Where My Ladies of Hip Hop at? She’s So Fresh III!

Big Tara of Anomolies showcasing one of the core elements og Hip-Hop

We all know that feeling you get when you’re going to a new show with people you’ve never seen perform before right? You get to see some new ish, with a new crowd; and if you’re lucky your mind is a relatively blank canvas. I firmly believe in being biased towards all of my friends performances. They can do no wrong. They are brilliant. LOVE. I’m sure this has tainted my personal review over the years of shows that I find to be dope. So to be able to go into a show full of dope emcees and no previous bias to sway me is exciting. I don’t know what I’m going to get; I don’t know how I’ll react.

So tell me you’re with me when I talk about that feeling of excitement you get when you walk into a dark room usually underground, with strobing lights in primary colors- the energy is good, the crowd is excited and down to earth, people are grinning ear to ear. It’s a moment when you can tell off the bat just based on the energy in the room if its going to be an amazing night or a frustrating night. If the artists and performers come with it and the crowd is hype-you are in for an amazing show. If you have a wack crowd it affects the performers and you as a part of the crowd and the show suffers. Luckily for me I was thirsty. I haven’t been to a dope show in years. I was going to be pumped regardless. It was the best idea for a birthday: A night of performing with friends you’ve rocked with for 15 years, invitations to a few of your closest friends and a set of new people to infuse the birthday emcee with some of that new new, and you have a recipe for success. She’s So Fresh showcases are produced by Bless Roxwell of J.A.G. Music and Media, last Thursday hosted by the hilarious TastyKeish was it’s third installment. The PR for the event was held down by Miss Shani of Stilettos and Sounds. How’s that for an all star Female Cast?

Think about it. And what could hip hop heads love more than an all female night that also happened to commemorate an amazing lyricist who’s just part of an insanely talented crew; rocking for some, that highly anticipated feel of a reunion set. Anomolies is a beloved fierce group that some in the crowd shared with me they haven’t been able to see perform in 10 of the 15 years they’ve been rocking together. Imagine those people’s excitement! Anomolies is a family; they don’t run around the world performing every night to adoring fans as a group to prove it to anyone. So this was an opportunity, a moment in time, to relish. Family is building and supporting each other, loving unconditionally, and being each other’s backbone and motivation to make it in a world full of hate. Anomolies is a certified Hate Free Zone.

So we have a formula for success- five dope ass artists who love each other, love what they do and love to perform. But- it gets better. They’re all FEMALES. In a community where women are often expected to be eye candy, background vocalists, girlfriends of emcees, and, well- let’s be real. Groupies. Yeah, I said it. I’ve been a hardcore fan of hip hop since High school. And I can count on one hand the number of dope female emcees I used to see rocking it up there with Source of Labor, Abstract Rude, Silent Lamb’s Project, Mikah 9, Living Legends etc..

Names like Beyond Reality, Bahamadia, Piece of Sol, were names sprinkled sparingly throughout the events  I attended in High School. And anytime a female emcee got onstage it made my soul soar. I mean, I know females are just as dope if not doper than their male counterparts. Unfortunately they’re not always invited to exhibit this. I would compare seeing the Anomolies set to seeing Jurassic Five perform back around 2000. Perfect synchronization, Plenty of Energy, Insane flows, And so much love and respect shown to each other onstage. I might be relatively naïve to think that a group that has a perfect cadence both of and on stage is something to marvel at. But I grew up watching some truly amazing emcees perform awful shows with no choreography and terrible onstage chemistry. After all hip hop is only “Two Turntables and a microphone!” when it comes to performing right?

A lot of people leave the magic back home in the studio, getting onstage with no live rehearsals and no prep. I’ve seen cats meet up at shows after having not even held a conversation in weeks and get up onstage together to do songs they wrote months before. The love is still there but that’s not DOPE. All this to say that Anomolies killed it. I mean KILLED THE SHOW!

And that’s not  to throw shade on opening acts either. I walked back in from talking upstairs just as Dante took the stage to hype some cuts off her new mixtape, looking too pretty to be as hard as she is. But it works for her. Her set was great, she is definitely a skilled and confident lyricist, and I definitely got hype as I realized that in addition to the anticipation for the Anomolies, every other female solo or group was going to hold their own.

The young ladies of GNU-AtLas, Likwuid, & Kween Kash, infused raw talent, with cheeky sex appeal, arts and drama for a crazy electric insanely energetic set

Then all the way from Montreal repping Jamaica, True Daley serenaded and healed us all with her profound stories and personal narratives singing and rhyming straight up opening her soul and it was truly beautiful.

Co-Planner of the event Bless Roxwell also gave us a little taste of her magic, and I have to say since I’d cheated a little before the show and caught a few of her tracks online that I was thrilled when she grabbed the mic. There’s something to say for knowing someone’s going to be dope before they open their mouth! She had the sweetest personality perhaps of every performer that night, shy and timid until the track went and then of course- she ripped it.

In between sets Tasty Keish let the humor loose, wowing the crowd with her comedic genius and endless degrees of hilarity that were too off kilter to be staged.

By the time the main act hit the floor I was already in heaven. Aside from a few flubs which the crowd and performers laughed off good naturedly, the sets were perfect. Invincible of Anomolies took advantage of this awesome venue and the fact that it was her birthday to raise money for charity. While Kuttin Kandy set up, Invincible too k the stage to break down the charities you could give to:

Detroit Summer,who leads youth led media arts projects. Detroit Summer is a multi-racial, inter-generational collective in Detroit, working to transform ourselves and our communities by confronting the problems we face with creativity and critical thinking.

Palestine Education Project,which provides resources for learning about the Palestinian struggle while developing ways to articulate and address all of our connections to colonialism, racism and militarism.

and Mobile Homecoming, two black queer women collecting and amplifying the social organizing herstories of black women who have been refusing the limits of heteronormativity and opening the world up by being themselves from the 1980’s and before.

These three causes are all near and dear to Invincible’s heart but should hold a deep resonance within any and everyone in the hip hop community. Even if you missed the show you can still check their links above and you guessed it! Donate! Let’s show them some love for all they do.

Okay so the main event: Kuttin Kandy on the 1s and 2s. Helixx Armageddon, Invincible, Pri the Honey Dark, on the mics, Big Tara Breaking and Rockin the Mic. Are you jealous yet? Cause you should be.  These women represent all points of hip hop. All we needed was someone tagging up the wall behind them as they performed…but then I probably would have died, gone to heaven and not been able to share with you what you missed. So. That’s what you missed!

Shame on you. I got a chance to sit down with the Ladies from Anomolies and Dante as well. You can check our conversations here:

Sitting Down with the Ladies of “She’s So Fresh III”

Posted by:

Moni'ca Brown