Legendary Public Enemy front man and activist Chuck D has set a 2009 resolution to rectify the marginalized representation of females in Hip-Hop culture.
A swept aside issue in recent years, Chuck D argues that the lack of prominent women in Hip-Hop is causing the culture to move backward and devalue many of the progressive strides made by female pioneers in the 80s and 90s.
“In ‘09, my fighting the power is for women in Hip-Hop, especially groups, producers, songwriters, and label heads,” Chuck D explained to AllHipHop.com. “There are very, very few all women rap groups. Less than we had 25 years ago. I feel it is the next revolution in this ‘same dude, same idea, same voice genre.’ I personally feel that the lack of groups on the male side has hurt, as well as production teams for the sake of soloists, across the board.”
The first step in the process is pushing the next generation of female emcees through SLAMjamz (http://www.slamjamz.com), Chuck’s independent record label.
The label promotes the all-female Hip-Hop collective Crew Grrl Order.
The 3 member group is currently completing their sophomore album, which features a pioneer and legend MC Lyte on the first single “All Bets Are Off.”
Even in his eagerness to help, Chuck D remains aware that any movement for females in Hip-Hop should be helmed by women themselves.
And, the celebrated front man is optimistic of his group’s potential to reach the women Hip-Hop music currently does not speak to or for.
“I’m putting [in] my all being the fact that women involvement should spearhead a ‘SHE Movement’ in the genre. And somehow I think there’s room for many more.”
Crew Grrl Order’s sophomore album All Bets Are Off is scheduled for release during national Women’s Month in March 2009.
