by Mar°a B. Del R°o
Daily Lobo
The Women's Resource Center is kicking off its film series tomorrow with "Nobody Knows My Name," an in-depth documentary on women in hip-hop.
The film highlights the triumphs of women in hip-hop and discusses the barriers they encounter in the scene.
Through interviews with talented women that have a deep connection to the scene and have been a part of it for many years, the film confronts issues concerning the hip-hop community at large.
It's like looking at a roster of superheroes. Asia One found her calling in the hip-hop community, but says female hip-hop performers are typically few and far between. Lisa was once involved in the scene, but now participates by raising a family and supporting her husband in his endeavor as an aspiring emcee. DJ Symphony is the only female member of the Beat Junkies. T-Love is an ex-gang member who has been signed to a record contract. Medusa, a household name in the hip-hop community, is successful in the underground scene in LA.
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The film sends the message that hip-hop is marginalized from mainstream music, which focuses only on rhyming and not the other aspects of the art, like dancing, popping, graffiti and the DJ.
"Nobody Knows My Name" also points out that hip-hop fashion and accessible music are popular in mainstream society because they are highly marketable components of hip-hop.
The women in the film point say the hip-hop industry excludes women - judging males by their abilities and skills and judging women by their looks.
Medusa, a long time emcee, describes how women are made to believe they have to degrade themselves to get noticed.
"The only way to get attention is to shake your ass in someone's face," she says. "I've even seen it in young adults at clubs."
DJ Symphony says the other members of the Beat Junkies treat her like a little sister.
"It's harder to get respect from males," she says.
But Medusa sees women as central to hip-hop and foremothers like Queen Latifah and MC Lyte have always focused on portraying women positively through music.
Summer Little, program resource coordinator of the Women's Resource Center, and Sandrea Gonzales, director of the WRC, put the film series together every semester. Little said the films are chosen based on feedback from students who are generally interested in "current events focusing on international women's issues, issues involving women of color and poor women."
The goal of the WRC is to provide the UNM community the opportunity to learn about particular women's issues from all over the world.
Andrea Mays, graduate student staff writer for the WRC, quoted Malcolm X.
"'You can determine the condition of a society by the condition of its women and children,'" she said. "A lot of the issues in the WRC film library are issues that are related to women internationally."
"Nobody Knows My Name" will show tomorrow at noon at the WRC. For more information on the film series call 277 3716 or e-mail women@unm.edu.
