Yo yo rapper and husbandnatascha
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There was a point when hip-hop pioneer Yo-Yo didn’t know if the genre would make it.
The Los Angeles-born rapper cut her teeth battle rapping and had her first big break with Ice Cube, making her debut on his song “It’s a Man’s World.” At a time when women were diminished as “bitches” and “hoes” in the genre, Yo-Yo became one of the first rappers on the West Coast to rhyme from a feminist lens and demand respect from male artists, following in the footsteps of Roxanne Shanté. Her debut album, “Make Way for the Motherlode,” dropped in 1991. She formed the Intelligent Black Women’s Coalition shortly after.
Despite her barrier-breaking work, Yo-Yo, whose real name is Yolanda Whitaker, faced label issues, the deaths of friends and colleagues and an evolving genre in which she wasn’t always sure she had a place.
“You can’t hold yourself hostage by that; you can’t become bitter by poor excuses or decisions you’ve made,” the 51-year-old actor and rapper said. “I think what’s kept me strong and kept me relevant is the fact that I never gave up, that I never put my eggs all in one basket.”
Yo-Yo bounced back, returning to school to earn a college degree even after fame. She went on to advocate for education and literacy, creating Yo-Yo’s School of Hip-Hop and scholarship programs for college students. Recently, she’s been on “Love & Hip Hop” and appeared on Disney’s “Saturdays,” executive produced by Marsai Martin.
“The only way you get to the end of the rainbow is through trials and tribulations,” she said. “Fifty years of hip-hop, the voices of hip-h
It might seem difficult to think of the 1990s as the “Golden Age” of anything. No offense to the ’90s, but they just don’t seem so long ago.
However, that period could be described as such for the hip-hop scene in Flint. Rapper Eric “MC” Breed achieved national chart success in 1991 with his first hit, “Ain’t No Future in Yo’ Frontin’” and collaborated with the nationally famous Tupac Shakur, Too Short and E-40. Meanwhile, the gangsta-genre works of Flint’s Dayton Family – fronted by Ira “Bootleg” Dorsey – climbed the charts as the funk- and soul-influenced “Midwest Rap ‘’ was popularized.
Breed and Dorsey are prominently featured in a new documentary, “Breed and Bootleg: Legends of Flint Rap Music,” which will mark its Flint theatrical debut this month at the Flint Institute of Arts. The film was directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker (and Flint native) Geri Alumit Zeldes, a Michigan State University journalism professor.
Zeldes was inspired to make the hour-long movie because she didn’t want future generations to forget this chapter of Flint’s creative past, and to show that the Flint rap influence was as much national as regional.
Her emphases are on Breed and Dorsey (NaTasha Gist-Breed, Eric’s longtime partner, is a co-producer of the film), but “Breed and Bootleg” includes interviews with notables from Flint and elsewhere such as LeRon “DJ L.A.” Burke, Jon Connor, Frank Nitty, DJ Big X, and Steven “Kidd Blast” Metcalf. Another interviewee is my former colleague Doug Pullen, the Flint Journal music writer during these peak years. Breed died from kidney failure in 2006, but Dorsey has continued to perform and record.
The FIA briefly streamed “Breed and Bootleg” last spring as part of its flagship Friends of Modern Art film series, but plans are (conditions permitting) to show it in-person September 24-26 in the FIA Theater, with the live participation of Zeldes and others connected with the movie.
September, in fact, marks the opening of the lates
Young Dro
American rapper
Musical artist
D'Juan Montrel Hart (born January 15, 1979), better known by his stage nameYoung Dro, is an American rapper. Best known for his association with fellow Atlanta-based rapper T.I., Dro signed with his label, Grand Hustle Records, an imprint of Atlantic Records in 2004. His debut studio album, Best Thang Smokin' (2006), peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and was led by the single "Shoulder Lean" (featuring T.I.), which peaked within the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. After several mixtapes, he released his second album High Times (2013), in a joint venture with Grand Hustle and independent distributor Entertainment One Music; its lead single, "FDB", peaked at number two on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart.
Biography
1980–2006: Early life and Best Thang Smokin'
On January 15, 1980, Young Dro was born D'Juan Hart in Southwest Atlanta, Georgia. His inspiration for wanting to rap came from the success of one of his best friends, Chris "Daddy Mack" Smith, one half of Kris Kross. Musically speaking however, Goodie Mob—also west Atlanta natives—had the biggest impact on him. Hart embarked on his professional career around 1999 when he signed to bass music rapper Raheem the Dream's local Atlanta label, Tight 4 Life, under the moniker Dro. He released the regional hit "Yes Sir", and an independent album titled I Got That Dro, around the same time T.I. released his debut, I'm Serious. Although Hart had known T.I. since the early 1990s, they grew apart for some time. In 2004, Young Dro signed a recording contract with T.I.'s label imprint, Grand Hustle. Young Dro released his commercial debut single "Shoulder Lean", in the summer of 2006. The song had heavy rotation on BET and MTV2, and its cellular phone ringtone sold over 500,000 units. The hit single .