MY VOICE - MY WEAPON OF CHOICE

 

 

 

 

Like almost all of the musical fields, HipHop and Rap are mostly dominated by men. They may work as a mirror to society by pointing out deficits and developments, but most of the time offer little but stereotypes and clearly defined roles to women. As JENSEITS VON NELKEN UND PRALINEN, we took on the mission to make female* artists in the music industry more visible, give them a stage and make them heard. By avoiding washed up cliches we increase the power and presence of women* and push toward a much needed change - in music and in society.

 

Since we support the individual as well as cooperations and networking within the female* HipHop community, we value an egalitarian Line-Up with no main-act in order to prevent potential competition among the artists.

 

For us, feminism is necessarily intersectional: a narrow definition of what is feminine or female does not make sense to us. From our perspective, feminism is a fight for equality, human rights and self-empowerment for humans of all genders and the fight against sexism.

 

 GIRLS* TO THE FRONT

 

 The topic of women* in Rap and Hip Hop has been gaining increased attention in the media. Female* rappers are more present than ever and, therefore, rely more on cooperation instead of competition - against the supposedly fixed laws of the music industry. We are particularly interested in the differences and similarities of these developments in different parts of the world, the new and the old, the individual and common themes, in short: the whole range of feminist trends and struggles in international Rap and Hip Hop. We especially promote female* artists from countries and regions that are not associated with HipHop or Rap in the first place and thus don’t get the international attention they deserve. Each year, we pick our artists with great diligence, since they are the specialty of our festival. They all share outstanding talent and a remarkably high musical standard while representing the various shades and forms of Rap and HipHop. They are not (necessarily) coming from the mainstream, yet they are masters in their fields and have already gained attention and popularity in their respective scenes. For many, their performance at our festival is their first appearance in Berlin or Germany.

  

JENSEITS VON NELKEN UND PRALINEN

 

stands for Empowerment of everybody involved, be it the artists on stage, us as the organizers or the audience in the club and at the screens. Over the years, we managed to establish a festival that is unique in Berlin, presenting an all-female* line up to an all-genders audience. We celebrate International Women's day with powerful national and international artists and a great crowd - exciting, diverse, confident and respectful.

 

THE TEAM

 

open minded, creative, combative and female*.

We are a collective of women* from Berlin, who are intertwined in various ways with the cultural sector. Artistic direction and festival production have been in the capable hands of women* from our collective since 2016.