Where My Girls At?!

Where My Girls At?!
This spring in ’t Gemaal op Zuid!

Representing women in Hiphop

The Historical Museum of Rotterdam put a spotlight on female Hiphop. An exhibition, performances, demonstrations and workshops show women’s influence in Hiphop. Music, lifestyle, fashion, dance and imagery within this diverse subculture are discussed. The exhibition at ’t Gemaal op Zuid and various events illustrate the history and current status of women in the Hiphop scene, both international and in perspective to Rotterdam.

Hiphop is at first sight a macho subculture, buts have women participated as early as the emergence of Hiphop in New York in the seventies. The exhibition gives an overview of female Hiphop based on five sections, each highlighting an aspect of the subculture:

FASHION AND STYLE
Rotterdam ‘street’ stylist Isis Vaandrager shows the Old and New School Hiphop styles in clothing, accessories and other style elements, including some special model sneakers collection of Rotterdam’s Hiphop icon Aruna Vermeulen. In a stop motion animation the collection is brought to life.

DANCE
The energy of ten female hip hop dancers from Rotterdam is captured by 18 year old film talent Yoji Moniz aka Brokelephant. The breakers, poppers, lockers, wackers and new style dancers each represent their own style.

MUSIC
The Female Hiphop jukebox is filled with a rich collection of music and videos, from Salt-N-Pepa to Lauryn Hill. Jee Nice (Jeannette Petri)of Anattitude Magazine presents the Hiphop Timeline, with music by female hip hop artists from 1973-2008.

IMAGES
Saskia Haex honors Queens of Graffiti in a series of screen prints with the most influential international graffiti artists. Graffiti Timeline shows tags and pieces over the years.

FILM
A series of films bring the feminine side of Hiphop alive. Besides (excerpts) from various international films by directors including Rokafella, Martha Cooper and Nika Kramer, Mike Redman directed a video especially for this exhibition. It is a compilation of  pictures of female MC’s from the Dutch Hiphop history.

‘t Gemaal is open Wed – Sat from 11 to 17 pm, admission free. Check it out!

www.gemaalopzuid.nl

———–

Where My Girls At? is a 1999 smash hit song by 702, released as the first single from their second studio album 702. The track is produced by Missy Elliott.