The Micro-Chop Daily X #27–The Women in Production Edition
A Micro-Chop playlist featuring 10 hand-picked instrumentals — every single day for an entire year.
On September 17th, 2018, I put together a Micro-Chop Daily X playlist featuring songs that have one million streams or more on Spotify. I used the accompanying article to highlight some of my concerns about equity and equal/fair representation on Spotify. Though I mostly focused on concerns I’ve read/heard about the whitewashing and gentrification of the beat scene, I also briefly touched on the need to pay to attention gender equality as well.
Since I’ve been toying with the idea of doing a Micro-Chop Daily X playlist solely dedicated to women in production from the very beginning of the Daily X project, it seemed like a good time to follow up the aforementioned September 17th article with such a playlist.
I’ll admit, I was hesitant about it at first. I wanted to present the playlist in a way that treated the featured artists with dignity and respect and didn’t “otherize” them. When making a list that highlights an underrepresented group in the arts or elsewhere, there’s always the risk of making it seem like the underrepresented group isn’t worthy of appearing in a regular list with their peers. Despite my reservations, I decided to move forward with the idea.
So if I had reservations, why make a playlist featuring only women in production in the first place?
Anyone who even casually follows the beat scene can see that it’s dominated by men. Are there women making noise, gaining influence, and winning over fans? Of course there are. But I think we’d be lying to ourselves if we said the playing field was even close to level.
To help boost the visibility of talented women in production, I’ve made a concerted effort to include a healthy balance of men and women in previous Micro-Chop Daily X playlists. I will certainly continue to do this for the next 11 months, but it also felt like having a designated place to specifically honor women in production might serve as an additional signal boost for their work.
On this playlist you’ll recognize Micro-Chop interviewees OBUXUM and Kilamanzego, both of whom have had their hard work rewarded in recent months with some high-profile live performances and increasing recognition from various corners of the industry.
In our most-recent conversation OBUXUM and I discussed her excellent URBNET-released “H.E.R” EP and she broke down the influences for several key songs from the project. Among other things, she tackled the loss of a close friend, sexism in the beat scene, and her alter ego.
In my conversation with Kilamanzego, we talked about her proficiency with a broad range of instruments (essentially everything except for drums), the combined influences of ska, punk, Salt-N-Pepa, Mary J. Blige, and Dilla’s Donuts album, her use of Ableton, and the patience required to make beats that meet her own lofty standards.
I’ve also included tracks on here that I’ve enjoyed for some time by artists such as Raggedy Jeans, Linafornia, and Georgia Anne Muldrow, as well as more recent discoveries like Pursuit Grooves and VHVL.
In the end, I give my highest recommendation to the artists and music included here. I encourage you to explore the catalogs of each producer on today’s playlist as their work goes well beyond what can be summed up with a single song.
The twenty-seventh playlist in The Micro-Chop Daily X series features the following artists, with each name hyperlinked to bring you directly to their Bandcamp, SoundCloud, or website: Obuxum, Linafornia, Kilamanzego, Jillesque, Sadiva, Audio Samuri, Raggedy Jeans, Pursuit Grooves, Georgia Anne Muldrow, VHVL.
Be on the lookout for The Micro-Chop Daily X #28 dropping tomorrow.
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