WEBVTT

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So often,

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I'll take a fitness class,

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or I'll go to a music venue,

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or, really, anywhere that plays
music in the background,

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and I'll find myself loving the rhythms

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and the melodies and the beats ...

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And then I take a second
to listen to the lyrics,

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lyrics that, for example,
place us in a position of subservience

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that we would never tolerate
in any other context.

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And I'm aghast at the degree to which
we normalize sexism in our culture.

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I listen to this music and I'm like,

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I don't want to have to turn up
to the sound of my own oppression.

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You know, music is one of the most
powerful forms of communication,

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because it has the potential
to either uplift or oppress.

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Music caters to the emotions.
Music caters to the soul.

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Music opens up our soul.

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It opens up our channels
to receive information

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about somebody else's walk of life,

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to inform our own roles.

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And while I have no problem
with male fantasy,

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what I do have a problem with

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is that, according to a recent study,
only 2.6 percent of all music producers

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identify as women.

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That means an even smaller percentage
identify as trans or gender nonconforming.

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And why does this matter?

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Because, if we don't own
and control our own narrative,

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somebody else will
tell our stories for us,

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and they will get it wrong,

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perpetuating the very myths
that hold us back.

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And I'm not here to tell other people
how to make their music.

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But I am here to provide
and design the alternative.

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One strategy I take in my music

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is making uplifting, energetic,
percussive global beats

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and placing lyrics on top of them

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that genuinely describe
my life's experiences

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without contributing
to the oppression of anybody else.

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It's funny, because it's the same reason

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as to why we excuse
so many problematic lyrics;

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it's because we love
how the beats make us feel.

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An example of this is my song
"Top Knot Turn Up."

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(Music: "Top Knot Turn Up")

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(Sings) I turned off my phone's
notifications so I have more time /

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No bubbles to trouble
my clear state of mind /

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One thing to know, 
I'm not here to please /

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Hair tied up, I do it properly /

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My time is not your property /

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When I'm productive like my ovaries, 
eyy! /

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Give a grown girl room to breathe,
basic rights and her liberty /

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Free from insecurity
that the world's projecting onto me /

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Please do not trouble me
when I am focused /

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The future is female
you already know this /

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I'm fighting against
the corruption on SCOTUS /

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Turned up in my top knot
since when I first wrote this /

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It's a top knot turn up
It's a top knot turn up, turn up, turn up.

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It's a top knot turn up
It's a top knot turn up, turn up, turn up.

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It's a top knot turn up
It's a top knot turn up, eyyy.

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It's a top knot turn up.

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(Music ends)

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I want us to keep making
sex-positive, beautiful music

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about joy and freedom.

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I want us to embrace our own pleasure

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just as much as we embrace our own pain.

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I want us to celebrate the authentic,

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nuanced,

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multidimensional aspects
of our human existence,

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rather than perform false narratives
of degrading sexuality

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in order to feel accepted or loved.

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And another strategy
that I take in my music

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to combat the misogyny
that exists on the airwaves

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is to visually depict the very world
I wished we lived in.

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In the music video
for my song "See Me Thru,"

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which is like a vibe-y,
queer electronic R and B song,

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I cast two of my dear friends,
Ania and Dejha,

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to play the role of the lovers,
because they're married in real life.

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But what you don't know
is that they also are behind the camera

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concepting and directing
the entire video.

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(Video) Heyyyyy ohhhh
My emotions were tired

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Music should be safe 
and accessible for all to experience.

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As you can see, it's not about
losing the sex appeal or swag

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that music has,

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it's about writing messages
that infuse tenderness and positivity

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into music that motivates us
and challenges us.

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And while we as musicians
absolutely have the responsibility

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to make music that isn't disempowering,

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the consumers can be
part of the change, too.

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Firstly, we get to choose
which songs we want to mute

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and which songs we want to turn louder.

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We get to say, "I respect myself enough
to say I don't want to listen to this,

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and I don't want this to be
in anybody else's space, either."

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Secondly, we can simply ask ourselves:

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"Does this music or this message

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contribute to the oppression
of somebody else?

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Why am I tolerating it?"

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And finally, we can all be choosing
to make playlists or DJ-ing music

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that provides the right vibe or mood
that we're looking for in that moment

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without the problematic messaging.

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Why does this matter?

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Because it's teaching algorithms
in our streaming systems and our world

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exactly what it is that
we do want to listen to,

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creating long-term change
and a feedbacking mechanism

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that impacts the entire industry.

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This is not a message

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for just a small group of people.

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This is a message that affects everybody,

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because when we protect and liberate
our most vulnerable genders,

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we liberate everybody.