Photograph Paula Morales

Female MCs are shaking up South Americas

macho rap culture. Claire Rigby meets the
hip-hop collective taking feminism to the
streets from Quito to the Bronx

Rebeca Lane from

Guatemala City: Hip-hop
gives young people ways
of organising beyond
armed conflict, beyond
military or gang violence
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Roja was 16 when she had her hip-hop epiphany. I was already rapping, says Roja, the MC
from Quito, Ecuador, whose real name is Mariela Salgado. I was part of a Quito crew, Zantalianza, where Id always felt included. Id been
writing poetry since I was 13, so when I found
hip-hop, it felt perfect. But as she watched the
improvisation battles unfold, it dawned on her
that there wasnt a single woman involved.
I started to register some of the rhymes
they were trading: insults based on having
sex with the opponents mother, sister, aunt;
or calling each other by the names of womens
sexual organs. It was bizarre: they were managing to totally objectify women, and at the
same time make us invisible. Roja, now 28,
is one half of the female
hip-hop duo Rima Roja
en Venus. When you
start out as a rap freestyler, the rst thing that
happens is they try to
shut you up, she says.
Guatemala City rapper Rebeca Lane has
a similar experience
of the Latin American hip-hop scene. In her
2012 song Bandera Negra (Black Flag) she
takes a swipe at Latino MCs who use misogynist and homophobic language to insult one
another, or who make puerile boasts about
their huevos (eggs, meaning balls): Ive got
a million eggs in each ovary. That doesnt make
me any more of a woman, or you less of a man,
raps Lane. The level of gender violence in
freestyle rhyming battles, and in mainstream
rap, can be horric, she adds.
Lane and Roja are part of a new generation
of Latin American female MCs whose lyrics
touch on some of the issues facing the regions
women and celebrate the resilience and

We have to leave
sheer huevos it takes to exist as
styles ranging from the melodic
our comfort zones
a woman at all. The issues in quesbeauty of Chiles Dania Neko to
and work together:
tion include a deep-rooted lack
the harsh, guttural flow of the
Mexican MC
of equality; inadequate access to
Colombian MC Jana. KutipaAudry Funk
healthcare, sex education, contrakuy, a song by Perus Sipas Crew,
ception and abortion; human trafa trio of MCs from Pachacmac,
cking; domestic and public violence, rape and near Lima, is one of the most arresting tracks,
femicide. In Brazil, 15 women are killed each with Quechua words peppering lyrics underday, according to President Dilma Rousse. In pinned by a hypnotic charango beat.
Argentina, the death in May of Chiara Pez,
Following in the footsteps of pioneers like
a pregnant 14-year-old murdered by her boy- Argentinas Actitud Mara Marta, a socially
friend, allegedly with the help of his mother conscious hip-hop group formed in the 90s,
and stepfather, sparked a nationwide protest this emerging generation of female MCs is
movement, #NiUnaMenos (not one less), in less interested in fame and fortune than it
which thousands took to the streets.
is in empowerment, collaboration and educaWe all come from a very machista cul- tion. Im not aspiring to be a rap star, says
ture, says the Mexican Roja. Although theres no shortage of highly
MC Audry Funk, who commercialised versions of the genre in Latin
together with Roja and America, says Lane, theres also an underLane is part of the all- ground hip-hop scene and its thriving.
female, trans-LatinTake Guatemala, she says, still one of the
American collective most violent countries in the world, despite
Somos Mujeres Somos the 1996 peace agreements that ended
H i p - H o p ( We A r e the countrys 36-year, genocidal civil war.
Women, We Are Hip- Lanes aunt disappeared in 1981, one of
Hop). Funk, already 200,000 Guatemalans killed during almost
a member of a womens hip-hop collective four decades of bloodshed. Weve had peace
in Mexico, Mujeres Trabajando (Women At accords in Guatemala, says Lane, but weve
Work), met Roja in 2013, when they both per- never had any peace, or justice. The hipformed at a concert held in New York by the hop scene, she says, has played a healing role
Brooklyn hip-hop-and-tattoo crew, Hard Life for some of the postwar generation: It gives
Ink. Later that year, when Roja organised the young people ways of organising beyond
rst Somos Mujeres Somos Hip-Hop festival armed conict, beyond military or gang vioin Quito, along with Venus Castillo, the other lence. Hip-hop itself was born in a similar
half of Rima Roja en Venus, they invited Funk atmosphere, Lane notes, in the Bronx in the
to come and take part.
1970s, once the gang wars had subsided.
Since then, the collective has expanded to
For the women in Somos Mujeres Somos
include women from 10 different countries, Hip-Hop, music also offers a chance to link
and, in April, released a mixtape Latinoam- up beyond borders. The collectives memrica Unida, on Soundcloud. The compila- bers are from Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica,
tions 12 tracks pulse with attitude and skill, in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru,

We all come from

a very machista
culture we have
to focus on our
common ground

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MAGAZINE | 09.08.15 | THE OBSERVER

PHOTOGRAPH GRENDY GONZALES

LATINA RAPPERS

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LATINA RAPPERS

Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. For the mixtapes nal track, the rousing Latinoamrica
Unida, each MC or group has contributed
an eight-bar segment; and the accompanying
music video, made of clips lmed individually
and then spliced together, creates a snapshot
of a scene that spans much of the Americas. In
a skatepark in Quito, pink-haired MC Venus
spits rhymes, turning her head to show a jaguar tattooed over one ear. Late-afternoon sun
streaks across a rooftop in Puebla, Mexico, as
Audry Funk picks up the beat; and in downtown Caracas, Anarkia Ruiz climbs a statue of
Simn Bolvar to perform her part.
The group is working on plans for a second festival, to be held in Quito in early 2016.
For the accompanying
mixtape, the women
are working in long-distance collaborations this
time, in duos formed by
names drawn at random
from a hat. The method
underlines the need for
women to collaborate
in pursuit of a common
cause, says Audry Funk.
Were not interested in
excluding people, she
says. We have to be able
to work together to
leave our comfort zones
and focus on our common ground, and also on
our common problems.
And there are plenty
o f t h o s e. Fe m i c i d e
reaches frightening
levels in Latin America,
which contains half of
the 25 countries with
the highest rates internationally. In a chilling

United we stand: the

reminder of the fear of sexual
but everyone has the liberty to
women in the hip-hop
violence with which women and
think and say what they believe.
collective in 2013.
girls coexist daily, on 27 May, four
Its not the only instance in
Below, rap duo Rima
Brazilian girls from the state of
which the collective accommoRoja en Venus
Piau climbed a picturesque hill
dates diverse views. Rebeca Lane
to take a few seles, and were bruidenties as a lesbian, a feminist,
tally attacked by a fugitive criminal and four and a trans-anarchist rapper, but few of the
teenage boys. The young friends, aged 15 to 17, other women in Somos Mujeres, she says,
were raped, then bound, thrown into a can- identify overtly as feminists. Theres a stigma
yon and left for dead. Meanwhile in Paraguay, associated with the term, she says, thats para 10-year-old rape victim, now eight months ticularly powerful in Latin America: Women
pregnant at 11, has been denied an abortion are wary of using the word feminist, she says.
despite her mothers pleas.
Theres a perception that its all about manPerhaps surprisingly, despite their many hating that its about lesbians, witches and
shared values and concerns, there is a lack of locas [crazy women].
unanimity within Somos Mujeres Somos HipFunk and Roja both moved to the USA a year
Hop on the subject of ago to New York and New Jersey, respecabortion. While Audry tively. The experience of living so far from
Funk, like Rebeca Lane, home, says Roja, has been tough: I miss my
is in favour of the right to family a lot. Its been hard to adjust to being
abortion Its an aber- so far away. But professionally, she says, it
ration for a woman not has given her new avenues to explore. In
to have autonomy over Quito, we play shows almost every weekend.
her own body Roja is The New York Latino hip-hop scene is much
unequivocally against smaller than Quitos scene, and the slower
it, in all cases except for pace has given her a chance to step back and
rape. Education, includ- take a breath.
ing on contraception,
For Funk, who lives in the Bronx with her
she says, is the answer. husband, also a hip-hop MC, coming to live
But in the absence of so close to the genres legendary source after
access to effective sex more than a decade in hip-hop was an unforeducation, in situations gettable experience. Its been fascinating,
compounded by pov- she says. Ive met some incredible people in
erty, gender inequal- New York. She talks animatedly about the
ity and violence, must classic grati she has seen and hip-hop meetwomen and girls sim- ups she has been to; and yet once she started
ply pay the price with to understand the current scene, she says, she
unwanted pregnan- found herself feeling disappointed.
cies? As women, were
US hip-hop seems to have lost the social
all responsible for the role it once had, says Funk. But I heard
c h o i c e s w e m a k e, something the other day that made me laugh
says Roja. Ill always out loud, she says. Hip-hop isnt dead its
embrace the right to life, just been learning Spanish.

DANIEL CRUZ

When you start out

as a rap freestyler,
the first thing that
happens is they
try to shut you up

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