The Circle: CULTURE

This Women's History Month, we may ask how Minaj's question goes to the heart - or, perhaps, breaks the heart - of our ongoing conversation about gender and sexual politics in Hip Hop Culture. 

Women's History month is the perfect time to reflect on the fact that many women unapologetically support both Hiphop and feminism. When I teach college courses on language use and identity, I ask all of my students to write the words they hear and use to describe women in their communities and on their campus.

Jef Czekaj's Hip and Hop, Don't Stop revisits the classic tale of the tortoise and the hare with a contemporary twist. The quirky children's picture book features Hip, a young green turtle and Hop, a boisterous hare.

Had you seen me in that movie theater, laid back in my chair, picking at my five dollar Buncha Crunch candy, it wouldn't have taken much scrutiny to see that I was keyed up.  There's something about A Tribe Called Quest that makes you want to see them on a screen.

If my middle school math teacher broke out into a rap about the quadratic formula, I might not know how to handle myself in a classroom. However, for Alex Kajitani's students, a rapping mathematician is exactly what keeps them motivated to come to class.

This introduces a new opinion column to the Hiphop Archive Newsletter from the director, Marcyliena Morgan. The purpose is to critique events and issues directly related to Hiphop and youth. We will invite occasional guest columnists to weigh in as well. Our hope is that these columns increase discussion and spur action about issues and ideas that affect our lives and communities.

The story of Afrika Bambaataa's founding of the UZN, explains Hiphop's genesis in past social movements as well as its influence on new social movements.

In the recently published Democracy Remixed: Black Youth and the Future of American Politics (2010), University of Chicago scholar Cathy Cohen proclaims the 44th President of the United States the "Lecturer-in-chief to Hiphop America."

The first time I heard Jay spit those lines on "99 Problems," I loved it. The swagger in Hov's delivery hit me as hard through my headphones as Rick Rubin's blistering beat, my face twisted up, and my head nodded in approval.

Say My Name (2009) is a documentary that excavates many of the lost voices of women in Hiphop. Directed by Nirit Peled and produced by the production company Mamamess, the film presents a broad look of past, present and future female MCs of Hiphop music in the United States and London.