"I Got Weight on my Shoulders in the Form of this Beat”: Exploring Black Queer Feminist Beat Pedagogy as Queer of Color Praxis

• In Event: The Power of Critical Imagination: Feminist and Queer Engagements with Art as Social Justice

Abstract

Black Queer feminist beatmaking explores the potential of a Black queer feminist praxis and critique through beatmaking and mixing that re-works hip-hop studies and hip-hop feminism, re-centering Black female and queer voices within hip-hop. To engender this form of pedagogy, this paper will provide a hip-hop feminist response to queer and Black girl body politics, identity, love and survival.This exploration and practice of Black Queer feminist beatmaking and performance is an attempt to conceptualize nuanced negotiations made as a Black queer woman hip-hop artist, critic and consumer, recalibrating Black female and queer voices through queer of color praxis.

Presenter

• Blair Ebony Smith, Syracuse University