upcoming grant deadline: 05/15/2024
Maori created promotional DVDs and collateral materials for her documentary film Scene Not Heard: Women in Philadelphia Hip-Hop, which chronicles the abundance of powerful female voices that Philadelphia has produced as artists, promoters, and writers in the hip-hop and soul community. Scene Not Heard features interviews with some of the originators of modern hip-hop culture such as Lady B, Schoolly D and Rennie Harris, with vanguards chiming in including Bahamadia and Ursula Rucker, and presents current talents such as the Jazzyfatnastees, Ms. Jade, and Lady Alma, and emerging talents such as Versus, Keen of Subliminal Orphans, and Michele Byrd-McPhee of Montazh. Maori's goal was to tell the story of these women and highlight their struggle to succeed in a male-dominated industry in a city that has been left behind in the national conversation. She plans to use the film to travel to conferences and workshops around the world and distribute the DVDs to classrooms, community centers, and other organizations using hip-hop as an educational tool.