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If Women Ran Hip Hop
Aya de Leon
United StatesGALLERYCONVERSATION
EDITOR'S NOTE
If you are concerned about the general degradation and monopolization of the mainstream media and entertainment industries, you've got a few choices. You can sit around and complain. You can do nothing. Or, you can choose to respond to the problem with an upbeat, fiery, and humorous spirit. Aya de Leon's imaginative piece- showing what hip-hop might look like if women's voices were more prominent-does just that. And it's just one example of the positive attitude that characterizes so many young women today.
If women ran hip hop
the beats and rhymes would be just as dope,
but there would never be a bad vibe when you walked in the place
and the clubs would be beautiful and smell good
and the music would never be too loud

but there would be free earplugs available anyway
and venues would have skylights and phat patios
and shows would run all day not just late at night
cuz If women ran hip hop we would have nothing to be ashamed of
and there would be an African marketplace
with big shrines to Oya
Yoruba deity of the female warrior and entrepreneur
and women would sell and barter and prosper
If women ran hip hop
there would never be shootings
cuz there would be onsite conflict mediators
to help you work through all that negativity and hostility
and there would also be free condoms and dental dams
in pretty baskets throughout the place
as well as counselors to help you make the decision:
do I really want to have sex with him or her?
and there would be safe, reliable, low-cost 24-hour transportation home
and every venue would have on-site quality child care
where kids could sleep while grown folks danced
and all shows would be all ages cause the economy of hip hop wouldn't
revolve around the sale of
alcohol
If women ran hip hop
same gender-loving and transgender emcees
would be proportionally represented
and get mad love from everybody
and females would dress sexy if we wanted to celebrate
our bodies
but it wouldn't be that important because
everyone would be paying attention to our minds,
anyway
If women ran hip hop
men would be relieved because it's so draining
to keep up that front of toughness and power and
control 24-7
If women ran hip hop
the only folks dancing in cages would be dogs and cats
from the local animal shelter
excited about getting adopted by pet lovers in the crowd
If women ran hip hop
there would be social workers available to refer gangsta
rappers
to 21-day detox programs where they could get clean
and sober
from violence and misogyny
but best of all, if women ran hip hop
we would have the dopest female emcees ever
because all the young women afraid to bust
would unleash their brilliance on the world
cause it's the time for the reclaiming of hip hop.
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Positive Attitude
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Sanja
Latest Comment
I don’t think that this generation of women is any more positive than our mothers’ or our grandmothers’. Contemplating my generation of women in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, I am actually of the opinion that our generation of women...
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