It’s bigger than Hip-Hop!*
Für uns heißt das:
Hip-Hop ist einerseits der Ort, wo Beats und Rhymes und MCs und Publikum zusammentreffen und eine gute Zeit haben.
Aber Hip-Hop ist auch Selbstermächtigung und Emanzipation aus erlebten Unterdrückungsverhältnissen** in Texten, Worten, Flows. HipHop-Künstler*innen und ihr Publikum haben sich überall auf der Welt diese Selbstermächtigungen aus unterschiedlichen Positionen angeeignet.
Es sind vor allem “female rap, hiphop feminism, grrrls who rap, women in hiphop…”***, die Hip-Hop zu unserem Raum nachen. Mit ihren Worten und Flows benennen sie die Verflochtenheit von Unterdrückungsverhältnissen und erfinden Handlungsmöglichkeiten, die über diese hinausweisen.
In diesem Sinne ist das Bigger than-Festival bigger than Hip-Hop. Es ist ein feministischer Battleground mit Spaß am Hip-Hop und ein Dancefloor mit Spaß am Feminismus.
It’s bigger than Hip-Hop!*
For us this means:
Hip-Hop, being a space or scene where Beats, Rhymes, MCs and the audience come together, and offer different possibilities of enjoying and appreciating a good time with one another.
At the same time Hip-Hop also represents self-empowerment and emancipation from systems of oppression through lyrics, flows and music. Hip-Hop artists and their audience all over the world have achieved their own form of self-empowerment using many different means.
For us and for this festival, the focus lies on “female rap, hiphop feminism, grrrls who rap, women in hiphop…”***, who by their words and flows, name the entwined complexity of systems of oppression and create opportunities to go further and beyond.
In this sense, the Bigger than…! Festival is bigger than Hip-Hop:
It is supposed to be a feminist battleground which enjoys Hip-Hop and a dancefloor which enjoys feminism.
* Zitat von Dead Prez, unter anderem von Erykah Badu aufgegriffen und weitergeschrieben
** Rassismus, Armut, Sexismus, Ausgrenzung, (Neo-)Kolonialismus, Patriarchat, White Supremacy, Homophobie, you name it
*** http://www.noboysbutrap.org/blog/
bigger than...! 
But dead prez is infamous for being sexist and homophobic while fighting racism and white supremacy… so is that a GOOD thing for women??
Sexism and homophobia are not good things for anyone. Naming a festival ‘bigger than’ does not imply that Dead Prez’ political stance is in any way spin doctor for what the fest is about.
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yeah, but actually thats a pity that people who are opressed by one aspect of power are in the same time opressive by another aspect – but its not about this special artist, right? – rather about re-writing the history with a feminist glance on whats going on in hip hop and giving new meanings to the same old slogans but now in another way…maybe?
is that not how oppression works? when the oppressed accept their own oppression by defining their freedoms by what the oppressors will allow them to have? i am not a supporter of reclaiming. that’s like if someone called me a n§gga, i just reclaim it by calling myself a n§gga – but it does not end the misuse of the word, nor free me from the abuse.
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@shocked: I would agree, but the festival description above actually give credit to Dead Pres (and Erika B. when her song was redo of original): * Zitat von Dead Prez, unter anderem von Erykah Badu aufgegriffen und weitergeschrieben…* It say that festival is spin off of DPs original idea. Why can woman quote not be for title of festival? Why a title that ignores sexism and homophobia? Is because they so famous for fighting white power? It just like people who support Che cause he against America, but still anti homo.
One of Hip Hop’s Most finest potentials is to communicate in sense of communion, which means all my relations in a way that we think together about us as universal beings rather than traditional ones. From this point every form of expression could be taken as a present to help us realize who we are when we say what we say. When something is “Bigger than…” maybe it just “is”. If we could be precise like a child, we could transform the word’s and phrases into their essences and get a feeling and understanding about what “One Love” really is. No one is in possession of anything. The word’s nature is freedom. If this Law of nature comes free it has the power not only to integrate but to change those disbalancing tendencies in a new way that focusses on the aspects “for” something completely new, which maybe is pure ancient, rather than “against” old frustrations and constraints. “…Kids, if you got hurt from the tackle, / come to our crib, we take care of you after the battle.” It’s a pity I could not visit your festival. Peacen, One Love, Hummingbird…
es ist so typisch das wir nicht mal eine Frauen veranstaltung haben konnen ohne manner fragen zu mussen ob offen oder subversiv, das ist Frauenfeindlichkeit. Es ware schon gewesen wenn wir einen Namen zusammen gefunden hatten was fur die muhe/leistung der Frauen in der Hip Hop welt steht , und es gibt zahlreiche beispiele davon.
We all are human, we all have a longing for to be seen. If we realise ourself, we could come together as one, women and men. Of course, to take a position is necessary to gain clearness and use our potency. Everyone shoulders her and his own backpack with the stuff she and he needs. For me personally the title “Bigger than…” leaves open spaces to talk, to learn, to grow and to love, “ladies” as well as “fellas”. Maybe that is what Hip Hop essentially is all about, when it started at New York’s Sedgwick Avenue – check the flyer: https://biggerthanfest.wordpress.com/about/ It is good to celebrate and to be thankful for our achievements in Hip Hop culture to beware the human soul, exaggeration and anxiety are redundant.