Interlude: Chicago, Woman, Hip-Hop

[LADY FLIPSIDE]
To be a woman in Hip-Hop from Chicago means that tough skin had to be developed like, super early on. If I didn’t have that tough skin, I wouldn’t have made it past the first open mic.

[UNMUVABO]
I’m proud to be a woman, whether we talking about being a mother, being a mentor, being a boss, an activist, a leader...

[LADY GEMSTAR]
You have to take charge of your own things, it’s a lot of hard work, you gotta have the dedication, you just can’t give up, you just gotta work, work, work.

[JAQUANDA VILLEGAS]
Resilience, freshness, innovation, power...

[TASLEEM JAMILLA]
You know, Chicago is in my very core, and I didn’t realize until I actually moved away, that how much of a Chicagoan I really am

[LADY FLIPSIDE]
Doing music in Chicago, you gotta have tough skin, you just have to, otherwise, you wouldn’t survive, you’d be eaten alive (laughs)

[UNMUVABO]
Like, there ain’t no other place like Chicago

[JAQUANDA VILLEGAS]
It’s like no other city...

[LADY FLIPSIDE]
There’s no other city in the world like Chicago

[UNMUVABO]
It's like the underdog, the one you don’t expect, we’re like the seasons: you never know, you know, what that change is, we’ll flip it up on you, we’re confident

[TASLEEM JAMILLA]
I carry that confidence, some people call it arrogance, but I’m like no I’m highly confident, cause I know what God made me and Chicago is definitely apart of it.

[LADY FLIPSIDE]
If you can make it in Chicago, you can make it anywhere doing music.

[UNMUVABO]
I think it's a dope thing to be from Chicago, in general when you talk about hip hop or you talking about revolution, we set the stage for that

[JAQUANDA VILLEGAS]
Women are the mirror of creation.