The quote below is some of the wisdom coming from Narubi Selah in a recent interview she did for Womanizing.com.
“I think the largest thing missing today in the rap/hip hop game today is the ability to just be creative and be YOU! Everything sounds the same and everyone is rapping about the same thing. There used to be stories and tales told of love, pain, etc. Now it’s just a cookie cut formula; girls, cars, liquor (fancy kinds of course) cars again, clothes…you get the drift.
I also do not think it is that much of a stretch from what’s missing in female mcs. First of all, there aren’t too many female mcs that are main stream today. The game is pretty much dominated by Nikki Minaj, and that alone speaks for itself. It’s a shame that you have to go under-underground to find really good mcs, whether male or female. Artists such as Sa-Roc, Stahrr, Curly Castro, Omni Blaze etc, will never get spins on major radio or their videos to get 9 trillion hits on YouTube because their music goes in contrast to the cookie cut blueprint.
For those who don’t know Narubi is a spoken word artist, vocalist, actress, and middle school math teacher who is not playing around when she gets on the mic. This one woman show swept through most of the east coast between 2000-and 2008 with her lyrical ability, claiming the much deserved title “Slam Queen”.
Prior to her 2008 debut on Russell Simmon’s Peabody Award Winning HBO Def Poetry Jam, she has performed with such notable artists as Mos Def (Yassin Bey), KRS One, Lauryn Hill, Wise Intelligent of Poor Righteous Teachers, and Styles P, just to name a few.
Narubi released her debut album “IAM LivingMath in 2010, and her sophomore album The Architect in 2012.
Check for her on twitter @NarubiSelah
Narubi Selah Hookless2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxUGjuPQ4A8
Narubi Selah U Already Know
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xpkfBc70PA
Narubi Selah Gun Law
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0-vlGy_sz4
Narubi Selah Live on WBAI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqvdFiuAqN0
Someone was complaining the other day about lack of consciousness in Hip Hop… He wanted to know where all the good emcees are? I asked him where he was checking? In the age of consolidation, corporate tyranny and a desire to dumb down the masses and make them consummate consumers, did he expect to hear consistent consciousness on ‘pop culture outlets?’.. When you have companies like Viacom and Time Warner holding investments in private prisons why would you expect to hear and see folks telling you to fight the power? Those outlets are in fact the power you should be fighting.
Last year during this time Rebel Diaz member G1 was hospitalized in NYC and couldn’t make The Thankstaking Concert in Milwaukee at the legendary bar -The Uptowner.