In honor of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary, York College held a daylong celebration, which included a panel on women and their perspectives on working in the industry last Thursday, in Jamaica.
Acting as the moderator for panelists Amber Corinne, Jazzie Bell and NYE$ was Pat Robinson, a former executive at Hot 97, WBLS and WLIB. She and Dawn Kelly, a board member of York’s Foundation, collaborated to create the event, which was attended by approximately 70 people in the faculty lounge.
One of the first questions Robinson asked was about pay equity for women in hip-hop.
“I would say we have a ways to go,” said Corinne, a writer at Vibe.com, a music, entertainment and lifestyle website. “I was reading a survey about women in media and music, and the percentage is much lower than men. We are getting there, but it is not linear yet. That is why we need more visibility and more women in these top spots who can bring up the next woman.”
NYE$, formerly known as Nyemiah Supreme, of South Jamaica, thinks some women are making more money than the men in hip-hop.
“From an artist standpoint, there are a lot of women who are getting a very big bag right now, especially with the emergence of all these women rappers and they have the hottest songs right now,” said NYE$, a rapper, dancer and reality star, who was featured on the reality show “Sisterhood of Hip-Hop” on the Oxygen network. “I feel like a lot of women are getting more than the guys right now. In terms of streaming, it’s not based on gender, so everyone is going to get the same amount … I know the ladies are getting the bag, and I hope it continues to stay that way.”
Belle, a former Vibe writer who is the creator and host of the podcast “Women in Hip Hop” at Revolt, a media company owned by Sean “Brother Love” Combs, formerly known as Puff Daddy, is ecstatic about the resurgence of women in the rap scene, but wants more women in executive positions to protect female talent when it comes to how much they are earning.
“I think you both made great points,” Belle said. “The ladies are winning, but behind the scenes, we don’t know how much they are winning. I don’t know if they are getting to the bag. It looks pretty, it looks shiny, but the women in executive positions need to make sure that the sisters are getting the right bag that they deserve and I hope that is the case.”
To further highlight her point, Belle said while there are women in radio, they are often treated as sidekicks as opposed to stars of the show, compared to their male counterparts.
“They put us in a position to be a show pony,” the media personality added. “I didn’t feel that the equality was there, or sometimes that the respect was there. So again, create don’t wait. That’s the motto that I live by. Create your own platform. Create your own dream job. Don’t wait for somebody to put you in a position to get that bag. A lot of my success came from creating my dream job and companies reaching out to me saying, ‘We want to have you on board.’ Now, I’m in a position on how big I want my bag to be.”
Robinson also asked about the work it took for the women to get to where they are.
Corinne said, although readers glamorize her work as an entertainment journalist, it is not all fun and games.
“I’m at a lot of events and people see pictures of me with this celebrity or that celebrity,” she said. “That is the fruit of the labor, but people don’t get to see when I’m up late night writing an article and I’m sending out emails just to get some feedback and it takes forever.”
Before becoming a journalist, Corinne worked at a preschool by day, studied for her master’s degree in communications at Kean University at night. She applied to more than 50 media internships in between during her last year as a student and educator in 2021 before being hired at Vibe a year later.
Belle agreed that people don’t always see the hard work it takes to be a professional in the media and entertainment landscape.
“Y’all definitely don’t see it all,” Belle said. “I edit, I produce my own show, I was the cameraperson when I first started.”
Belle said when she decided she wanted to be a media personality that she studied at Public Access [TV in NYC] in Manhattan for two years.
“They also have one in Queens as well,” she added. “I studied. I figured out how to work the camera, I figured out how to edit and produce my own show. Once I passed that class, they threw me out in the field.”
Later in her journey, Belle said that she would stand in the halls at Shade 45, a hip-hop station owned by Eminem on Sirius XM, for two years to interview celebrities to build up her platform.
“I reached out to — rest in peace —DJ Kay Slay, who was the co-host at the time, and said, ‘Let me capitalize on your guests,’” Kay explained. “I was in the hallway … with the camera, setting it up, running around with the camera with the mic and asking people like Fabolous, Jim Jones, Nelly and be like, ‘Hey can I interview you for my platform?’ That is putting in the work. I did that … for no pay. From doing that to now being signed at Revolt TV with my podcast … just know you have to put in the work.”
NYE$ started off as a background dancer for rapper and actress Lil Mama, then transitioned to an assistant for emcee Juelz Santana before she became an artist in her own right.
“Before I had a manager, I had to shoot my own videos and rap to anyone who would listen, even if I was scared,” NYE$ said. “You have to sacrifice being scared and get out there if you want to get somewhere. From there, you get your manager, you got to wake up every morning and do what they say, even if you may not agree with the ideas they have for you. You may have to sacrifice what you want to work with somebody else that has success …Now, I’m a mom, I have two sons and that is another dose of work.”
NYE$ said she also has to find inspiration to write new music, find new beats, work out, put on makeup and search for outfits while juggling being a parent.
“Sometimes, I want to quit,” she said. “But I put in too much work to quit. So I’m not stopping until I get what I want to get.”
NYE$ is dropping a sample EP of her on Nov. 11. If interested in learning about her new music, visit her Instagram handle @nyedollarsign.
Belle has plans to release a book, “48 Bars of Power: Let Hip Hop Inspire You to Find Your Voice,” in mid-2024.
Robinson told the Chronicle that hip-hop helped her find her voice.
“The fact that I was involved in radio helped me understand how important it was to a storytelling perspective that related to real-life situations,” she said. “It helps us connect to high points in our lives and low points in our lives.”
