop, even if you aren’t a rapper.

Graffiti:

Soraya Marquez https://www.indie184.com/

Dieynaba Sidibe - https://www.one.org/international/blog/meet-dieynaba-senegals-

first-female-graffiti-artist/

Films:

YouTube

“Ladies of Hip-Hop from 1979 to 2000: Female Emcee 101,” video by kristikrisislives

Movies

The Players Club

Pimps Up, Hoes Down

Video Vixens

Shante--Netflix film

Blood and Water (Netflix)

Just Another Girl From the IRT

Documentaries

DuVernay, A. (2010). My Mic Sounds Nice: A Truth About Women and Hip Hop. BET

Docs.

Raimist, R., O. Asia, et al. (1999). Nobody Knows My Name. New York, NY, Women

Make Movies distributor.

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B-girls:

“15 Black Female Dancers & Choreographers Who Are Killing the Game” -

https://www.essence.com/lifestyle/black-girl-magic/15-black-female-dancers-who-

are-killing-game/#91128

Tara Anomolies - https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10155021265653657

Bgirl Macca - https://www.instagram.com/p/CAamAbFhaQQ/

Bgirl Angel - https://www.instagram.com/p/B_i1AmujKg-/

Maku Gold || Triple Bond Crew -

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3CNjyPjLRQ/

B-Girl Terra B-Girl Eddie - https://www.instagram.com/p/B_sFfgPDI5f/

Deejays:

Tiff McFierce - ESPN interviews Tiff McFierce 1st woman resident DJ at Madison

Square Garden-NY Knicks/Liberty

10 Fierce Black Female DJs You Need to Know About

When These 5 Black Women Spin on The Beat, The Beat Gets Sicker Every Time

Fox 2 9am Female DJ's I Am Hip Hop -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmJNa_GrJaY

Latosha Duffey - How French Montana's DJ, Duffey, Went from Car Rentals to Owning

Homes & Blowing Checks | Blew A Bag

A&Rs

Andrea Castleberry “M$. Blendz” - https://twitter.com/blendzville?lang=en,

https://www.facebook.com/Blendzville-Global-585531974875365/

Amina Diop - https://www.instagram.com/aminathediop/?hl=en,

https://variety.com/2018/biz/news/republic-records-names-amina-diop-senior-vp-

of-ar-1202839902/

Latosha Duffey - How French Montana's DJ, Duffey, Went from Car Rentals to Owning

Homes & Blowing Checks | Blew A Bag

Latoya Lee - https://www.atlasmusicgroup.com/news/post/MjY0MjQtOTNkND

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