30 Day Writing Challenge

Day Six: Someone Who Fascinates You (and why)

An individual who fascinates me is Vida Starr, a young sista on the come up whose work is changing the perception of hip-hop heads and freethinkers of color. Vida is currently a producer/host with the site Reality Is Real, geared towards keeping those who love hip-hop informed of news relevant to the genre.

Initially, I became familiar with Vida in 2013, as we were both members of various progressive groups online. After listening and calling into ‘On Blast’, one of her radio shows on Blogtalk radio, I gained an appreciation of Vida’s tenacity. From that time, my admiration of and fascination of Vida has grown. As a genre hip-hop is frequently maligned, particularly for its’ depiction of African-American women. In light of this an African-American woman who openly supports it can risk conflict with those who see no redeeming value in the genre. But I’ve got to give it to Vida: when she speaks on hip-hop she is coming from a place of knowledge and she goes hard for what she loves.

Many critics of hip-hop-myself included- are guilty of having and pushing a narrow view, only focusing on the excesses and vulgarity of corporate hip-hop artists. In reading and listening to articles from the team at Reality Is Real, however, I’ve discovered a side of the game I was unaware of. Because of Vida I and many others are now aware of a number of female emcees, who aren’t just nice on the mic but fight for issues that hurt women and girls, like sex trafficking. In speaking out against sexism while raising awareness of what lesser-known emcees are doing right, Vida and her colleagues have found a much-needed balance, and for that I applaud her.