Sound Clash from a Female Perspective 2: L.A.’s Talented Female Emcees

The 2nd Street Jazz Café, in the heart of L.A., had a full house Friday night as Sound Clash from a Female Perspective 2 brought out some of the city’s most talented female emcees and their supporters. The event, hosted and organized by DVS, is the second of its kind this year, but she has already put on a total of 6 all female emcee events in Los Angeles.

The event started a little past 10 p.m., but the mood was set well before as Dj Jiji Sweet showed off her scratching skills and played some old school Hip Hop, Rap and R&B. The 2nd Street Jazz Café offered an intimate yet comfortable setting, with a full bar, food, and a stage where the ladies set the show underway.
Up first were Haziiwun and Tenochtitlan, both ladies spit their bars and got the crowd going with their own respective styles and flow. For round one, “Teno” won the battle and stepped aside to wait and battle the other champs later.

It was interesting to see people from all ages and ethnicities come together to cheer on and support female emcees that so often are overlooked or not taken seriously. The crowd cheered based on the way they liked each emcee’s performance, if they didn’t like the other emcee they just stayed silent, there was no booing. Overall there were good vibes among the emcees and the crowd. There was only standing room around the stage, everyone eager to get a view of the emcees, bob their heads to the beats they were feeling, and cheer as loud as possible for their favorite.

I want to say each battle took about 5 min, but the truth is I was more concerned and consumed with some of the lyrics the ladies were spitting. When Bliss and YVE took the stage, I heard Bliss say in her rhyme “Sayin that same ol’ thang, acting like a woman can’t play that game, nigga you trippin,” Her lyrics felt so real, as soon as I heard that it made me laugh and I jotted it down for later. Bliss went on to win that battle. I think that even though many of the ladies brought their own supporters, the crowd was really feeling those ladies that had good delivery and lyrics with substance.

When Ms’Haze took the stage her main point was saying she kept it real. That stayed true to herself, and that what’s really real is she had just stepped off the train from Long Beach to get to the battle. The crowd went wild cheering her on, just an example of how people appreciate skills and realness in an industry where this seems to be lacking commercially.
In an e-mail interview with Tenochtitlan, she touched on how collaborating amongst female emcees is difficult because of the clash of egos. “ I would be more than willing to collab with other female emcees as long as they ain't coming with no materialistic, "fuck the haters", ballin', DUMBED DOWN SHIT,” she said.

“There are so many more important issues affecting mankind, and women in particular, than what designer bag you got, or how you feel other women are jealous of you, or how you like to get over on men…I'm sick to my fuckin' stomach of that shit.”
On inspiration for her music 26-year-old Teno says, “I'm inspired to write lyrics by what I've lived through, and what I see every day…what I hope to convey to audiences is that life is beautiful! Live it fully. Give back. Help others. Fuck negativity. Love without cowardice of getting your punk ass feelings hurt. Work hard to create the life you want. You deserve it!”
“I was honored to be part of SOUND CLASH,” Teno said, “I thought these ladies are so full of passion, so strong, so beautiful! The crowd applauded for who they was feelin' the most. I accept my loss.”

After winning round 1 of the first go around, Teno (featured in the video above) went on to the finals going up against Bliss in Round 2 with the other champs, the crowd favored Bliss and she stepped down. As far as the competition went Pookah Duke took the $500 prize at the end of the night. She came with her lyrics fast and strong and the crowd was really feeling it, she even went strong freestyling against Black Diamond in the 2nd round. Black Diamond took the mic and defended herself saying she needed the crowd to stop hollering at her that she wasn’t aware that anyone was gonna be freestyling that night.
In all, whatever mixed emotions the audience or the emcees left with, DVS put on a great event, providing a platform for female emcees, whatever their style may be, and basically providing a forum for them to speak their minds, express themselves artistically, and show people that female emcees haven’t fallen off the map but are bringing it strong in their own unique and respective styles.