Monday
Sep032007
You Must Hear this..."My Letter to Hip Hop" by Bridget Gray Poetry
Monday, September 3, 2007 at 12:06PM The Blogmother
Just as I was about to put that Canadian citizenship application in the mail, one of my readers sent this to me. I'm crying right now. There is hope. Sweet Jesus!
Her name is Bridget Gray and she is taking no prisoners! I might not have to move to the Rockies and live off the land after all. She has a website and a CD out. You can listen to her music/poetry on her myspace page. She is currently on tour. Oh SHE MUST BE HEARD! I might have to unclamp the pocketbook and cop it. Thanks Janice for the heads up.
UPDATE: BUMP THAT! She needs to be on the radio. Call your local hip hop radio station and ask to speak to the station/programming manager and ask why you have not heard her tracks on their station. Ask them why they are discriminating against artists who ain't talking about pimping, slanging hash, and drugs. I am about to call now. matter of fact e-mail them. Hell. Just what I need, another campaign.
Her name is Bridget Gray and she is taking no prisoners! I might not have to move to the Rockies and live off the land after all. She has a website and a CD out. You can listen to her music/poetry on her myspace page. She is currently on tour. Oh SHE MUST BE HEARD! I might have to unclamp the pocketbook and cop it. Thanks Janice for the heads up.
UPDATE: BUMP THAT! She needs to be on the radio. Call your local hip hop radio station and ask to speak to the station/programming manager and ask why you have not heard her tracks on their station. Ask them why they are discriminating against artists who ain't talking about pimping, slanging hash, and drugs. I am about to call now. matter of fact e-mail them. Hell. Just what I need, another campaign.
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Hip Hop
Reader Comments (8)
I love the video too. After I watched it I spent a while listening to spoken word poetry on YouTube. There are tons of videos. So there are alternatives to gangsta rap! Setting something like this to music would sound like hip hop to me and I could still tell the tone and mood of the piece. The problem with gangsta rappers is that they say they are discussing the struggles in their lives but they express it in a way that sounds like they are glamorizing it. In all the spoken word poetry I have seen you never get confused about the message the artist is trying to send. I think gangsta rappers are very confused about the message they want to send but real poets are not confused and you can tell.
This is wonderful. Beautiful poem and beautiful performance of it.
Since I don't know much about current music, I thought that maybe I was missing something and that there is a positive message veiled in some of the misogynistic lyrics. Sure, I've heard people complain about song lyrics, but they always seemed to want censorship which I don't approve of. And I'm white. And I like folk and rock and soul music from the 60s and 70s. I thought maybe I just didn't understand.
I was originally led to your website when looking to see if there were any black leaders showing outrage about Dunbar Village. Fortunately, I found your blog, and I thank you again for speaking out.
You may want to also check out Sarah Jones she has a poem that was banned by the fcc ironically for saying the same thing most hip hop artists (she actually quoted several in the poem) say every day -
the you tube clip shows part of her one woman show in NYC as well - and hte poem at the end -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgEMRJjxm2I
Long live Bridget Gray.
I heard about Gray's poem on Afronerd's blog; I definitely passing it along.
Speaking of Afronerd, he just reported that VH1 is the target of an anti-minstrel boycott:
http://afronerd.blogspot.com/2007/09/it-appears-that-another-battle-has.html
God is indeed good. So, I'm forwarding this news as well.
Thank you for sharing "My Letter To Hip Hop" by Bridgette Gray Poetry.
I will post a link to you and Ms. Gray's video by the end of the today.
Respectfully,
Manchild
Thank you so much for creating this space.
i heard you on KPFA womens magazine and was compelled to check out your blog, as for the most part, the same practices of systematic denigration of women of colour happens in europe too and with transnational corporate media driving the game,we too wade waist deep in these degrading images of folks of colour.
thanks for inspiring some of us into action. indeed, enough is enough.
Thank you for drawing attention to sister Bridget Gray....the sounds of good medicine;)
Thank you also for your vociferous naming of the silence surrounding the attack of our dear sister and her son in Dunbar Village and the pattern that that represents in wider patriarchal society. we have to ensure that violence against women stops.all violence, including war. for ourselves,our daughters and our sons.
respectfully
afrochica
uk
very powerful words glad a female artist is stepping up and glad you shared this :)