The Fembassy

From a Male’s Perspective; Women in Hip Hop: An Interview with DJ House Shoes

By: Glennisha Morgan

People say, “It’s a man’s world.” Maybe that is true, at least in Hip Hop. Records by female emcees rarely get spun. If you have breasts and a vagina unless you’re Nicki Minaj in 2009 you’re not getting a record deal from a major label. Female emcees and supporters of them have been trying to figure out why respect has been lost for the female emcee. The Fembassy has caught up with someone who has definitely paid his dues in Hip Hop via producing and DJing .He’s released music by one of Hip Hop’s most influential producers (J Dilla) and has been crowned “Best Hip Hop DJ in Detroit” several times. DJ House Shoes took some time out to discuss why female emcees don’t get much respect, what women are doing behind the scenes in Hip Hop, some of his favorite female emcees, and why he is supporting The Foundation and 5E Gallery in Detroit. It was great getting a male’s perspective along with honest and frank opinions about women in Hip Hop. Take a look at what House Shoes had to say.

When people think of women in Hip Hop the first thing that usually comes to mind is a female emcee. You’ve been in the industry for a long time. Can you tell me within your experience in the industry what positions besides being on the mic have you seen women in?

(Tiye Phoenix)

Producers. The are some chicks with heat out here like Tiye Phoenix. She has some heat. Even in the board room like Wendy Day. Wendy Day is one of our trump cards. She’s helped mad cats get their business together. That’s key. You can be the best rapper in the world but, you  need to have somebody in your corner who is business savy.

I’m way behind on this business shit. So having somebody like Wendy Day in your corner can make all the difference. She stuck to her guns and refused to represent anything that she doesn’t believe in.

DJ Kuttin Kandi is dope. (Pauses and asks his girlfriend who are some dope females in Hip Hop). My girl is a woman in Hip Hop because she’s House Shoes’ girl. She doesn’t have to do anything but, look beautiful and take care of my baby. She’s one of my favorite women in Hip Hop. Like I said Wendy Day, if people don’t know who she is Google her. That story is incredible. Cats don’t understand their value and worth. So that’s why a lot of people don’t get what they deserve out of the game. She’ll step right in, take you into the board room, and get you that paper. They say, “Money won’t buy you happiness.” It can make you feel like you’re important and you are. Sometimes it just takes money to make someone believe that shit.

With there being so many women behind the scenes in Hip Hop why do you think there aren’t any female moguls (like Russell Simmons, P.Diddy, Jay-Z, etc.)?

I would say probably because none of the men would allow them to get in that position. I haven’t been behind the scenes and seen any of that personally. You know what they say, “Behind every good man is a better women.” So just by them knowing that, ladies run shit. That’s just how it is. Any dude can be on the street all day talking shit (from gangsters to businessmen) but, at the end of the day you have to come home and answer to your wife or your lady. So I think men are scared of that. They go home and answer their lady at night so they don’t want to be at work answering to a lady. So they probably refuse to allow that position to be made for a woman.

Are guys checking for female emcees?

Real respects real so it’s not like dudes are like, “I hate female emcees.” It’s that they’re not really open to it because it’s definitely a male dominated realm. That’s not to say that if anybody went into a venue where Invincible, Miz. Korona, MC Lyte, or Queen Latifah are at, it’s irrefutable. All the dudes would be like, “Damn this chick is dope.” Its fewer females so it kind of gets lost in the fold sometimes.

When you hear that one or like I said Invincible; I’ve never heard anybody say anything negative about Invincible musically. Cats out here know that she is the shit. Due to her refusing to be signed it’s a lot harder. If she got on a major label and got that whole push that would be millions of people who her music would be available to. Because she doesn’t want to do what they want to do she has to grind it out. That’s what’s she’s been doing throughout her whole career. It’s just about grinding it out. Hip Hop is some grind shit, for male or female. You just have to know what you have to do to get your music to the people.

What is one of your favorite songs by a female emcee?

(Takes some time to think) You hit me with that one. It has to be some MC Lyte shit. I’m not really a song person. I’m more of an album person. Lyte’s second album, “Eyes on This” is probably like a top 25 album for me. That’s a serious fucking record front to back. I was young as hell banging that shit back in the day. I love Lyte.

My favorite song  ever by a female emcee probably would have to be “Locust”, the joint that I produced for Invincible. You know I’m selfish. For her and Finale to just expose all the gentrification in Detroit so perfectly and the way they did the video. Detroit is a fucked up ass city and that probably is one of the best visuals that somebody could give to the plight that’s going on in that city.

That is definitely a dope track. I think that she does have a lot of insight and in her music she covers a lot of stuff that goes on in Detroit and the surrounding area.

It’s beautiful what she does for the community but, it just seems like she could be a little bit more selfish. When I say that I’m not talking about her changing the tip that she’s on. I just think that she needs to do as much for herself as she does for the community. That’s one of the reasons that I moved out of Detroit. Besides the fact that Dilla and Proof passed, it just got really heavy and I had to get out. I always put my responsibility to the city over my responsibility to myself. That might have raised the city’s awareness of me within the city but, it stunted my growth on some real shit. I could have been hitting other cities and hitting Europe fucking ten years ago. My first gig outside of Detroit was in like 2005. So you have to take care of the crib but, sometimes you can do a better job taking care of the crib when you take care of yourself.

Shout out to Hex Murda. We love you Hex! Hex is on that fuck Oprah shit but, Oprah said some real shit. Somebody played me an Oprah quote and she said, “You can’t help anybody if you don’t help yourself.”

That’s true. So many think that if you make it big you’re obligated to give back. It shows dedication that you did stay here and represent for Detroit Hip Hop for so long. Like you said, sometimes you have to go other places first and then be able to come back.

Right, the world is a big place. Home is home but, to raise the visibility of your city outside of your city is almost more important than what you do within it. The first show that I ever did in Paris earlier in the club the DJ was playing Marvwon’s joint off of Black Milk’s “Sound of the City”. They were saying the hook in the club and that shit had me like damn. I wish he was there at the time. Cats’ lives at home are real fucked up at times. These motherfuckers are half way around the world and they know my shit while I’m fighting with people in my own city to realize how dope I am.

[Every Tuesday in Detroit 5E Gallery and The Foundation has a women in Hip Hop night. There is an open mic session where female emcees can showcase their talent and female DJs like DJ Mel Wonder, Sticky Nicky, and La Jedi spin. The Fembassy is proud to be a sponsor and a part of The Foundation.]

What about 5E Gallery made you say, “I want to support this place.”

Throughout the years I’ve given a lot of people a lot of money doing what I do. I was basically being responsible to the city and seeing that we have our own spots to go to every week or on a monthly basis. Sicari [founder of 5E gallery] is my homie and my brother so I’m definitely going to come through his spot and keep the money in the circle. We need to stop making money for these strangers and people who don’t respect what we do.

You could have chosen any other day to spin at 5E but, you’re spinning on a Tuesday which is women in Hip Hop night. What made you want to support the ladies?

Hip Hop wise that’s kind of the main night that the club has. I really like the whole tip of the night. It’s definitely something different and it’s definitely empowering the ladies. We’ve had some very strong talent female wise come out of the city [Detroit]. The ladies don’t own the spot but, it’s the ladies night and I want to shine light on that.

I’ve had this discussion with numerous people; Hip Hop is still going on in Detroit. Just because House Shoes is coming home doesn’t mean that its time for everybody to come out and party. Unfortunately that’s how it goes down sometime. So I like to play my cards with the people that are on my team. Invincible and Mel [DJ Mel Wonder] are on the team, I’ve been fuckin’ with these people for a long time. So when I get home and I want to shine that light, let’s shine it on Tuesday night. I’d like to get the visibility up for that night. I’d like to possibly introduce it to people who haven’t previously known that it was going on. They can continue to support after I shine that light on it.

Have you done a set before that’s solely dedicated to women?

No I haven’t. I’m not going to spin strictly ladies all night but, I’m going to do a nice set where I pay homage to all the women in Hip Hop that I respect.

To give everybody a tease, who can we expect to hear? Who are you going to pull out of the crates?

We’re going to play some MC Lyte, Invincible, Lady of Rage, JJ Fad, Bahamadia, and I’ll probably throw a couple of Eternia joints on. A lot of people don’t know about Eternia but, she’s definitely a problem on the mic. She’s from Toronto. I’ll play Miz. Korona. Detroit has a great lineage all the way back to the Hip Hop Shop. We had Bitter Sweet who is one of the meanest female emcees that I’ve ever witnessed. She had some classic battles where she was going toe to toe with dudes and destroying them on the mic. We had Shorty back in the day. I remember when Shorty (currently known as Shortz used to roll with Elzhi up in spots and she would be taking heads on the mic. It’s going to be really dope because I’m going to do my best to connect the dots. Not mainstream but, the women that people know about (Queen Latifah, Bahamadia, etc.) and then show our city’s [Detroit] history of female emcees at the same time.

The event is all about showing the ladies love but, as we all know they don’t get much love and respect in the industry. Can you give me a male’s point of view on that?

It’s hard to describe. For example, major label situations have been brought to Invincible’s attention many times (million dollar contracts) but, they want her to be Feminem (the female Eminem). She doesn’t want to do that. She has her own chamber and she sticks to her guns. I admire her more than a lot of artists that I know. A lot of cats would see that check and be like this rap shit that I’m doing is cool but, I need that money.

It’s hard. They just want to cookie cut you, form you, and mold you. It’s female and men. The whole A&R shit is out of hand in the game. They want you to be what they want you to be. Rarely do you see an emcee male or female that is allowed to be who they want to be. It’s definitely a lot harder for women to get on in the game than men. I don’t think that cats or labels really believe that the public will embrace that shit like that. When you have cornball ass shit like Nicki Minaj who is just a hooker with a microphone, that isn’t making it any easier.

(Nicki Minaj)

You have chicks that just jump at that check like I don’t really have to have that much talent. I look good and I can half way rap so let me go get that check.

Right, they’re not doing it for the love or for the art.

Yea. Me personally that’s all I’m about. Fuck that money shit. You have to be an artist. If you’re not an artist and you’re not trying to put your stamp down and bring your shit to the table I’m not feeling that shit. When I heard Dilla for the first time he had his own shit. That’s the shit that kind of carved out my whole lane of what I’m doing. He touched my ear and I never heard anything like that. He never veered from that. Because of that his legacy can be left behind. He’s probably one of the most imitated producers in the history of Hip Hop. The key is to just stick to your guns and do you. Hopefully everything will work out to be a good situation.

What advice would you give to a woman or person period who wants to be involved in Hip Hop?

Just do you! Make your own mark and don’t follow footsteps. Create your own footprint. Going back to Dilla again, he said some real shit in an interview once. He said if you’re listening to the radio or someone’s CD and you get inspired it shouldn’t inspire you to recreate what someone else is doing. It should inspire you to do what you’re doing at a higher level. That’s pretty much the goal.

It took me a long time to give him a beat tape but, when I gave it to him he picked the very last joint on the tape for the MCA album he was working on back in the day. He was like everybody that has given me a beat tape were all trying to sound like me. I like yours because it doesn’t sound like me. So the key is to have your own chamber and have other people biting your shit. Imitation is not a form of flattery it’s just a shortcut for someone who doesn’t know what to do. I’m not trying to give someone else the formula I’m trying to do what I’m doing and inspire them to create their own formula.

I agree with you. Today everybody is playing the copycat game. When you turn on the radio it’s the same thing just a different person.

Yea, you can’t even tell who is who. It’s the same 15 records on the radio. It’s gotten so bad you can’t differentiate who the artists are. Somebody will come out with a hot ass record and labels are so lazy they’ll just try to get you to recreate the shit. That’s not what’s up. That’s why music is so disposable these days. There is no artist development anymore. They just try to get that quick lick.