I’m not sure if I’ll be able to articulate this in the way I intend to, but I think what interested/surprised me the most was how difficult it can be for a woman to pave her way in hip hop …and I mean that in the least ignorant way.

I guess when I look up to these lady engineers of hip hop (keeping in mind the implication of labeling them as female revolutionaries instead of just revolutionaries), women like Missy, Latifah, Cardi, etc exude a certain level of confidence that seems like a right of passage for any self-proclaimed sistah, as Morgan calls them (and I would be very interested to see how that attitude juxtaposes the idea of masculinity or machismo)

However, I think the more we explore, the clearer it is that for women, hip hop isn’t just about reps and authenticity, as it might be for their male counterparts. As Dr. P explained in her book, “Rumors are one way that the politics of sexuality manifest in graffiti subculture so as to affect grrlz’ sense of belonging, ultimately cutting them off from a subculture that thrives on its own brand of sociality.” Utilizing graffiti grrl RenOne’s story, Dr. P highlights the way that a male dominated subculture works to perpetuate misogyny to further one’s career, born out of a culture that was created to escape and handle institutions.

I think I would like to learn more about the queer identity in hip hop places. The ‘Total Chaos’ reading has been one of my favorites so far; I thought it was interesting the way Tim’M discussed the intersection between black and gay, and how white gay privelage was not available to black hip hoppers. I would be curious to learn about deconstructing the gender binary beyond male and female in these hip hop spaces.