#RapperChicks featuring New Deal Crew

Les rappeuses Coely, Psalm One et Fluffy ont marquéla 16e édition du festival marseillais

Le festival Marsatac, qui se tenait du 25 au 27septembre à la Friche de la Belle-de-Mai, à Marseille, sait encore réserver quelques belles surprises. De plus en plus électro mais né de l’essor du rap marseillais en 1999, Marsatac a ainsi mis à l’honneur des rappeuses venues d’ailleurs: Psalm One et Fluffy, membres du collectif Chicago Takeover, et la jeune Belge Coely, époustouflante au Cabaret aléatoire le 26 septembre.

Coup de coeur des Nuits botaniques de Bruxelles, Coely est née à Anvers de parents congolais. Elle parle flamand en coulisses, mais se transforme sur scène en furie jamaïquaine, rappe comme une Londonienne, chante comme une diva du r’n’b américain et «beat box» mieux que la plupart des rappeurs, tous continents confondus. Programmée au centre du site de Marsatac, la jeune Belge a bénéficié d’un emplacement de choix pour se faire remarquer, ce qui n’était pas le cas des rappeuses de Chicago Takeover.

Il fallait plus de détermination pour les découvrir au club éphémère RBMA stage. Situé entre des colonnes des 15000 m2 de la Friche, anciens dépôts de la Seita, l’espacene proposait pas les meilleures conditions d’écoute. Qu’importe, Psalm One et Fluffy en ont vu d’autres à Chicago, la ville où elles ont toutes les deux grandi. Leur collectif Chicago Takeover, qui comprend le DJ Hood Internet ainsi que les rappeurs Auggie the 9th et Showyousuck ,a été créé à l’occasion du festival South by Southwest au Texas pour montrer un autre visage de la scène rap à Chicago.
Même si la ville a offert à la scène hip-hop américaine quelquesunes de ses icônes – Kanye West, Common et Lupe Fiasco –, elle n’avait jamais été une grande capitale du rap. «Il n’y a pas de hip-hop spécifique à Chicago, résume Showyousuck, nous sommes dans le Midwest, nous avons absorbé les sons de partout.»

Cependant, depuis deux ans, la «drill music» créée par de jeunes rappeurs du quartier South Side à Chicago remet en question cette théorie. Chief Keef, 18 ans, suivi de Lil Durk et Lil Reese, ont dé frayé la chronique en racontant en chansons le quotidien meurtrier de leur quartier, et en signant de gros contrats avec les majors du disque.

Récit de meurtres
Le collectif Chicago Takeover est l’autre visage du rap local, plus versatile et plus engagé: «Il y a beaucoup de rappeurs à Chicago depuis longtemps, explique Psalm One, 32ans, mais c’est la violence de nos rues qui a mis un projecteur sur notre scène. Chief Keef en est devenu la tête d’affiche en faisant dans son rap un récit détaillé des meurtres.»

De son vrai nom Cristalle Bowen, Psalm One a d’abord vécu dans un quartier aisé de la ville avant de déménager à l’âge de 9ans à Englewood, là où vivait déjà Chief Keef: «Amon époque, c’était déjà dur, explique la rappeuse, mais il y trois ans, cela a empiré. Les budgets des écoles ont été amputés. Certaines ont dû fermer, et des enfants ont été éparpillés dans d’autres établissements. A Chicago, presque chaque quartier a son gang, et ces gosses se sont retrouvés dans les écoles des gangs rivaux. Cela a ravivé des rivalités, qui se sont transformées en violences.»

Membre du programme social America Score, Psalm One a enregistré l’album Child Support avec des jeunes de ces quartiers défavorisés: «C’est important que les gosses voient aussi que même sans passer à la télé, on peut être un artiste, vivre de son art et voyager.» Et ce, jusqu’à Marseille. - Le Monde

Hologram Kizzie has a past. She even has another name: Psalm One. Rap, urban, hip hop, soul, pop and dance music all have distinct characteristics, yet Kizzie blurs the lines of these genres effortlessly. Building on these varied soundscapes, her lyrics are nothing less than brilliant, combining intelligent quips, global sensibilities and compassionate philanthropy.

While traveling in Europe, Kizzie made a vow: to protect the positive impact hip hop has on youth culture internationally. She recalls being taught about great books, historical figures, poignant life events and art — all through rap.

There is no longer a culture balance in mainstream hip hop, but Kizzie works tirelessly in the real world to provide one, and it shows.

A native Chicagoan, former chemist and hug enthusiast, Hologram Kizzie is an artist who comes around once in a lifetime. She’s a self-proclaimed nerd who is beyond interesting. You only need to meet her once to understand she’s quite unforgettable. - City of Chicago

Carrefour Collaborative’s most recent initiative is to bring established Chicago artists to collaborate and mentor Haitian artists in Léogâne. The first artist to make the trip was Psalm One, a Chicago-based rapper.

“When it comes down to the broke artist, the starving artist, there isn’t much outside help,” Psalm One told me. She went to Haiti to fulfill a promise to herself to help the devastated region. “I get irritated when people are so gung-ho about a cause on Wednesday and then on Thursday they’ve forgotten about it,” she said.

“I was fortunate in my career to have people help me out when I needed it,” she said. “It wasn’t a pity thing. It was just saying, ‘Hey, I believe in you and you’re working hard let’s help you out.’ When I was in Haiti that’s how I felt.”

The primary goal was for Psalm One to record high-quality radio-ready songs with Haitian artists that would help expose them to American audiences. “Because the sound quality is miles ahead of a lot of stuff that’s going on, they will have the upper hand on getting opportunities to get their music heard.” To collaborate with them, she drew on her experience as a hip-hop educator in Chicago’s Rhyme School Program, a 10-week after-school hip-hop program for kids offered through the Intonation Music Workshop.

Psalm One also gave a production workshop at another studio in the region, the Audio Institute, creating songs on the spot with about 30 music students. “I was the first artist to actually rap in the studios,” she said. “I kind of set the bar a little bit. I went in there and we did about six songs in about four hours.” - Forbes

For Chicago rapper Psalm One, a.k.a. Hologram Kizzie, 2013 has already gotten off to a smashing start.

Last year saw the release of "Child Support," the outspoken Rhymesayers-signed artist's album which was created in collaboration with underserved elementary and middle school-aged participants in the American SCORES after-school program Psalm took part in in through the ASCAP Songwriter Residency. The students hailed from nine different cities across the U.S.

"We had the children pick out the beats, which was very new for me. I've never really rapped on an album where I wasn't picking the music before," Psalm told HuffPost. "It was amazing letting myself be inspired by kids half my age and younger."

Now, coming off sharing a sold-out bill at with Doomtree's Dessa at Schubas, Psalm will be one of the featured artists at WBEZ and Vocalo.org's fifth-annual Winter Block Party for Chicago's Hip Hop Arts Saturday at the Metro, a unique all-ages event created with the aim to celebrate both the present and future of Chicago hip hop.

Relaunching our weekly My Chicago interview series, The Huffington Post recently spoke with Psalm One.

What is your age? What is your occupation? 32. Musician and program director for my own youth mentoring program.

Where in the city do you live and how long have you lived there? In Edgewater for the past two years.

What was your first job in Chicago? I was a drummer at my uncle's church in the early '90s. I worked as a musician even then. My first pay checks were from God.

Which Chicago "celebrity" -- living or dead, real or fictional -- would you have over for dinner? What would you talk about? Oprah. We would have a fabulous dinner and I would probably tell her a very dramatized version of my story and ask her to adopt me.

Where is your favorite place for a nightcap? I prefer my bedroom, because I don't think it's a nightcap if I'd have to leave and then go home again. But for a bar, I'd say The Burlington on Fullerton in Logan Square. It's all dark and divey.

Where is your favorite place to grab a hangover brunch? Personally, I've got to keep it real gangster: White Palace Grill at Roosevelt and Canal. It's open 24 hours a day and they make my omelettes the way I like them. It's kind of janky, but I like that. When you go at 2 or 3 or 4 a.m., it's good people watching, like it's a movie.

What are your go-to spots when you have visitors in town? Unfortunately, I'm forced to take all my visitors to Harold's Chicken because it seems that for all my friends who don't live here, it's one of the first places they feel they need to go. But if I can take them away from there, I like to go to Lawrence's and Twisted Spoke on Ogden. If they're here for a week or more, I try to take them to Subterranean for 606 Hip Hop. It's classic as far as the local hip hop scene is concerned.

What is the last cultural event you saw in the city? What'd you think? I saw Stew & The Negro Problem at the MCA with my mom in November. It was amazing because I had never seen them before and I was intrigued by their name. Stew is the only black guy in the group and the band is white -- and they're "The Negro Problem." There's a lot of different witty things happening and it's part concert, part intellectual discussion and part comedy act. It was all based on the history of Chicago. They were singing songs about Chicago and he's not from here. It was really interesting to see someone coming to the city to pay homage and tell us some things about our city we may not have known.

If you had to have your last Chicago meal for some tragic reason, where and what would it be? I would probably go to Carson's Ribs because it's really "Chicago" and I'd get a lot there, it's a huge meal. I would probably stay to my roots and get the rib tips dinner with a baked potato and a salad.
Cubs or Sox? Sox.

Wicker Park, 1993 or Wicker Park, 2013? '93, hands down. My kind of coming-of-age story happened in Wicker Park around that time. I remember where I was, what I was doing and thinking and I don't really think I'd be the person I am today had I not able to walk down those streets at that time. I was an unofficial member of Young Chicago Authors and I had a lot of great opportunities to sort of cut my teeth on writing and have people tell me it was good and encourage me. I wasn't rapping then, but I was writing cryptic poetry and decent stories. I would ride the Ashland bus up from 62nd to Division and get out of my neighborhood and see different parts of my city.

Chicago-style hot dog, Chicago-style pizza or Chicago-style politics? Pizza first, then politics and then the hot dog. It's not that I don't love the hot dog but, you know, I like ketchup on it too -- thou - Huffington Post

We take a look at a hip-hop music program that helps kids strengthen their voice and discover the power of the written word. A force of positivity, rapper Psalm One (also known as Cristalle Bowen) reflects on mentoring young people on how to write, record and perform. Her classes are a key component of the Intonation Music Workshop in Chicago.

We spoke with Psalm One’s assistant teacher, Dorothy Claybourne, whose stage name is Fluff Nasty, about the benefits of the RhymeSchool Hip-Hop Program.

Why is the RhymeSchool program helpful for kids?

On the academic side of things, it encourages them to write and tell their own stories. They end up acquiring a lot of life skills. In class, there’s really a sense of teamwork, community and shared values.

Do kids come into the program knowing a lot about rap?

Rap is a big part of mainstream music and media, and at this point it’s almost like a language -- and it’s a language that kids already speak. Whether they rap or not, they understand it because they listen to it.

How old are most kids in the program?

Our typical students are 5th-7th graders. They’re at a critical point because they’re about to go to high school, so the more they can engage in something academic like reading and writing the better.

What’s a typical day like in RhymeSchool?

We look at rap over the different decades and point out acts that we think are influential from different periods of time, so there’s some history involved. We also look at regional rap dialects, and speakers come in to talk to the kids. We recently had a speaker who came in to talk to the kids about the business behind rap. Performance is definitely a focus too. We always have a performance at the end of 10-week sessions, and getting ready for that performance is always a big part of the class.

On the Intonation Music Workshops’ website, Michael Brown, Park Supervisor of Recreation for the Chicago Park District, is quoted as saying, “I have observed some of our most timid and introverted children flourish as a result of being involved with the program.” Have you seen kids become more confident as a result of the RhymeSchool program?

I think so. I think there’s a fearlessness that you have to engage when you perform, and that doesn’t go away in your regular life. In rap, you don’t have an instrument in front of you. In many cases, it’s just you and a microphone. So once you do that, making friends in fifth period lunch doesn’t seem as daunting. It also helps with public speaking.

How did you get involved with the workshop?

I do backup vocals for Psalm One. When we were asked if we were interested in working with Intonation, they already had rock and pop. I think that adding a rap element was critical because it’s a genre that’s so active with kids. We developed the curriculum together, and after about six months of brainstorming, we had our first session in September 2011 in Avalon Park.


Courtesy of The Intonation Music Workshop

Who can join?

Anyone can join, but we do hold auditions, because we want them to take it seriously. It’s a lot of work, and you really have to commit to it. It’s not just showing up and singing.

How long have you been rapping?

I went to school for journalism, and never knew I would be in rap. I would say I’ve always written. In high school, I tried my hand at rapping, but I was actually more of a break-dancer. I’ve always had a love for music though. As I became an adult and started working with my friends who are professional rappers, I got more interested in finding a way to weave into that world. I wanted to use my writing to talk about what I have to say, because we all have a perspective to share.

What’s your advice for kids thinking about getting involved the program?

You’re only a kid once, so if you’re passionate about something you should do it, and do it as well as you can. RhymeSchool is a safe place. There’s always room for editing, but there is no such thing as a bad rap at RhymeSchool. We are going to have open enrollment for the program starting in November for our January 2014 session, and anyone is welcome to try out.
- WTTW