Meet Bahati
Get To Know Bahati
SMRT Kooky founder Nathalie and Bahati from She Writes Tight discuss the importance of Hip-Hop contributions to culture and the need to documenting the people behind it. Read below.
Photo Description: Bahati stands, smiling, in front of a vine covered reed fence.
NH: Thanks for taking the time for this interview Bahati! What have you been working on lately?
BM: I just completed my second YouTube series on a DJ and visual artist named Kenzo Roc Martinez who is a member of the Los Angeles underground hip hop community. This series in particular gave me the inspiration to dig a bit deeper to include other areas I’m interested in like personal growth, spirituality and wellness. As a result of this soul searching in a few weeks I’m launching a blog and platform where I’m focusing on everyday spirituality. In it I’m combining all of the parts of my life like hip hop, media, history, art and socio-cultural issues and look at them through the lens of how to be the person I want to see in the world and teaching others how to do the same.
NH: You released your video series on Eric "King Cre8" Walker last month, what was the process for you?
BM: In 2018 I published a blog called hiphopdanceculture where I interviewed and shared stories about people in the Los Angeles hip hop and street dance communities. I recorded eight audio interviews and used them to write the blog posts. In the summer of 2019 I revisited some of the interviews and thought about how I could repurpose them. I realized that the people I interviewed were a part of a niche, underground community and it would be great to share the larger narrative about how these communities developed with a wider audience. I decided to take the audio and build a socio-cultural and historical narrative about what influenced the formation of these communities using video images and voiceovers.
This was a learning process for me because prior to this series I had very little video editing experience. I am a writer and social scientist, who has experience with research and storytelling so those aspects were easy to navigate. I also did my M.A. degree thesis on the history of a street dance called pop locking in Los Angeles, so I was familiar with many of the stories and ways to gather information about this community I’ve been a part of for many years.
However, for the videos themselves I watched classes on Skillshare to learn how to edit. Also, in 2018 while in a program to learn DJing one of the lessons was on making custom edits using audio software. I used Ableton Live to record and edit the voiceovers and interviews.
I really enjoyed the process because this series allowed me to use a lot of my skills and strengths at one time. I was able to write, research, craft and share stories. Although I started out doing the series as a pet project completing it was like stumbling on my dream job! I’m working on how to do more projects like this.
I really enjoyed the process because this series allowed me to use a lot of my skills and strengths at one time. I was able to write, research, craft and share stories. Although I started out doing the series as a pet project completing it was like stumbling on my dream job! I’m working on how to do more projects like this.
NH: What is the goal with these videos? What do you hope to bring to the table for Hip-Hop arts and culture?
BM: The initial goal was to use Eric “King Cre8” Walker’s story as an anchor to talk about the social and cultural changes and issues that led to the development of hip hop. I used Los Angeles as an example, since this is where Cre8 was born and where he grew up. However, other urban Black and Brown communities throughout the country experienced a lot of the same challenges in the 1980s. Job scarcity, drugs, gang violence and youth centers shutting down all became fuel for youth to seek out creative expression in the form of hip hop.
I think this project has always been about more than just focusing on hip hop arts and culture. It was about showing the complexity of how youth experienced life and hip hop was a part of that. For instance, in one of the videos Cre8 talks about how many of the Black graffiti writers joined gangs or pursued rapping because there seemed to be a clearer way to make money. This speaks to the difficulty of nurturing a talent that may not be easily marketable and instead taking the well worn path. I think these are some of the issues I rarely hear people in the hip hop arts or the larger community discuss.
NH: What does the future of She Writes Tight look like for you?
BM: I don’t know where SheWritesTight will go from here. Since I’m switching focuses I’m still in the midst of planning out my next steps.
NH: What is the goal with these videos? What do you hope to bring to the table for Hip-Hop arts and culture?
BM: The initial goal was to use Eric “King Cre8” Walker’s story as an anchor to talk about the social and cultural changes and issues that led to the development of hip hop. I used Los Angeles as an example, since this is where Cre8 was born and where he grew up. However, other urban Black and Brown communities throughout the country experienced a lot of the same challenges in the 1980s. Job scarcity, drugs, gang violence and youth centers shutting down all became fuel for youth to seek out creative expression in the form of hip hop.
I think this project has always been about more than just focusing on hip hop arts and culture. It was about showing the complexity of how youth experienced life and hip hop was a part of that. For instance, in one of the videos Cre8 talks about how many of the Black graffiti writers joined gangs or pursued rapping because there seemed to be a clearer way to make money. This speaks to the difficulty of nurturing a talent that may not be easily marketable and instead taking the well worn path. I think these are some of the issues I rarely hear people in the hip hop arts or the larger community discuss.
NH: What does the future of She Writes Tight look like for you?
BM: I don’t know where SheWritesTight will go from here. Since I’m switching focuses I’m still in the midst of planning out my next steps.
NH: The past few months have seen a resurgence in showing pride for Black history and contributions to culture. Has there been renewed interest in Cali dance culture?
BM: Honestly, I think there is very little produced or published about Cali dance culture. Especially the fact that many of these dances were created in predominantly Black communities. And unfortunately, many of the new generation find out about the dances through YouTube or Facebook groups, which offer very little information about the history and the communities they’ve come from.
The Cali street dances are really popular overseas in countries like Japan, Germany and France. They have huge, well sponsored competitions and battles with hundreds of contestants, however it’s challenging to see that same scale of competition in the U.S. for the same dances.
The interesting thing is that many of the new generation of dancers often don’t come from the same neighborhoods where the dancers were first pioneered. Dances like popping, locking and strutting were created in Black and Brown California inner-city neighborhoods.
Although there are a lot of new generation Latino dancers, there are a small number of young Black dancers. I think this is because Black youth create new dances for their generation. We can see this over the decades like in the late 1960s with the robot performed to soul music, then in the 1970s with locking performed to funk music and so on. The current generation creates and innovates their dances based on the music of the moment, so it can be difficult to do dances from the past. There is also a disconnect between the generations, but this can be seen with more than just dance and speaks to deeper issues that’s beyond what can be covered here.
NH: How can we support your projects? What do you need?
BM: People can check out my YouTube series on the SheWritesTight channel and check out my blog at bahatimeadows.com for my upcoming work on everyday spirituality.