Kathleen Hanna, Sara Marcus, Katy Otto, and Beth Warshaw-Duncan discuss identity politics

Don’t Need You—The Herstory of Riot Grrrl Part 3

A film by Kerri Koch

Don’t Need You—The Herstory of Riot Grrrl Part 2

A film by Kerri Koch

Don’t Need You—The Herstory of Riot Grrrl Part 1

A film by Kerri Koch

Shampoo

Girl power

Girl power is not about feminism but about consumerism in a capitalist society.

—

Rachel Henry Currans-Sheehan

“From Madonna to Lilith and Back Again”

Queen Latifah

U.N.I.T.Y.

Black Reign, 1993

Uh, U.N.I.T.Y., U.N.I.T.Y. that’s a unity
U.N.I.T.Y., love a black man from infinity to infinity
(Who you calling a bitch?)
U.N.I.T.Y., U.N.I.T.Y. that’s a unity (You gotta let him know)
(You go, come on here we go)
U.N.I.T.Y., Love a black woman from (You got to let him know)
infinity to infinity (You ain’t a bitch or a ho)
U.N.I.T.Y., U.N.I.T.Y. that’s a unity (You gotta let him know)
(You go, come on here we go)
U.N.I.T.Y., Love a black man from (You got to let him know)
infinity to infinity (You ain’t a bitch or a ho)

Instinct leads me to another flow
Everytime I hear a brother call a girl a bitch or a ho
Trying to make a sister feel low
You know all of that gots to go
Now everybody knows there’s exceptions to this rule
Now don’t be getting mad, when we playing, it’s cool
But don’t you be calling out my name
I bring wrath to those who disrespect me like a dame
That’s why I’m talking, one day I was walking down the block
I had my cutoff shorts on right cause it was crazy hot
I walked past these dudes when they passed me
One of ‘em felt my booty, he was nasty
I turned around red, somebody was catching the wrath
Then the little one said (Yeah me bitch) and laughed
Since he was with his boys he tried to break fly
Huh, I punched him dead in his eye and said “Who you calling a bitch?”

(Here we go)
U.N.I.T.Y., U.N.I.T.Y. that’s a unity (You gotta let him know)
(You go, come on here we go)
U.N.I.T.Y., Love a black woman from (You got to let him know)
infinity to infinity (You ain’t a bitch or a ho)
(Here we go)
U.N.I.T.Y., U.N.I.T.Y. that’s a unity (You gotta let him know)
(You go, come on here we go)
U.N.I.T.Y., Love a black man from (You got to let him know)
infinity to infinity (You ain’t a bitch or a ho)

I hit the bottom, ain’t nowhere else to go but up
Bad days at work, if you an attitude then you were rough
And take it out on me but that’s about enough
You put your hands on me again I’ll put your ass in handcuffs
I guess I fell so deep in love I grew dependency
I was too blind to see just how it was affecting me
All I knew was you, you was all the man I had
And I was scared to let you go, even though you treated me bad
But I don’t want my kids to see me getting beat down
By daddy smacking mommy all around
You say I’m nothing without ya, but I’m nothing with ya
A man don’t really love you if he hits ya
This is my notice to the door, I’m not taking it no more
I’m not your personal whore, that’s not what I’m here for
And nothing good gonna come to ya til you do right by me
Brother you ain’t ?sick? (Who you calling a bitch?)

(Here we go)
U.N.I.T.Y., U.N.I.T.Y. that’s a unity (You gotta let him know)
(You go, come on here we go)
U.N.I.T.Y., Love a black woman from (You got to let him know)
infinity to infinity (You ain’t a bitch or a ho)
(Here we go)
U.N.I.T.Y., U.N.I.T.Y. that’s a unity (You gotta let him know)
(You go, come on here we go)
U.N.I.T.Y., Love a black man from (You got to let him know)
infinity to infinity (You ain’t a bitch or a ho)

What’s going on in your mind is what I ask ya
But like Yo-Yo, you don’t hear me though
You wear a rag around your head and you
Call yourself a “Gangsta Bitch” now that you saw Apache’s video
I saw you wilding, acting like a fool
I peeped you out the window jumping girls after school
But where did all of this come from?
A minute ago, you was a nerd and nobody ever heard of ya
Now you a wannabe…hard
You barely know your ABC’s, please
There’s plenty of people out there with triggers ready to pull it
Why you trying to jump in front of the bullet (Young lady)
Uh, and real bad girls are the silent type
Ain’t none of this work getting your face sliced
Cause that’s what happened to your homegirl, right? Bucking with nobody
She got to wear that for life (Who you calling a bitch?)

(Here we go)
U.N.I.T.Y., U.N.I.T.Y. that’s a unity (You gotta let him know)
(You go, come on here we go)
U.N.I.T.Y., Love a black woman from (You got to let him know)
infinity to infinity (You ain’t a bitch or a ho)
(Here we go)
U.N.I.T.Y., U.N.I.T.Y. that’s a unity (You gotta let him know)
(You go, come on here we go)
U.N.I.T.Y., Love a black man from (You must let him know)
infinity to infinity (You ain’t a bitch or a ho) 

Queen Latifah

Ladies First

All Hail the Queen, 1989

[Queen Latifah]
The ladies will kick it, the rhyme that is wicked
Those that don’t know how to be pros get evicted
A woman can bear you, break you, take you
Now it’s time to rhyme, can you relate to
A sister dope enough to make you holler and scream

[Monie Love]
Ayo, let me take it from here, Queen…
Excuse me but I think I’m about do
To get into precisely what I am about to do
I’m conversating to the folks that have no whatsoever clue
So listen very carefully as I break it down for you
Merrily merrily merrily merrily hyper happy overjoyed
Pleased with all the beats and rhymes my sisters have employed
Slick and smooth throwing down the sound totally a yes
Let me state the position: Ladies first, yes? (Yes)

(Yeah, there’s going to be some changes in here)

[Monie Love]
Believe me when I say being a woman is great, you see
I know all the fellas out there will agree with me
Not for being one but for being with one
Because when it’s time for loving it’s the woman that gets some
Strong, stepping, strutting, moving on
Rhyming, cutting, and not forgetting
We are the ones that give birth
To the new generation of prophets because it’s Ladies First

[Queen Latifah]
I break into a lyrical freestyle
Grab the mic, look into the crowd and see smiles
Cause they see a woman standing up on her own two
Sloppy slouching is something I won’t do
Some think that we can’t flow (can’t flow)
Stereotypes, they got to go (got to go)
I’m a mess around and flip the scene into reverse
(With what?) With a little touch of “Ladies First”

Who said the ladies couldn’t make it, you must be blind
If you don’t believe, well here, listen to this rhyme
Ladies first, there’s no time to rehearse
I’m divine and my mind expands throughout the universe
A female rapper with the message to send the
Queen Latifah is a perfect specimen

[Monie Love]
My sister, can I get some?

[Queen Latifah]
Sure, Monie Love, grab the mic and get dumb

[Monie Lovie]
Yo, praise me not for simply being what I am
Born in L-O-N-D-O-N and sound American
You dig exactly where I’m coming from
You want righteous rhyming, Imma give you some
To enable you to aid yourself and get paid
And the material that has no meaning I wish to slay
Pay me every bit of your attention
Like mother, like daughter, I would also like to mention
I wish for you to bring me to, bring me to the rhythm
Of which is now systematically given
Desperately stressing I’m the daughter of a sister
Who’s the mother of a brother who’s the brother of another
Plus one more; all four
Have a job to do, we doing it
Respect due, to the mother who’s the root of it
And next up is me, the M-O-N-I-E L-O-V-E 
And I’m first cause I’m a L-A-D-I-E

[Queen Latifah]
Contact and in fact, the style, it gets harder
Cooling on the scene with my European partner
Laying down track after track, waiting for the climax
When I get there, that’s when I tax
The next man, or the next woman
It doesn’t make a difference, keep the competition coming
And I’ll recite the chapter in verse
The title of this recital is “Ladies First”