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the foundation, july 21 2009

wassup y’all – writing live from 5E Gallery. beautiful space full of art, artists and folks who appreciate women’s hip-hop. as usual, it is powerful to see all the men in the house to support. detroit is really showing what it can look like to have a lively, supported women’s hip-hop movement.

they just shouted out the allied media conference! i just had dinner with a bunch of AMC folks – delicious. we also got these short, cheap, amazing massages. this mattered cuz i did 2.5 days of ussf facilittion AFTER the amc!

ok first on the stage is skim, from l.a. – this woman is an amazing lyricist with a beautiful singing voice. she was also incredibly kind to my sister and nephew, so i am a fan of her as a person as well as as an artist. she works with AIM (Alternative Innovation Models) in l.a., doing transformative education work with l.a. youth.

mike medow and finale are behind the bar..i may try to get a free drink out of that…

wow – this is live streaming at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/5-e-gallery so if you really want to experience it, go watch! this will just be my reflections on it 🙂

now skim freestylin to Yin’s cover of “out in the streets they call it murder” – what’s that song actually called? there is something particularly powerful for me when artists who ORGANIZE speak to revolutionary content in their music. not that i can’t get with artists who stay purely in the artistic realm…but it strikes a deeper chord for me when there is a relationship between the creation and the experience.

piper carter is our hostess, and its real special cause she is floating through the audience, so we just get to hear her voice show up when she’s being the host and then she magically appears on the stage. she was our host for the allied media conference show on saturday night which was magical – featuring starlet, 5ela, and monica blair (who started off with an a capella version of ‘everything must change’). piper got the crowd hyped with the most in-depth regional shout-out session i have ever heard…like – who is from brooklyn, like fulton and jamaica? who is from dc, like u street near howard? everyone in the crowd got shouted out!

ok this is my favorite part – invincible is about to perform! when i listen to her i have to just conclude she is the most gifted lyricist in the world in terms of depth, speed, complexity, and flow. am i biased? whatever… 🙂

crowd is shouting: “we the shape shifters…y’all wanna see the change, we gotta be the change!”

this is amazing – the band has learned three of invincible’s songs and they performing it live with her – totally shifts the songs up. live music is so fresh with a truly LIVE ass artist! yay my little lyric – i got her “open” with my “southern charms”, :)!

diana nucera and andalucia are in the house from the allied media conference – andalucia worked with prometheus radio to broadcast the AMC as it happened, and now there’s a 1-hr broadcast that encapsulates the whole event! and diana ran the whole how-to media track where folks came out with antennaes, computers, radio stations and the rest!

invincible is about to freestyle, she’s taking words from the crowds – what keeps you going? love, revolution, the underground, detroit, music, community and like 20 more words…now we on our feet receiving the blessing – brb!

whew that was delicious – the bgirls and bboys took the end of the freestyle and just flew, sailed, bounced, bopped, slipped, slid, and jitted across the floor. the bboys were from hardcore detroit, who opened and closed the opening keynote of the AMC keynote! crazy to think that the same kind of matter than makes up my bones and flesh is what they use to work a floor out.

now we have d essence, mz jones, miz korona and more comin up! i’ma pay attention, will check back in in a bit!

the show is amazing and right now its 100% females in the band and all the rappers up on stage in a massive close-out cypher. the energy is supportive, inspirational, defiant and fully taking control. you should be here.