Sujatha Fernandes grew up in Sydney and became a rap performer in the emerging hip hop craze of the 90s. With her MC partner, Aboriginal woman, Waiata Telfer, they joined the young men and women from Sydney’s inner city and western suburbs who were using hip hop an a means of self expression.
After this formative experience, Sujatha started out on her hip hop odyssey travelling to faraway places and making rhymes and beats with musicians from around the globe.
In Cuba she immersed herself in the Cuban hip hop scene and wrote a book about it and then travelled up to the USA getting lost in the Chicago underground hip hop scene. From there she travelled to South America and to Venezuela studying the gangsta rap of the poor neighbourhoods for a subsequent book on the subject.
Sujatha is now an Associate Professor of Sociology at Queens College and the Graduate Centre, City University of New York and has written extensively about popular culture, urban politics and hip hop. Her latest book , Close to the Edge, is a memoir, a travel tale of her global journey that hip hop took her on.
This affectionate radio documentary is produced and presented by Sujatha’s sister Deepa , a freelance radio producer and chronicler of her sister’s hip hop odyssey.
Interviews with:
Waiata Telfer, Writer, performer, project manager at Ngai palti - Independent Theatre project
MunkiMuk, Southwest Syndicate
Brotha Black, Southwest Syndicate
Pablo Herrera, Cuban HipHop Producer
Magia Lopez: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsession_%28cuban_hip-hop%29
Julio Cardenas, Cuban rapper
Mike Treece, Mass Hysteria, http://www.myspace.com/masshysteriahiphop
Ang 13, Underground rapper, Chicago
Music details are in the Transcript field - go to Show on the right hand side of the page