How Women Pioneers of Bay Area Hip Hop Made Their Own Rules

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2023

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Until recently, a persistent narrative about women in hip-hop was that only one can succeed at any given time. But, that wasn’t how the Bay Area rolled, especially in the 1990s as the region’s hip-hop scene flourished. In the early decades of Bay Area rap, artists including Conscious Daughters, Suga T and Mystic established themselves as legends. They also built what they call a sisterhood: They recorded songs together. They showed up for each other’s shows. And they helped their fellow female artists succeed in a cutthroat industry. We’ll talk with women who pioneered Bay Area rap and how they continue to influence the genre today. Guests: Nastia Voynovskaya, associate editor, KQED Arts Carla “CMG” Green, one half of The Conscious Daughters, an American female hip hop duo from the Bay Area "SUGA-T" Tenina Stevens, rapper and singer from Vallejo, California. She is a founding member of The Click, a rap group that also includes her brothers E-40 and D-Shot and her cousin B-Legit. She is also an actress, speaker, business owner and nonprofit executive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:35.9	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
0:39.4	As hip hop emerged into the mainstream, it was largely regarded as a genre dominated by men.
0:44.7	Almost all the biggest artists were men, and much of their music was infused with the masculinity
0:48.7	that often verged into outright misogyny.
0:51.6	But of course, hip hop has always been about more than the dudes, and in the Bay Area
0:55.6	that were women rapping right from the start.
0:57.9	Some of those legends join us in the studio today for this latest edition of our
1:01.3	collaboration with KQED arts hip-hop history.
1:04.4	That's my word.
1:05.6	Here comes the top-notch after this news.
1:09.4	Sugar, sugar, sugar. That, yeah, that's me.
1:12.3	That's my sister.
1:14.0	You know what I?
1:15.2	Sprinkle me, girl.
1:15.9	Sprinkle me, girl.
1:17.6	Uh-huh.
1:18.8	Sprinkle me.
1:18.8	Yeah.
	...

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