Mo Wilks interviewed playwright Mfoniso Udofia about her nine-play cycle of the Ufot family in the production “In Old Age” which will be performed at ArtsEmerson’s Liebergott Black Box Theater, 559 Washington Street, Boston, MA, from June 13-28. The play is courtesy of theatre company Front Porch Arts Collective @FrontPorchArtsCollective Mfoniso discussed her background as…
It was September 16, 1979. Rap music had been around for roughly seven years, but many in the music industry believed it to be a passing trend that was not a profitable investment. Then the revolutionary song, an original 12-inch vinyl release lasting just under 15 minutes, changed everything. “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugarhill Gang…
The history of Hip-Hop cannot be written without acknowledging the structural shifts of the mid-1990s. As the genre exploded into the mainstream, a fiercely talented, effortlessly cool artist from Chicago stepped up to rewrite the rules for women in rap. Shawntae Harris, universally known as Da Brat, didn’t just break through the glass ceiling—she shattered…