International Women's Day | Hip-Hop and Politics

Today is International Women’s Day and so we went digging to pull out a few Hip Hop videos that speak to empowerment and social justice.. Many of them are all but forgotten so we thought we’d revise some fond memories.. First up is Queen Latifah and Monie Love their classic song Ladies First…

Queen Latifah and Monie Love Ladies First

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLB5bUNAesc

Many forgot about this jam by Salt-N- Pepa which reminds everyone that women are quite capable of doing any and everything under the sun.. We should not place limits on people..

Salt-N-Pepa Ain’t Nothing But a She Thing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=na3u8S9tF9o

sistasouljah Many forgot that author / activist Sista Souljah teamed up with Public Enemy and the Bomb Squad to do an album.. Her first single Slavery is Back in Effect warned us to be careful with the way society was moving in terms of harsh legilsation being passed. If we’re not careful we may wake up and find that slavery had returned. In this song The Hate That hate Produced, Souljah’s flows over a slamming beat and reminds us that she is not here to make white folks feel comfortable. She’s here to challenge the system. I wish they had a video of the song she did with ice Cube..

Sista Souljah The Hate that hate Produced

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neNboHZ3paQ

This is a more recent offering from MC Lyte who has always delivered gems. It features her and DJ Premier. here Lyte is reflective as she speaks to her being more responsible as she gets older and challenging us to set good examples for those who come behind us

MC Lyte The Wonder Years

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMhRtxjFY0k

Isis Many of us know X-Clan via Brother J, Paradise and the late Sugar Shaft and Professor X. We forget that they had two dope female emcees who did full length albums.. Isis now known as Linque and Queen Mother Rage were absolutely dope and sadly overshadowed by label politics which led to lousy promotion. The imagery X-Clan put forth was always uplifting, reminding us we are descendents of Kings and Queens.

Isis The Power of Myself

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz9sSzt4yvI

Queen Mother Rage Slipping Into Darkness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T85S90nrIH8

Maria Isa out of Minneapolis aka Soto Rico is dope and one of the best around.. I wish she had did a video for this song which pays tribute to Puerto Rican revolutionary Lolita Lebron who fought for Puerto Rican independence

Maria Isa Die Not kill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zScRfVWzXk

Poetic Pilgrimage is a group everyone needs to know.. talk about having dope flows.. My favorite song from them is Freedom.. definition of a Pilgrim is also nice.. I went with this video because of the subject matter, oppression in Palestine, but to be honest damn near anything by them hits..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1orCqZg4SA

This Posse cut called Freedom is from the movie Panther and features everyone from Queen Latifah to Yo Yo to Salt-N-Pepa to patra and many more is classic.. we featured during Black History month and had to revise it again for Women’s History Month

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxyxqVDjSzs

LaurynHilllook Can you really go wrong with Lauryn Hill, especially when she dropped the landmark album Mis Education of Lauryn Hill? This is a classic jam

Lauryn Hill Doo-Wop That Thing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6QKqFPRZSA

No list would be complete without Missy Elliot... We Run This is one of my favorite joints.. It features Missy dancing while gymnastic champ Dominique Dawson watches.. Missy is always fun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2oIhJG7rXA

Lastly X-Clan’s Paradise Gray turned me on to this new joint by Narubi Selah Hookless2 … This is pretty dope..

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxUGjuPQ4A8&feature=youtu.be

Emma Anderson As we celebrate International Women’s Day we should note that the war on women continues in a very real way…Whether its one out of three women globally being sexually assaulted, an uptick in human trafficking, or sitting senators and congressmen resolute in their opposition to the Violence Against Women Act or locally where we see a brutish private security guard tossing an 82 year old Black woman off a train because she was singing gospel hymns ‘too loud’..

The video of Emma Anderson being dragged off a train last month to say the least is shocking and just a glaring reminder that none of our mothers, grandmothers, sisters, daughters and wives are safe from men who have a disdain and little respect for them..

The video below shows it all as the 82-year-old woman is seen singing. and slapping her thigh with rolled-up paper.

A security guard is then seen asking Anderson to stop. When Anderson refused, the guard grabbed her rolling luggage cart.
“You’re getting off here,” he can be heard telling Anderson. “Let’s go.” A struggle between the guard and Anderson ensued, and Anderson was pulled off the train, falling onto the platform at the downtown stop, about six miles from her intended destination of North Miami.

“It was not right for them to drag her off the train,” Donal Anderson, the woman’s son, told Miami’s WSVN-TV.
A spokeswoman for Miami-Dade Transit told the network that Anderson violated its noise policy, which prohibits commuters from singing, dancing and playing instruments.

“We regret that Ms. Anderson had to eventually be escorted out,” the spokeswoman said in a statement, “but regardless of age, all passengers need to abide by rules associated with using transit.”
“Well, y’all may call it ‘noise,'” the elderly South Floridian scoffed, “but wait till Jesus comes. It’s going to be more noise in there!”

One would think that the train authorities in Miami would have another more gentle way to remove a passenger from a train if in fact it was even necessary. many of our elders don’t always have full control of their faculties, some have demntia or just plain eccentric in their ways.. Regardless if she was loud, one must take a different more, gentle approach toward an unarmed, frail elder.. One might ask would this guard have been so violent if this was a group of guys ready and willing to fight back, would this transit security have been so bold?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FlY2rrP7EA

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Some Dope Hip Hop Videos To Celebrate Int’l Women’s Day

82 Year Old Black Woman Brutally Tossed Off Train for Singing Gospel Hymns