Feministing Jamz: Black Girl Genius Music

In November I wrote a profile about the magic that was Black Girl Genius Week, a week of events, creation, and celebration of Black girlhood. This week-long event was presented by SOLHOT (Saving Our Lives Hear Our Truths) as an anti-conference and represented an opportunity to engage in SOLHOT sessions at middle and high schools in Champaign-Urbana. But more visible was the participation in next-level SOLHOT practices, like collaborating with musical group We Levitate. Our studio session was a sacred space where we left some of ourselves and took something more important with us. When I first wrote about the event I described our musical process like this: “Using sound and lyrics we addressed patriarchy, anti-blackness, sexism, hoe shaming, violence, death, oppression, capitalism, racism, and a range of other issues that Black girls resist. We also utilized this time to embrace freedom, sisterhood, love, light, movement, resilience, and survival.”

You can listen to some of the songs here:

This music represents the proverbial clapping back and epitomizes the creative potential of Black girlhood. I am so excited to share these three tracks and open you up to envisioning new ways of practicing feminism and activism. We transformed spaces and perverted dominant narratives in our creation of music and accompanying visuals.

Here is a quick breakdown of each track:

Black Girl Genius: Something like a love song, the track was produced by Rynea Soul and honestly brought many of us face to face with vulnerability openness before we even wrote a lyric. Speaking to our nieces, our best friends, ourselves, and each other, this track documents the processes, mantras, and

SOLHOTEWF: This track was produced by Danitra Pope and is about practicing SOLHOT, and thus celebrating an unapologetic Black girlhood. You can always watch the video here

Miss Me Remixxx: This drill track is our right to be angry: about street harassment, fat shaming, hoe shaming, homophobia, misgendering, fuck boys (and girls), people who don’t text back, the scam that is higher education, and Black male misogyny. You can watch the video here.

BONUS

On her new project, Eve EP,  local FeMC T.R.U.T.H. included this Black girl genius anthem which was inspired by her participation in #BGGW!