July 30, 2005

Lynne D Johnston is a Manager at Vibe and spin magazine. her blog a day in teh life covers hip-hop culture froma feminist perspective.

Okay the bad news, I arrived late, because a volunteer, didn't show. So here is a summary of what i did hear, followed by a short Q and A with Lynne following her presentation.

During the presentation

nota bene: The Q's in this section come from various audience members

Q: kids listening to offensive music watching nelly videos. (Girls and boys what are they learning - volence and sexual objectification etc..)

There meme about the effect of raps on kids etc.. and Lynne says maybe this is something I should write about, but also, relying on enetertainment sources to raise our kids is not something that parents whatever their culture or their belief system should be doing.(paraphrase)

A: I don't think rap music should be banned but these people ( puffy jay-z) the fat that they are still singing thses kinds of songs, I mean come on you;re grown now..

But they won't change because then the market wouldn't push them, I mean forget hip hop. Have you seen jessica simpsons video for dukes of hazard.

Q: Do you mostly critique mainstream Hip-hop or do you also feature more progressive rappers?

A: I like to feature positive stuff, Artists like Jean Grae and Mos def are doing good work, and I write about it.

Q: Whata re some good sources for progressive Hip-Hop

A: Positive rap stuff.... okayplayer.com, they are doing jean graes new website and feature a lot of stuff like mos def etc.

Q:can blogs change that?

A: Yes, cuz when I hear good music I link to it. I thought when I started that the web would be the breaking ground for all these positive artists but the mainstream has stepped in.

Q: Is there a top 100 for alternative music sources.

A: There are several good mp3 blogs, such as the one by Oliver Wang. soul-sides.com. He's like a crate-digger he diitizes a lot of stuff that he finds. also hiphopmusic.com a gentleman who has a radio station on wpbr.com in new york.

Q: Can you tell us whats in your mp3 player?

Lynne D's play-list:

r kelly
faith evans
slum village
elephant man
wutang clan
ty tribett
miles davis

Personal Interview notes:
Questions here are all me, or Rene who was vblogging the whole thing.

Q: can you summarize the main themes of your presentation?

A: I wanted to address what my blog covered, the notion of being a feminsist hip-hop blogger is kind of an oxymoron when it (mainstream rap) is so sexist and mysoginistic.Basically what I said is that I am a humanist. Hip-hopp is what I grew up, so it's am. I have a hip hop sensibility and I think no matter how old I get I will still be hip hop and I will pay attention. I am also an educator and I have a responsability to educate the other (primarily male) writers in my community on feminist issues in hip-hop culture.

Q: has this presentation been a good experience?

A: Yes definitely. To be honest I didn't think anyone would be in here, because there was so much other stuff going on. And I was supposed to have a panel but those people couldn't make it, and I got great feedback people had a lot to say.

Q: It seemed that there were three different lines of inquiry feminists, confused/desperate parents, and hiphoppers who wanted to learn about hiphop. Could you respond to those categories?

A: I didn't think I could, but it looks like I did...

Q: How long have you been writing your blog

A: I started in July 2001. So I Am 4 years old.

Q: Do you have problems with being pigeon-holed?

A: At times yes. Since I write about other issues, still Vibe labels my blog "of beats rhymes and feminism."

tags: Blogher

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