ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the three most pervasive ones that erased pioneering African American hip hop masters from the main historical narrative. They are selective artistic memory, over-sexualization, and the rise of agents. When locating popular dances today through a feminine lens, many of the dances people see are derivatives of what was done in the videos, tours, and performances of the late 1980s and 1990s, when and where their historical contributions were a legacy worth emulating. A select community of dancers worked numerous tours and performed in countless videos with various musical artists, negotiating their compensation and creating a solid hiring network. Systemically, once African Americans affect mainstream culture, a dominant White narrative rooted in anti-Blackness whitewashes and revises Black cultural influences into centering White interpretations lacking the original context, history, and originators. Hip Hop is a global cultural language, but the culture is still very Black.
