Editor’s note: This story is part of That’s My Word, KQED’s year-long exploration of Bay Area hip-hop history, with new content dropping all throughout 2023.
Much has been said about the post-Nicki Minaj tidal wave of chart-topping female rappers, but the truth is that women have been essential to hip-hop since its birth.
Fifty years ago, on August 11, 1973, DJ Kool Herc spun records at a Bronx back-to-school party that became known as the genesis of hip-hop culture. But a lesser-known detail of this origin story is that Kool Herc’s sister Cindy Campbell organized the party, and hand-drew and passed out flyers to spread the word, making her hip-hop’s first promoter.
As hip-hop entered the mainstream in the ’80s, female rappers, DJs, graffiti writers, dancers and photographers perfected their crafts, laying the foundation for a global culture that flourished in the following decades. But their stories have often gone untold. Historically, women have been pitted against each other, cut out of crucial deals and punished for speaking out about their experiences. And because of the pressure to be a ride-or-die chick, or the cool girl who can hang with the guys, many of their stories are only recently starting to emerge.
That’s why, as part of our coverage celebrating Bay Area hip-hop history, we’ve made it a priority to highlight the women who’ve helped make this region a center of originality and independence. At Dregs One’s recent History of the Bay Day Party at the Midway in San Francisco, I had the honor of moderating a panel with three of these influential women: Carla “CMG” Green of The Conscious Daughters; graffiti artist and EastSide Arts Alliance visual arts director Dime, also of the collective Few and Far Women; and D-Ray, the Thizz Nation photographer who documented the hyphy movement’s rise and later served as the West Coast editor of Ozone Magazine.