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As hip-hop prepares to turn 50 this summer, the Brooklyn Academy of Music is celebrating the culture’s wordsmiths with an educational series in April.
The program, “Word. Sound. Power. 2023: WORD—The New Storytellers,” will feature a variety of local artists, including Dahlak Brathwaite, Silent Knight and members of The Anomolies, in performances at the end of the month.
“We’re really trying to give some homage to the emcee,” said Amin Lee, BAM’s education manager. He hopes the program conveys the idea that hip-hop is more than just mainstream rap, but also an entire culture that at its foundation is about the written word, and the power of poetry and storytelling.
“To reach 50 years, it couldn’t have been just about the popular parts of it,” Lee said. “To reach 50 years, it was really about the true essence and spirit of it, individuals that it touched worldwide.”
But historically, some individuals weren’t always heard, which is why it makes sense that two members of The Anomolies are set to participate. In the ‘90s, the all-female collective of emcees, DJs, B-girls, producers and visual artists made waves in the underground hip-hop scene. More recently the group has expanded its membership and aims, forming what it calls a “gender justice collective.”
The collective formed after the founders kept bumping into each other at hip-hop events, members Helixx C. Armageddon and Pri the Honeydark said.
“We considered ourselves to be anomalies in the spaces that we were inhabiting, which is how the name came about,” Armageddon said. “There are definitely people here that look like us in these spaces, but we’re definitely not the majority.”
“Women existed in the scene but weren’t represented,” Pri the Honeydark adds.
“When we went to events, there weren’t a lot of us on stage or being asked to do shows,” she said. “It was primarily a male-dominated thing. But we were still there at open mics and stuff.”
The two became closely associated after Pri the Honeydark stepped in to perform with Armageddon when another performer didn’t show up for a gig. Armageddon introduced Pri the Honeydark to the rest of the collective in 1996.
“From that point on, I just had the feeling of community and having everyone around you into what you were doing,” Pri the Honeydark said. “At that time there weren’t really a lot of people who represented us. So to have all elements of hip-hop in one crew, and have the support of each other on all aspects – personal, business and music – it was an amazing thing to me.”
Both artists say they’re pleasantly surprised to see a plethora of women rappers now gaining mainstream success. “Not only are more women being given opportunities,” Pri the Honeydark said, “but also the women are diverse in terms of content, artistry and skill.
“You have this woman who is rhyming about this, or this woman who looks this way,” she said. “But then you also have this woman who’s coming in from the street, and this woman who has a ‘90s flair.”
Armageddon noted that throughout much of rap history, women often were token members of rap crews, like Lauryn Hill, Eve and Lil Kim. “What I love about this era is that all of that is being turned on its head,” she said. “There should be room for everyone. It shouldn’t just be one or only a handful get a chance to have this experience.”
Both performers are excited to be part of “The New Storytellers” program, a theatrical hip-hop performance showcasing the visual aesthetics of the culture as it hits 50. Armageddon says she’s ecstatic to see the genre and those that love it grow old together.
“It’s been something that’s been stated to me over time, that [hip-hop] is just something people do during their youth,” she said. “I would always look at other genres of music and ask myself, why does hip-hop have these limitations that other genres don’t have? We look at rock ‘n’ roll artists, and they’re still doing big concerts, they’re still touring. I want to see hip-hop have that life span that all the other genres have.”
Having the opportunity to be on stage to represent the totality of the hip-hop experience from the ‘90s to today is pure magic, she said.
“I love representation,” Armageddon said. “So the idea that we get a chance to perform and not just represent for hip-hop, but represent for anything that deviates from the norm, represent for all the underground artists that ever existed, that may never be household names – that in some households, they are household names.”
Pri the Honeydark says she’s never performed in a theatrical setting like BAM, and it’s “an honor” to step for this event.
“They’re focusing on lyricism and spoken word,” she said, “and there are youths who are going to come and see this. So for me, since I’m big on youth, to give the youth the opportunity to see what this is from a broader perspective, versus what they may only see out there in the world, this is extremely important.”
“Word. Sound. Power. 2023: WORD—The New Storytellers,” runs April 21 through 28 at BAM.
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