Starting today, the University of Chicago’s Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture is holding a three-day conference discussing feminism in Hip-Hop.
Academics, feminist activists, music video producers, performers and record company executives are slated to attend the conference. Participants will include model Melyssa Ford, The Source’s former editor-in-chief Kim Osorio, writer Akiba Solomon, dance choreographer Rokafella and other notable industry women. The event generated so much interest that the school had to close registration.
"We want to talk about how to transform or take back Hip-Hop to represent the struggles of women and men," Cathy Cohen, director of the center and a U. of C. political science professor, told the Chicago Tribune. "We hope [the conference] will energize black women around feminist principles and bring to light the long tradition of feminism in the black community."
Though degrading lyrics and images stereotyping Black women have long been omnipresent in Hip-Hop, Cohen feels that the rappers and their videos have stooped to an unprecedented low
"The images and attacks on women are more vicious than we ever expected," Cohen revealed. "It is so in-the-face and so outrageous and so demonizing that people really feel like we have to take a stand and 'no more.'"
Earlier this year, SpelmanCollege and ESSENCE magazine held a Hip-Hop town meeting to discuss the image of Black women in rap songs and videos. The meeting was a part of the Take Back The Music campaign. ESSENCE covered the Black woman's image in Hip-Hop in its January and February issues.
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