All Bgirl Photo Series

Making it as a women in hip hop is hard work. These ladies are up to the challenge.

In the summer of 2005, Earwaks photographer, Che Kothari teamed up with some of Toronto’s top female hip hop talent to put together a photo series called the “The All B-Girl School”. The series went along with a series of events, and ultimately a DVD by the same name.  We decided to pull the photos out of our cyber drawers and get them the love they deserve. We than thought it would be a dope idea to have the All Bgirl ring leader, and arguably Toronto’s most recognized female emcee, Masia One to write a summary to compliment these dope photos. Well, Masia decided to give us something a little more than we expected, and in the end it was for the best, as she provided a piece of writing that truly sums up the grind of being a female dedicated to a hip hop craft. Check it…

I could easily write a whole piece about the high jinx and antics that naturally progress from bringing many alpha females together in a space and letting history take its course.  I will say, unequivocally, that the shoot is among one of my fondest memories: From Sunny D and Tara Chase trading renditions of Push it, Lady Noyz and Isis exhibiting their ‘tackling’ skills, Loqenz with Riz posing up some icy grills, Mary (the female castrator) busting Brooklyns while making dirty old man grunts, the quiet integrity of EGR and Stef Casino (the painters being more subdued than the dancers), Jiven finding us the crazy location to shoot then fending off the zealous neighbors and the pleasure of having my portrait taken with my sis and inspiration Van Khanh.   Thanks Che.  That was some classic material!

While that was all good, I feel compelled to speak to the women coming up in both this industry and culture of hip hop.

To succeed as a female in the business of hip hop, a woman must take on the mindset of a man.  Already I can hear the voices of descent amongst feminist opinion… (Masia One said what?  She tripping, women can do it all the way we do it!) Allow me to explain further.  

Whether it be genetic or conditioned by the society and age we live in, there are key instincts in a woman that have led us all down a somewhat similar path.  A need to nurture, love, and raise another in our personal lives is appropriately translated into the song or art we create. Because of these same characteristics, however, I have quite consistently watched women drop out of this hip hop grind.  The progression that faces us; taking on the role of daughter, student and mother (sometimes all at once), is often seen as a divergent path from the business of hip hop that demands an all or nothing approach.  Surely those of us that live this life can relate: The starving artist with just one toothpaste sandwich left in the fridge and the remaining $12.99 left in the bank to be spent on blank CDs or photocopies.  Certainly this life of smoked out gigs and shifty promoters is not the ticket to feminine bliss.  

What’s more, I feel there is a more developed sense of sacrifice in women particularly in making a choice between the needs of another living soul, and the call to art and what we do that grants us personal fulfillment.  Surely at some point for the sake of love, we’d consider giving up the drive to paint or dance to make time and finances available to nurture a companion, or raise a child.

On a recent trip to South East Asia, I met crews of graffiti writers, B boys and emcees and quickly questioned where the women were at.  Most of the men, in their late twenties retold stories of so and so who was such a dope emcee back in the day followed by “Oh, she had to stop because her parents were not happy and she got married.”  I was able to go to a community event in Malaysia, via a connection through emcee Lady, where teenagers were given a stage to perform.  Hip hop was most definitely in full effect.  What was most astounding was that the female emcees outnumbered the male emcees two to one.  By the time they hit the age of twenty however, I’m left speaking to one of two women left in the game. Do a majority of women, who begin to touch their mid-twenties, snap back into the reality of a role to parents and to society at large? Perhaps it is a sense of playtime being over and it being time to get serious about that office job or staying at home and starting a family.  An industry that has a much greater number of slots in their roster for male hip hop artists already defines a bleak future for the upcoming girls to get serious about their career choice. With a pat on a back and a consolation of ‘you can always do it as a hobby’, I’ve watched some of the greatest female voices bow out gracefully and quietly.

This is not to say that men don’t face a similar set of pressures, but there are differences in approach.  Let's take the issue of heart break.  As a girl we have been somehow engrained with the idea of forever and always. The elasticity of a female heart for how much pain it can take, and continue on insisting for that love has always baffled me. Conversely, I’ve watched men that have lost the women in their lives and as a result, delved deep into their art and work as a means to return purpose to who they are.  This is the key.  The ferocity with which ladies fight for the need to love should be plunged deep into the respect and dedication we have to our own art and its calibre.

I remember at the age of ten discovering the existence of bgirl Asia One and graf writer Lady Pink.  I was completely thrilled that there were women out there making their mark on this art and culture, a path that I was beginning to understand as a solitary mission.  I didn’t write to fulfill the female quota, I wrote ‘cause my hands were itchy and I love the smell of jiffies in the morning.  Ok, so I started dancing cause bboys were mad cute, but eventually it was because it was what I needed to do when I heard my chunes! I started rhyming because I was part of a cipher and it was a natural progression in learning and understanding self-expression.

It soon became clear to me that there were so many women on BK blocks to Diego beachsides, on Nova Scotian rocks or Toronto highrise, rhyming and kicking it with their home boys, yet the mainstream allows the general public to see only one side.  

For every Missy, there is a Lisa Lee.  For every emcee that makes it to TV there are twenty three Flip homegirls in Cali that can rip a cipher because that’s what they do.  In understanding this, I urge the women that have taken the path of their art and expression as a full time profession to consider putting into practice the following things:

1.    Pour into your craft both the vigour and passion you would put into nurturing another.
2.    Take pride in your work.
3.    Practice, train and focus.
4.    Understand all sides of sacrifice and prioritize for the right reasons.  The right reasons are true to your self.
5.    Promises need to be made and kept by self, fuck the rest.
6.    Don’t sell yourself to Fall in Love

Once you’ve done this, you can wake up in the morning and say to yourself “Recognize game bitches” and go about what you need to accomplish until the day’s end.   There must be a movement for Bgirls (including dancers, artists, and performers) in this city, and everywhere else for that matter, to set a standard of higher art and challenge themselves to greater heights of skill and longevity.

The women photographed in these pictures are testament to this movement.  First, they have journeyed a path less taken as dictated by societal norms, and have found themselves doing the damn thing.  Next, they have practiced their craft and learned from what they had to learn from along the way.  Finally, the development of a fine tuned balancing act as a daughter, student, lover, mother and contender for champion of this arena alongside their male counterparts.  The ladies of the All Bgirl School truly astound me! The around the way girls that work round the clock to ensure business is straight, love is in check and the art is inspired.  I truly believe that the next All Bgirls School show and portrait will show a growth in the women you see here, as well as a growth in the community of women that must take their place in our hip hop history.

Until then, we must remember the mind set and inspiration that brought us here, get better at our art and keep on keep on.  In the immortal words of Lisa Lee and Sha:
 
Do you, say what you want to do?
Do you wanna rock the house and turn this mutha out
Fly girls are you with us
And if you’re ready to rock to help me turn it out
Let the world know what we’re talking about
To all the ladies YEAH, we want you to listen
(DE NEH DEN DEN!)
Ladies, YEAH of the 1980s
Watch out for the fellas that will drive you crazy.  

Stay building. Stay inspired.
M. Una.

Masia One on Myspace: www.myspace.com/masiaone 

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