I also witnessed the graphic mutation of hip-hop on the small screen-from brave B-boys funneling masculine aggression into skillful exorcisms of divine dance, to graceless gangsters' spiritless pursuit of expendable harem women and spendable "bling."

Music videos taught me how to grind my virgin hips like a veteran vixen. At my senior prom, the DJ played to thrill us with unabashed misogyny. Guilty sweat soaked through my expensive pastel gown as I danced to degradation with my first love. We chanted explicit rhymes that sought to simplify, hyper-sexualize and scorn Black women. Our fists pumped the air to corporate rhythms as contagious as apathy. Mainstream hip-hop was a verbally abusive lover. Break beats recurrently broke my heart. But I continued to dance.

Like many of my peers, I struggled for years to reconcile my love for my mother, for the goddesses, for the Earth, and for myself with my consumption of sexist pop culture. Ironically, it took explicit racism to wake me up. When the boys from the ‘burbs started to casually hurl the "n-word," my people once "crumped" to and tried to reclaim, I decided to take a stand. I called on the Audre Lorde within me, the June Jordan within me, the Pat Parker within me, the Maya Angelou within me, the Salt'n'Pepa within me, the MC Lyte within me - every woman poet within me - and found the strength to turn off the MTV that tried so hard to define me.

These days, I create my own media. And so "Pied Piper" is a self-induced, self-produced, and self-recorded music video. I made it without a record label, without a million dollars, without designer duds, or the digital touch-ups that make mainstream musicians seem wrinkle-, blemish-, debt- and fatigue-free.

It's just me, the sunlight, my mini DV camera and the editing software that came with my Mac. The song (from my debut spoken word CD Madivinez) is a Dear John letter to pop culture. The video is an ode to self-expression by any means necessary. I pray that whoever needs my art will find it and that my work will empower members of my audience to act with authenticity.

I write for political empowerment and spiritual evolution and although I don't quite believe in televised revolutions, I am certain that any movement for social justice will be documented and displayed - as is.

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For more information, visit www.lenellemoise.com.