Fawksie 1-Poetry at it's finest

Fawksie 1 has been laying down tracks,hitting cyphers and representing real Hip Hop for years now. Her delivery is sharp and she is to be taken seriously on the mic. This hip hop veteran has recently entered motherhood and is working on a new project. We ran into her at a show and decided it was time to sit down with her.

Piece: Recently you became a mother. How has being a mom influenced you in Hip Hop?

Fawksie: I think I was already somewhat of a mother in Hip Hop. The way I guide people through my music is like a mother. My lyrics that I spit, the knowlege and truth I try to bring into my music is almost like a mother's blessing.

Piece: Has being a mother influenced your writing at all?

Fawksie: Definitely. It has influenced my writing in a way I have to learn how to balance but as a writer I've always been on the same tip. I was never on no bull shit. Everything that I spit I feel that I can present it to my daughter and be proud of it.

Piece: What is the one thing you would like your daughter to take away from you as a woman in Hip Hop?

Fawksie: Respecting herself and embracing music. Respecting yourself as a woman.

Piece: Who are some of the femcees that you admire or you see that have a lot of potential?



Fawksie: I don't look up since I am a little bit older, I've been going on 9 years now, but definitely the homegirl Reverie and the homegirl Vel the Wonder. I'm so proud of them and I support them all the way. I support most female artists but there's alot of other artists out there that are trying to take the wrong route and taint Hip Hop. They are trying to blow up when it's not even about that.

Piece: What do you feel is tainted in hip hop?

"I am the queen who reigns supreme"

 Fawksie: There's pros and cons. I came up when there wasn't any internet, there was no Facebook, there wasn't any Youtube. We were just straight battling on the streets and battling at open mics. Now everything is different becasue it's almost like a popularity contest. People are just out to get liked and out to get a different type of attention....I don't know haha just being commercialized. People want to live off of their art when that's not what it's for. You gotta have a balance then it's just tainted.

Piece: You've been doing this for a while. How was it at the beginning for you when it was all males in Hip Hop? Did you have something to prove more than anybody else?

Fawksie: The way I carry myself I've never felt that way other females might feel. They might feel a little more attacked by dudes. It's all about how you carry yourself. I always carry myself a certain way to where people respect me and they see how I am on stage.

Piece: What do you want people to take away from your art?

Fawksie: Healing, power, understanding and street knowledge.

Piece: Who are some of the femcee's you look up to?

Fawksie: Jean Grae. A lot of people say Jean Grae but I give a lot of props to Jean Grae becasue she's fuckin' sic. I grew up listening to people like Mc Lyte, Queen Latifah , Lauryn Hill or whatnot and when I originally started getting into the L.A. underground Hip Hop scene JRoz already had an album out when I was barely comin' up and that was one person that I was like wow she has this out and that was something for me to be like I can do this just like her. Just the way a lot of femcees are looking at me the same way. I have people hitting me up asking me questions too but the reality of what I really think is I just put in work. I was out there all the time grinding, selling cd's, rocking mics and that's how people know me; raw in your face. People knew me up close and personal. I'm a humble person and I'll talk to you straight up.



Piece: What are some of your goals? What do you want to see come out of yourself as an artist?

Fawksie: My goal in Hip Hop is to keep making music and to keep inspiring women and emcees. Trying to expose truth to a lot of people who are ignorant to the things that are going on in this world. Hip Hop helped me in so many ways. I can never even repay it but I will in what ever way I can.

Love Struck released in 2012

Piece: What kind of things do you have coming up?

Fawksie: I'm working on a project right now. I don't have a set time. I never go on a time. Let's just say it will be the best album I've released by far.

Piece: Do you have any collaborations that you want to mention?

Fawksie: Yeah. Vel, Reverie  and a lot of dope producers.

Piece: Do you have any last shoutouts or fuck you's you want to say?

Fawksie: I wanna say fuck you to commercial Hip Hop, fuck all these fake ass stupid hoes you know what I'm saying? Making women into objects.Women deserve respect. We're the mothers birthing all you motherfuckers so man up! I wanna  say a big shout out to my homie EQ. He's been one of my biggest inspirations since day one. Big shout out to Northeast L.A. because that's where I was born and that's where I learned what I learned and smoke some herb cuz that's what I'm about to do right now.



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Justice for Israel "ReeFa" Hernandez

On August 6th 18-year-old  Israel Hernandez or ReeFa, as most people knew him, was working on a piece on an abandoned building with two friends there as lookouts. A police officer spotted Reefa and  began to chase him as he tried to flee the scene. As the chase on foot continued officers tackled and tased Reefa. The two friends at the scene said they saw officers high-fiving and laughing after he was tased. Reefa was pronounced dead a few hours later.

Reefa was at the age where he was just beginning life. He was a kid who loved skateboarding and graffiti. He had goals of starting a skateboard design company and was in the process of experimenting with it.

We live in a generation where more and more people are not being silent about major issues going on around the world. One of the issues that more people within our communities are addressing is police brutality. Gloria Galvez a spokesperson for the Youth Justice Coalation (YJC) had heard about Reefa and she instantly felt upset, "In the YJC we have people who have been caught tagging and they spend 1 year in prison and then you have Reefa who gets caught and he gets tased to death. On the other hand you have people like Sheppard Fairy or Banksy, all those big graffiti names, who are so removed from the graffiti community [that] when they tag they get millions of dollars. Certain folks are criminalized for tagging but sometimes tagging is used for corporate gain. It's problematic."

Gloria's passion towards this particular case was sparked because the Travon Martin case had just begun an uprise in the communities due to his verdict. She felt like people were responding well and wanted to keep up the momentum so she organized a march for Reefa and all other victims who have recently passed due to police brutality. Protesters where asked to meet at Echo Park to make slap tags then hit the streets with skateboards, roller skates, scooters or just about anything with wheels. "Echo Park is currently fighting a gang injunction that's passing. We thought that was very relevant. A big focus was connecting Reefas situation to that because in the past there has been incidents where kids have been caught tagging and they get put onto a gang database becasue they are assumed to be gang members", explained Gloria. All in all the march was peaceful. Gloria is constantly looking for ways to help the youth whom nobody wants to work with as alternatives to incarceration. She aims to reinvest the youth back into the community.