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about b-girl resources events support resources contact
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Featured
Artists 
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| ASIA
ONE www.bboysummit.com B-Girl Asia has been breaking for 10 years and has been affiliated with The Rock Steady Crew, Eternal 2 Creations, Tony Tee Dance Projects, Malcolm McLauren’s Buffalo Girls. She currently holds it down with her production and dance company, No Easy Props Productions, est. 1997. The significant meaning of “No Easy Props” is earning your respect the hard way, through work and dedication. No Easy Props Productions manufactures and distributes dance videos and Hip-Hop inspired clothing, produces Hip-Hop lifestyle events, performances and workshops. Asia has appeared throughout the US, Europe, and Japan performing and battling, has taken part in professional shows, seminars and workshops, and been featured in commercials and print ads. Asia can be seen in numerous breaking videos and several Rap videos including Run DMC/Jason Nevin’s remix entitled “It’s Like That”-Def Jam; Blackalicious “Deception”-Loud, DJ Swamp “Bgirls” video, Malcolm McLauren’s “Buffalo Girls-Back to Skool”-Virgin Records. |
Asia One |
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| MARTHA
COOPER http://www.nycitysnaps.com Martha Cooper is a documentary photographer who has specialized in urban vernacular art and architecture for more than twenty-five years. Her photographs have been extensively exhibited and published worldwide. In 1984 Cooper published Subway Art (Thames and Hudson) in collaboration with Henry Chalfant, often referred to as “The Bible” by graffiti aficionados. She recently published Hip Hop Files: Photographs 1979–1984 and is currently working on We B*Girlz, a book documenting b-girls internationally. She is the Director of Photography at City Lore, the New York Center for Urban Folk Culture. Cooper lives in Manhattan.
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D'Lo |
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| DJ
KUTTIN KANDI www.kuttinkandi.com Candice Custodio known as DJ Kuttin Kandi, is widely regarded as the best female DJ in the world. She is a member of DJ team champions 5th Platoon, Founder and DJ for the all female Hip-Hop group Anomolies and President of DJ company Flip Da Lid Entertainment. Djing for nearly 9 years, Kandi competed in over 20 DJ competitions such as ITF and Vibe. She is the NY Source Magazine DJ Champion and has been the only female DJ to make it to the DMC USA FINALs. Kuttin Kandi has been interviewed in numerous magazines such as Source, Vibe, Vogue, Rolling Stone, and more recently the new Vibe Hip-Hop Divas book. Kuttin Kandi also appears in Much Music’s Busta Rhymes Special Edition. Kandi travels all around the world performing with high-profile artists such as Jay-Z, LL Cool J, Mya, and BlackStar just to name a few. In addition to all of this work, she voluntarily works with organizations such as Gabriela Network and FAHSI. Kandi is also a spoken word poet. From modeling for Starter clothing, shooting commercials for BET’s Stop The Violence campaigns to writing cover stories for YRB Magazine, DJ Kuttin Kandi has proven she is a force that cannot be stopped. |
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| LADY
PINK pinksmith.com Lady Pink was born in Ecuador, but raised in NYC. In 1979 she started writing graffiti and soon was well known as the only female capable of competing with the boys in the graffiti subculture. Pink painted subway trains from the years 1979-1985. She is considered a cult figure in the hip-hop subculture since the release of the motion picture "Wild Style" in 1982, in which she had a starring role. As a leading participant in the rise of graffiti-based art, Lady Pink's canvases have entered important art collections such as those of the Whitney Museum, the MET in New York City, the Brooklyn Museum and the Groningen Museum of Holland. Today she runs a small mural company with her artist husband Smith, creating massive works around New York City, constituting one of the few professional teams to originate from the graffiti subculture. Pink has mobilized artists into donating public art in culturally neglected communities. |
 Brick Lady Artwork by Lady Pink |
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| PHEM9
www.angelfire.com/ok5/femme9/ I picked up a can of spray paint in 96 to show the guys in town here, who doubted me that a woman could actually do it too, and I proved ‘em wrong. I haven’t put the can down since. Even 9 years later I still have people look at me like a retarded charity case when they find out I paint the graffiti, simply because I’m a girl, you know... afraid to go out after dark, frail, timid, not to get dirty... It seems we will always be looked at this way, or at least longer than I would prefer, so I’m here to show them we can do it! Time to drop the stereotypes! I love showing ladies we can break the rules and be an exception. |
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| GWENDOLYN
D. POUGH, KEYNOTE http://www.gwendolyndpough.com Gwendolyn D. Pough is currently an Associate Professor of Women’s Studies, Writing, and Rhetoric at Syracuse University. Her book Check It While I Wreck It: Black Womanhood, Hip-Hop Culture, and the Public Sphere was published in June 2004 by Northeastern University Press. Her shorter publications can be found in Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism, Catching a Wave: Reclaiming Feminism for the 21st Century, Doula, College Composition and Communication, That’s the Joint!: A Hip Hop Studies Reader, African American Rhetorics: Inter-disciplinary Perspectives, Get It Together, and Rhetoric and Ethnicity. She was awarded an American Association of University Women Post-Doctoral Fellowship in 2003-2004 to complete research on her next book length project about contemporary African-American women’s book clubs and reading groups. She has served on the Executive Committee of the Conference on College Composition and Communication and the Editorial Board for Voices from the Gaps, a website devoted to women writers of color. |
Gwendolyn D. Pough |
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| PSALM
ONE www.birthwriterecords.com You can sum up the lion's share of female emcees in one word: predictable. It's easy to see why these vocalists are perhaps the least respected musicians of our time. They've locked themselves into the same clichès that success should free them of. They expect nothing more from themselves, and in turn nothing more is expected. It's only when a true entertainer is successful in reaching beyond these expectations that they become an artist. Chicago's own Psalm One has reached so far beyond them, in fact, that fans and critics alike tip their hats to her artistry. Psalm has been able to embrace her gender so much, in fact, that she is able to set it aside as her mainstay, focusing on her skills and lyricism rather than her latest lust. It was everyone's bet that her first EP, Whippersnapper, would be the beginning of something special. By the release of the full length Bio:chemistry, everyone was sure. After 18 months of begging for more, she teased us with Personal Surplus, an EP that exposed Psalm, not only as a lyricist, but also as an emcee with a keen ability to orchestrate an album. ...And Psalm is almost done making us beg. The word is out about her on-stage chemistry with Animal Cracker DJ DQ. Brewing buzz about her collaboration with Rhymesayers' Ant and Brother Ali is raising the eyebrows of her peers and fans. Her current album tentatively titled The Death of Frequent Flyer has the chemist-turned-rapper delivering her best work to date. It's promising to see any musician with a straight-up look at life, much less to see this perspective in an extremely talented young woman. If predictability breeds disrespect of most femcees, then the next offering from Psalm One will not only change your perspective on female rappers, but also on their necessary role in hip-hop music. So here's to nodding heads to the new perspective. We are pleased to present Psalm One. |
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SILOETTE |
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| TOO
FLY www.tooflydesign.com Toofly grew up in Corona Queens New York. Her commutes to city schools were adventurous as she immersed herself in the myriad of graffiti tags, fill-ins, and outlines viewed on almost every deconstructive surface along the way. It was precisely this recognition of the rebellious artistic spirit of 90’s street graf that propelled Toofly to join its subculture at an early age. Highly influenced by the calligraphy and illustration skills of some exceptional writers at the time, Toofly persued a mission to become the female version of what she most admired. She began to develop her own knack for “hand styles” and her unique Toofly characters. They began to blossom on various graffiti black books, and were passed around outside of Fashion Industries High School. Ultimately allowing her skills to be recognized by different writers in different boroughs as the books traveled. By the time she entered the prestigious School of Visual Arts (SVA), Toofly was well into creating a unique and complex world for her increas-ingly popular Toofly. At SVA, she intensely applied her indigenous artistic skills to illustration and graphic design coursework. Finding inspiration in the New York urban landscape, this artist in the making began to juxtapose her “around the way girl” against multi-layered street imagery for various print and public art projects. Toofly’s constant and active role in her community allowed her to remain true to her roots, as she continued to draw raw feelings from the ever-changing and spontaneous world around her. Her most recent projects include collabora-tive murals, graffiti workshops, and a new series of works called “STARS”. Inspired by the sensual, physical, and emotional attributes of idolized females in pop culture. Toofly’s various works have appeared in magazines like Stress, Mass Appeal, Juxtapoz, Kicksclusive, Urban Latino, The Source, URB, and Honey. She has been featured in sites like Verbalisms.com, Minerleague.com, and Cybellgear.com. Street Walls currently to checkout: Hall of Fame 106 Park, Meeting of Styles in Brooklyn, BAAD and The Point Wall in the Bronx. |
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ZORI4 Zoraya Gonzalez www.graffiti.org/zori4/ Zori 4 is an internationally acclaimed graffiti writer, she belongs to crews KD (Kings Destroy), OBW (Only Best Writers) and Y&I (You and I). Zori has taught graffiti art to youth in the Manuela Perez Center with Puerto Rico’s Freestyle Association and in La Central, at the “Taller the Arte y Baile de la Cultural Afro-Antillana Moderna” of Canovanas. Zori, in collaboration with DEC ONE, received first prize for their aerosol art production at the Time Machine Squad’s 2002 Express Your Skills, and later that year became black book champion at the Miami “Pro Am Competition for World Supremacy.” In the summer of 2003, Zori organized the graffiti component for a Family Department of Puerto Rico event to bring attention to issues of child abuse. She orchestrated the simultaneous painting of eleven murals in the different districts of Puerto Rico, all with a child abuse awareness theme. Last summer she was an invited guest of the International Graffiti Festival at the Kosmopolite in Paris. Zori currently paints everything from large-scale production aerosol art murals to small-scale pieces on trucker hats and fliers. You’ll find Zori 4 is up from San Juan to New York and back as she completes a Graphic Arts and Design degree at the University of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. |
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FEATURED TWIN CITIES ARTISTS BIOS |
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| AIMEE B aimbmoore@yahoo.com Holding a whole deck with a few tricks up her sleeve, Aimee is playing her first couple of hands in this music game. She was asked to join a band as a lead female vocalist last summer; this was the beginning of her music career. Good criticism and opportunity brings her to where she is today: Creator of† ìB-AndÖî a rotational band that allows her to play with many musicians in many genres, host of† ìB-Invitedî Wednesday nights at Galactic Pizza (2917 Lyndale Ave 9-12am), member of ìIlluminationî fire & glow performance troupe, Aimee also does event planning and promotions for various venues around the state and is currently working with Parlour Music Company recording her first EP. |
 Aimee B |
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| AKIRA JOHNSON Akira Kamille Johnson was born on February 20, 1985 in Chicago, Illinois, in the decade that brought in the Hip Hop culture. While growing up, Akira listened to artists such as: Queen Latifah, Yo Yo, Salt n’ Pepa, and Janet Jackson just to name a few. These pioneers of the music industry intrigued her and by the young age of eight, her mind was made up and she knew that becoming a rap/spoken word artist was her destiny. From school talent shows, open microphone sessions, and summer events, Akira has begun to make a name for herself in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. St. Paul’s Rondo Days welcomed her with open arms in 2001 and invited her back the following year. She has graced the stages of the Blue Nile, TC Underground, and Soap Factory, all located in Minneapolis as well as the Artist Quarters and a feature presentation at the Lexington Branch Library both in St. Paul. Akira was included on the rosters for shows such as Vote 2004 and Evolution for Women in Hip Hop 2001-2004. Her face and voice has become a regular at Intermdia Arts, a community-based home for up and coming Hip Hop artists the Twin Cities. Her dreams and aspirations includes being signed by a major record label and making a name for herself beyond the streets of St. Paul, Minnesota so that she can in turn inspire other hopefuls of this wonderful culture and lifestyle. Her involvement with Hip Hop has molded her into the humble person she is and the star she hopes to become. |
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| ASHLEY
GOLD Ashley has been writing creatively since she was seven years old. She has performed at the Blue Nile, Acadia Coffee Shop, Intermedia Arts, and at open mics around the Twin Cities. Some of Ashley’s musicial influences are India Arie, Lauyrn Hill, and Ani DiFranco. Ashley has been described as a natural talent who has an innocence about her approach, but carries a powerful voice and is also a creative songwriter. Ashley started performing a year ago but prior to that she has hosted and organized events at the Garage Youth Center. She is currently pursuing a degree in Social Work and Youth Studies at the University of Minnesota. She has worked with youth for over five years including facilitating young women’s groups at The Garage, and at The Bridge for Runaway Youth. Ashley continues to combine her passion for youth work with her passion for music. |  Ashley Gold |
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| AMPHAVAHN
INTHISONE
Amphavanh Inthisone is a 22 year old, Laotian American, single mother, manicurist, film editing assistant and artist who lives in Minneapolis. She comes from a family of artists and experiments with visual art, and all the elements of the hip hop culture. She has worked with “In The Belly” on the “Inside/Outside Joint” documentary, featuring inmates at Stillwater prison. She has also exhibited her visual artwork at The Soo Vac, IMA, and the Walker Art Center. Amphavanh uses creativity to ease her mind and create change within herself and her community. She is always trying to find a positive movement through her artwork to help others. |  Amphavahn Inthisone |
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| B-GIRL SEOUL |  B-Girl Seoul |
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BLACK PEARL: Brandi Philllips, Angel Adams, Aneka Mcmullen & Kenna Camara-Cottman Brandi Phillips and Angel Adams have been dancing collectively and separately for over 15 years. Both have studied African Jazz, Modern and Hip Hop Dance Techniques, and have been working as a choreographic duo for many years. Angel and Brandi have been performing locally and nationally with such artists as Goodie Mob, Too short, Lutunji, DJ Quik, J. isaac, the Electric Boogaloos and Rennie harris. They have grace the stages at the Walker Art Center , The Southern Theater, First Avenue and The Pantages Theater. Currently Brandi and angel are collaborating on an event planning business and continue their professional dance work in the Twin Cities. Angel has been dance coordinator for the Ballet Art’s City Children’s Nutcracker. There choreography has been featured in the 2003 and 2004 Black Choreographer’s Evening. Aneka Mcmullen is a native of Minneapolis and graduated with a BFA in Dance performance from Ohio State University. Most recently she was a featured artist in the Late Night series curated by Laurie Carlos at Pillsbury Theater. She performed a solo for Mary Easter at the Minnesota Black Arts Ball and more recently was featured in two trios choreographed by Leah Nelson and performed at Varsity theater. She is a teacher at Linda Green’s The Art of Dance Studio. She appears in the current issue of Industry magazine in an article featuring B-girls in the Twin Cities. Kenna Camara-Cottman began her dance training on the sidelines of my mother’s dance classes. After much training she attended the University of Minnesota, where she studied dance and Elementary Education. She studied African dance intensely, attending classes with local greats such as Morris Johnson, Patricia Brown, Baraka De Soleil, and Ateya Ball-Lacey. She taught dance for We Win Rights of Passage with Titilayo Bediako, the Lyndale School Kwanzaa Program, The Old Arizona Bridge Project, and the African American Academy for Accelerated Learning. She also founded the West Central Academy Dance Company, made up of intermediate students at WCA (now W. Harry Davis Academy). Professionally, she was a member of Dance Roots, an African dance company led by Ateya Ball-Lacey. She has been blessed with numerous performing gigs at community events and locations such as Juneteenth, Urban League Family Day, and Legacy Village, performed under the choreographic direction of Aneka McMullen in Helluva Journey at the Walker Art Center’s Choreographers’ Evening. It was after this show that I stumbled upon the idea of Black Choreographers’ Evening; the first dance show I have ever curated independently. BCE is currently in its second year of production. In preparing for Black Choreographers’ Evening, I was awarded a Community Arts grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC). BCE has been sponsored by such great community organizations such as the Black Storytellers’ Alliance, YO! The Movement, and the Brooks-Golden family. I was also asked to sit on an MRAC Arts Activities panel, and as a result of this, invited to be a member of the MRAC board of directors. At the present time, I am working as a dance educator in the Art Courses for Educators Program at the Perpich Center for Arts. |  Black Pearl |
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DESDAMONA |
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DESSA
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| ENFINITY DANCE TEAM The "Enfinity Dance Team" was founded in 2004 by Choreographer & Dance Instructor, Edna Stevens. Edna who recently moved from New York to Minnesota has been dancing since she was a young child. Having been featured on over 10 music videos & danced on MTV & BET, Edna wanted to take her talent to the next level. Inspired by her gifted young son, Edna put a team of young dancers together. Now you can catch them performing throughout the Twin Cities. These young kids are not only talented, but they also have a strong passion for the performing arts. Always leaving the audience in awe, these kids are destined to take the world by storm. That is the reason Edna named her company "Universal Dance Destiny". The desire to follow their hearts to take them further has molded them to be professional & serious about their craft. They wish to one day follow their mentors step by performing for MTV, BET & other big shows. Edna also works with smaller children & adults as well. Please be sure to find out more about Edna & her dance team on their website www.universaldancedestiny.com |
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HEAT:
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| INDIGO I am Indigo, born Leah Bartizal 08-11-80. I was raised on the East Side of Saint Paul until I was 10 years old, at which point I moved to the Merriam Park neighborhood. I have lived in over 30 different houses in my 24 years, and went through three fathers by way of failed marriages by my mother. I have an amazing two year old son. Back in the day, I listened to LLCool J and Run DMC, along with assorted gangster rap albums that appealed to me as a teenager. After graduating high school in 1998, I started really getting into freestyling and writing rhymes. My main influences were KRS-ONE because of his politics and force, and Eryka Badu because of her spirituality and wisdom. Rhymesayers Cres and CMI motivated me because they were doing it in my own backyard. I have never tried to rap or dress or think like anyone else. I value my own individuality and independence as my most important characteristics. I have yet to release an album but am currently working on my first ep which will be ready this summer. I have been featured on the album “Dawn of the Head” that was released in 2004. I currently work with Ganny Beats (Fairchild Productions) out of Brooklyn, and Lone of Minneapolis, formerly Insane Beautiful Productions. I am associated with the Indie Label Totally Gross National Product along with Mel Gibson and the Pants. I am a staff writer for Industry Magazine, a volunteer at the Powderhorn Park non-profit studio, and am the Photography Representative for Ron Essex Studios. |
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| KARMA
My name is Karma, the Oddest Goddess sometimes, sometimes it's Jain Doe but people call me names like Aunt Jemima, Miss Smith, Mamma,Activistface, and if I'm lucky "Caller #10". I started performing spoken word at "The Artist Quarter" and later worked with the Minnesota Spoken Word Association, performing at various spots around the cities of Minneapolis, Philadelphia and Chicago. In between parenting and working I hit up my favorite spot"The Blue Nile" on tuesdays, work on my book "Waking Up Ghetto" and work on my album"that's almost 9yrs old". I'm also working on a commitee to build a delegation of youth to attend the "World Youth festival in Caracas Venezuela August 2005. Besides all of that, I just try to maintain a positive attitude and work on this and that, study this and that. My music will be released on Overground Railroad Records when I feel its completion. I Love You is my favorite phrase. |
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| KENDYL JOI Born and raised in Dallas, Texas Kendyl Joi came to Minneapolis in 2000 to pursue her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in acting at the University of Minnesota’s Guthrie Theater Acting Training Program. She has been blessed to be featured in performances such as Six and The Winter’s Tale at the Guthrie Lab, Summerfolk, The Would-be Gentleman and AmericanClock at the University, and Shakespeare’s Lovers at Illusion Theater. Most recently, she has made her debut with Alchemy Theater in American Menu and The Story at Pillsbury Theater. Performing spoken word, or as she calls it, short stories in poetic form, is what keeps her balanced and sane in this artistic world. She thanks God for allowing her to share her “Joi” once again. |
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| LEAH
NELSON Leah Nelson is a Zimbabwean dancer, choreographer and producer who graduated from North Carolina School of the Arts. She has performed internationally from Brussels to Brazil, and extensively throughout the US with dance/theater company David Rousseve/REALITY. Her recent performance abroad was a solo at the opening night celebration for the Zanzibar International Film Festival in July 2004. She premiered her McKnight Dance Fellow solo "YOUR place" a dance/ theater piece choreographed by London-based artist Jonzi D which explores racial identity using words, hip-hop and modern dance elements. Leah directed the piece Sleeping Gods; Theater in the Spirit of Hip-Hop for the PS 122 production of the Hip-Hop Theater Festival in 2000 and curated Hip-Hop Moves : Heroes and Innovators for the Walker Art Center's Hip-Hop Dance Festival in October 2003. She is a co-founder of MN Spoken Word Association and is currently active as a Teaching Artist in schools. Leah is Artistic Director of Nubia a pan hip-hop performing arts collective and believes in creating art by any means necessary. |
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| MARIA ISA Born to Newyorican parents and raised on St. Paul's west side, Maria Isa has been holding the mic since she was a little chica. At the age of five she started her performing arts education at El Arco Iris Center for the Arts in St. Paul, learning Afro-Puerto Rican and Latino folkloric art through music, song, and dance. In 2002, she and other advanced members at El Arco Iris formed the group, "Raices" to continue their mission in informing audiences about their roots through traditional dances of Bomba and Plena. Growing up around the sounds of classic salsa, jazz, soul r&b, and experiencing the sounds of hip-hop through each genre of music, Maria Isa wanted a part of the scene. From being on stage with Latin sensation La India, meeting Tito Puente at seven years old, and writing songs and poetry since the age of 11, she decided to incorporate bomba and Latin rhythms with a mix of hip hop while continuing to sing traditional bomba music. She has been on stage with Puerto Rican groups such as the Grammy nominated Plena Libre, Paracumbe, Africaribe, and Los Pleneros de la 21. Maria Isa has been hitting up the local twin cities hip-hop community with Hip-hop group Many Styles, and has been influenced by Los Nativos' Felipe Cautli. Her style is fresh, different, and repin' 100% of her BORICUANESS. Maria Isa is known for her activism as she portrays quotes of Puerto Rican Nationalist Lolita Lebron. Many believe Maria Isa to be a young woman with the rays of revolutionizing the next generations of singer/mc's. At just 18 years old, this mamita is tearin' it up. |
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| SARAH
WHITE www.myspace.com/sarahwhitesoul Sarah White is a regular renaissance woman. She started performing at a young age and has been on stage ever since. She has taken an interest in almost every art form you can imagine from dance to visual art—theater to music. Her career in hip-hop began at the age of 14—with poetry and gradually moving towards rhyming. In the winter of 2001, Sarah became a part of the live hip-hop band, Traditional Methods. With the group, she has opened for Medusa, Fishbone, Camp-Lo, Juvenile and local hip-hop heavyweights, Eyedea, Brother Ali and Heiruspecs. With two releases, the most recent being the full length “Falling Forward”, Sarah is now envisioning a solo project and also focusing on getting back into her other artistic interests. Inspiration comes from a variety of places and people including Stevie Wonder, Bahamadia, Bjork, and Erykah Badu. She is drawn to these artists because of their freedom to express their passion and share their soul through music. Sarah hopes to inspire people through her music the way these artists have influenced her. Performing regionally and locally for the past three years she has been compared to Lauryn Hill, Sade, and India Arie. So, just imagine a combination of those three all wrapped up in one person. Quiet but powerful, raspy and sultry, political yet affectionate—she commands the listeners attention with a combination of rhyme and smooth melodies. If she were to give other artists a piece of advice, it would be to stay true to your vision and to not be afraid to dive head first into expression, while keeping it humble. |
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PANELIST BIOS |
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| AISHA
DURHAM Aisha Durham is a third-year doctoral candidate in the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Her general research interests include cultural representations, hip-hop and black feminism. She holds degrees in journalism and mass communication. Durham is a former research/writer intern for Time magazine and works as an assistant editor for three qualitative-oriented peer-reviewed research journals. She has presented at conferences sponsored by political organizations and academic associations such as the National Association of Communication, the Association for Cultural Studies, and the Popular Culture Association. Her essay on hip-hop feminism delivered at the Black Feminisms conference (sponsored by the CUNY Africana Studies Group) this past year grounds her dissertation research. Several of her publications appear in Qualitative Inquiry and her dissertation research examining hip-hop feminism will be featured in an upcoming anthology on young feminists of color and a documentary about hip-hop culture. |
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| JOYCE
BELL Born and raised on the North Side of Minneapolis, Joyce Bell attended Minneapolis South high school and went on to receive a B.A. in Spanish and Sociology from the University of St. Thomas. Joyce is now a Ph.D. candidate and Graduate Instructor in sociology at the University of Minnesota. Her research has focused on Black political movements in Brazil, other parts of South America and the United States. Her dissertation research examines the relationship between social movements and social welfare in the United States during the civil rights era. Joyce has been the recipient of various research fellowships—she is a McNair Scholar and last summer served as a Mosaic Project fellow for which she conducted research in Atlanta, Georgia on race, religion and tolerance in neighborhood and inter-faith organizations. Despite an active research agenda and involvement in several community and University organizations. Ms. Bell cites her true passion as teaching. Her teaching style reflects a strong commitment to social justice and encouraging students to think critically about the world around them. Whether she’s in a college classroom or teaching 9th graders, her classes are lively and engaging. She is most proud of her use of photography, film, and hip-hop in the classroom to teach about race, class, and resistance in a way that melds creative expression, political thought, and social theory. Joyce, the wife of Budah Tye and mother of 8-year-old Tyehimba, plans to complete her Ph.D. in 2006. |
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| KIM
EUELL Kim Euell is the August Wilson Fellow, a MacArthur Scholar and a DOVE Fellow in the University of Minnesota’s theatre department. Her play The Diva Daughters DuPree was produced last season by the Penumbra Theatre Company and named Outstanding New Play of 2004 by theater critics at the Star Tribune in their year end review. Kim has worked extensively as a dramaturg and served on the artistic staffs of the Hartford Stage Company, The Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles and The Sundance Theatre Lab. She is currently co-editing (with Robert Alexander) Playz From Tha Boom Box Galaxy, an anthology of theater from the Hip-Hop Generation for publication by Theatre Communications Group (TCG). |
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| K.E.
MAORI HOLMES A native of Los Angeles, Maori Holmes received her MFA in Film & Media Arts from Temple University in February 2005. She received her B.A. in History from the American University in Washington, D.C., where her senior thesis was an oral history of the so-called East Coast vs. West Coast battle. She produced, directed, shot and edited Scene Not Heard, her third documentary, as her graduate school thesis project. A former publicist and freelance writer (Washington City Paper, SaVoy, Philadelphia City Paper, Philadelphia Style and Alternet.org), she has been involved with hip hop music and culture for over ten years, including positions at Sony Music and Dallas Austin Recording Projects. As a high school student she became the youngest member (and one of the first female) of the Universal Zulu Nation chapter in Atlanta. She is currently the Director of the Community Arts Partnership at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct instructor at Temple University. Ms. Holmes also works as a film/video curator, costume designer and producer for stage and film. Her previous films include My Name is Rich Medina and The Moment, a short narrative starring neo-soul singer W. Ellington Felton. She is a member of the Philadelphia Independent Film and Video Association board of directors, National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture Philadelphia steering committee, Foundation Arts Initiative advisory board and the Association of Independent Video and Film. |
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| MELISA
RIVIERE Melisa Rivière is a first generation Latina born to Argentinean parents on one of those April snowstorms that reinforces winter’s refusal to leave Minnesota. She was raised bilingual and bicultural between Minneapolis and Buenos Aires. Melisa became artistically and academically involved first with graffiti and later the other elements of Hip-hop. She wrote her Baccalaureate thesis Art Graffiti; A Cultural Analysis of Graffiti and Twin Cities’ Guerrilla Artist and her Master’s Thesis Graffiti as a Social Resistance Movement: Research, Methods, and Ethics conducting fieldwork in Minneapolis, New York and Puerto Rico. Today Melisa continues her graduate studies in Anthropology. She received video production training in Havana, Cuba as a team documentalist in conjunction with the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry working on a film titled Revolutionary Cubanas. She retired her photographic camera for digital video and is now completing her Ph.D. as a MacArthur Scholar at the University of Minnesota on the four elements of hip-hop in Cuba and Puerto Rico. She has worked with artists from In The house Magazine, Songo Sounds, Time Machine Squad, White Lion Records, The Cuban Agency for Rap, and the Hermanos Saíz Association filming hip-hop conferences, documentaries, festivals, live performances and music video clips with Anónimo Consejo, Tego Calderon, Doble Filo, MC Hyde, Obsesion, RCH and Yimi Konclaze. As owner and president of Emetrece Productions, Inc. she has expanded her academic work as a young entrepreneur in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Melisa continues her solidarity work producing self-financed and donation based video production to Cuban artists and taking much needed materials to the Cuban Hip-hop movement in Havana. |
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| MIRANDA
JANE http://pyramids2projects.blogspot.com Miranda Jane was born at home on the floor, circa 1974. Her mother, a jazz and rock drummer, gave up music to raise her children. Her father is jazz bassist Buell Neidlinger, who is considered by many to be one of the "fathers of Modern Jazz," having played with Cecil Taylor, Billie Holiday, Archie Shepp, and Ornette Coleman, to name a few. Arts and revolution, along with activism and feminism, are in her blood - she's the granddaughter of a union/labor organizer and one of the first women professors to create a Women's Studies department. Miranda grew up with her bassinet next to her mother's drum kit, she grew up sitting in on her father's sessions and rehearsals. A singer/songwriter since the age of 5, she grew up backstage, and in the recording studio. Her love affair with Hip Hop began while watching her cousins' crew Kings of Graffiti Bombin get busy in graf and breaking in the early 80s. Later she blossomed into an advocate for rap and the music business, working in street promotion for Ice-T's club Water the Bush in her early teens. She became involved with Hip Hop journalism accidentally while working at a recording studio which housed 4080 Hip Hop magazine in Oakland, CA. She moved to New York in 1998 and her first published articles hit simultaneously on both coasts in Trace Magazine, NY and Rap Pages, LA. Her journalism has reached millions of readers, published in the L.A. Weekly, Mass Appeal, URB Magazine, Platform.net, The Source, Insomniac, and in international publications including Trace, Stealth Magazine (Australia), ATM (UK), and Hip Hop Nation (Latin America). Miranda has held editorships at STRESS Magazine, Complex, and The Source; touching on diverse topics and personalities from Ashanti to the Zulu Nation - and everything in between. Her current projects include non-fiction books including a Hip Hop cookbook, a history of Women in Hip Hop, and an autobiographical account of her early years. She currently resides in Minneapolis, MN and you can catch up with her antics on http://pyramids2projects.blogspot.com . |
 Miranda
Jane and Afrika Bambaataa, the godfather of hip-hop |
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| KANDIS
KNIGHT Kandis Knight started writing poetry at the age of seven, her collection of journals and short stories paved her way into a life long love affair with the written word. Knight graduated from the University of St. Thomas with a degree in Journalism. Following college, Knight briefly pursued a career in law before returning to her first love, creative writing. Knight has been writing a weekly hip-hop column called Verb in The Pulse of The Twin Cities for nearly three years and has been writing a local gossip column in Trendsetter Urban Monthly. Knight currently is a freelance writer assuming many different pen names and is working at completing her first manuscript in the summer of 2005. |
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FILMMAKER BIOS |
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| NUALA
CABRAL / REFLECTIONS OF WOMEN OF COLOR AND HIP HOP: A STUDENT DOCUMENTARY Nuala Cabral made her debut film, “Reflections on Women of Color and Hip Hop: A Student Documentary,” for her women's studies senior project at Tufts University. Her goal was to spark dialogue on campus about the messages women of color receive through hip hop. Since her graduation, this film has been screened at various film festivals, conferences and classrooms across the country and ended up generating more dialogue than she anticipated. Nuala currently works as a Support Coordinator at a middle school in her hometown of Providence, Rhode Island. She plans to attend graduate school for filmmaking or educational policy in the near future. Besides filmmaking, Nuala enjoys playing basketball, singing and working with youth. |
 Nuala
Cabral |
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| EMILY
DELL / B-GIRL:THE MOVIE bgirlthemovie.com Emily Dell, director and writer of B-Girl, completed her last short, For an Eye, in May of 2002. (Winner - Best of Festivals, Short Features - 2002 Berkeley Film and Video Festival.) Emily studied filmmaking at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and then became an independent director of narrative and documentary films while finishing her education at the University of California, Berkeley, where she received her Bachelor’s degree in both Neurobiology and Third World Literature. Emily worked on the Sundance 2003 Independent feature Dopamine, In addition to other work she served as Scientific Advisor to the film, which won the Sloan Award for scientific accuracy. From January-April 2003, she was employed at Davis Entertainment as the assistant to Vice President Lil Phillips. Ms. Dell’s previous films include Elegant Violence, a documentary about the Cal Women’s Rugby Team and the music video Angel for the San Francisco band Mheadphone. |
 Still
from B-Girl: The Movie. |
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| MAORI
HOLMES / SCENE NOT HEARD: WOMEN IN PHILADELPHIA HIP HOP
Maori Holmes will receive her MFA in Film & Media Arts from Temple University in February 2005. She produced, directed, shot and edited Scene Not Heard, her thesis project and third documentary. A former publicist and freelance writer (Washington City Paper, SaVoy, Philadelphia City Paper, Philadelphia Style and Alternet.org), she has been involved with hip hop music and culture for over ten years. Ms. Holmes is a native of Los Angeles and received her B.A. in History from the American University in Washington, D.C., where her senior thesis was an oral history of the so-called East Coast vs. West Coast battle. She is currently the Director of the Community Arts Partnership at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct instructor at Temple University. Ms. Holmes also works as a film/video curator, costume designer and producer for stage and film. Her previous films include My Name is Rich Medina and The Moment, a short narrative starring neo-soul singer W. Ellington Felton. She is a member of the Philadelphia Independent Film and Video Association board of directors, National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture Philadelphia steering committee, Foundation Arts Initiative advisory board and the Association of Independent Video and Film. |
 DJ Sparkles from Scene Not Heard |
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DANTE
KABA / MIXTRESS X: HIP-HOP'S UNSUNG HEROINE |
 Mixtress
X Logo |
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| JOSYLN
ROSE LYONS / SOUNDZ OF SPIRIT http://www.soundzofspirit.com Joslyn Rose Lyons has an extensive production resume that includes work on numerous films, music videos and documentaries, including work with PBS, MTV2, NBC, Discovery Channel, and Emmy award-winning filmmakers at Paradigm Productions. After completing her B.A. in the self-created major "Visual and Conceptual Creative Expression" which combined Film, Communications, and Theatre Arts, she went on to independently establish Jog9 Productions. |
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Art for Soundz of Spirit. |
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| JEANNETTE
PETRI / "rock it" Jeannette Petri is an artist from Frankfurt/Germany, who works with film/video and photography. She is born in Düsseldorf/Germany 1974 and studied Photography and Film/Video at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach. Jeannette Petri is interested in female hip-hop since 2000, under the name of jee-nice she is deejaying with main emphasis on female rap. She did some 16mm films and videos, the latest, rock it“ is about bgirlism. She did some independent publications, the latest one is about old school-ladies –rappers & deejays from 1976-1990. At the moment she is working on the first independent german femalehiphop.mag, where she focused current women in hip-hop activity. She had some group exhibition in Germany and Switzerland and the first solo-exhibition last year. Her films were shown on different film festivals in Germany, Belgium, Yugoslavia, Lithuania and Portugal. |
 Jeanette
Petri |
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| RACHEL
RAIMIST / NOBODY KNOWS MY NAME blog.lib.umn.edu/raim0007/RaeSpot Rachel Raimist is filmmaker, scholar, educator, hip-hop feminist, activist, community organizer, and mother. She is most known for her documentary Nobody Knows My Name, distributed by Women Make Movies, about women in hip-hop and as the Videographer/Editor of the award-winning films Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme and Estilo Hip Hop. Currently, she is filming Central Touring Theater at Central High School in St. Paul. She has written and photographed for The Source, URB, Remix, and The Amsterdam News. Her work has been written about in The Village Voice, Spin, LA Weekly, City Pages, and Jane and she has appeared on The Jenny Jones Show, 60 Minutes, and on numerous international radio shows and national news outlets. Rachel received her B.A. and M.F.A in Film Directing from the UCLA School of Film and Television. She has taught video production at the University of California, Irvine and Los Angeles, and women of color/third wave activism as a Visiting Instructor in the Women and Gender Studies Program at Macalester College. Currently, she is pursuing her Ph.D. in Feminist Studies from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. |
 Rachel Raimist |
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Psalm One
Too Fly and
Artwork 