3 queer female rappers crush the male gaze on BrutX

After giving a voice to men about their traumas and their conceptions of masculinity in the post-#MeToo era, BrutX is this time honoring three queer female rappers who are shaking up the codes of gender. Entitled Queer, the video of about thirty minutes, directed by Sara Kheladi, paints the portrait of three women who are trying as best they can to make a place for themselves in the rap world, often known as macho and homophobic, and who unite to make their voices heard. The documentary begins by introducing twenty-one-year-old Shani Da Flava, who began her career in 2018 by releasing the track Damn. With her regressive 2000s-style looks and her shaved hair, the young woman stands out for her ultra-polished aesthetic, in addition to her rap that she inscribes in a feminist and militant logic. In her songs, she aims to express her femininity as well as her power as a woman, but also to give confidence to those who don’t have it, and of course to “make the girls twerk” on effective flows.

The documentary then plunges us into the world of Turtle White, a young woman from Guyana, who seriously started rapping during the lockdown. Rather reserved, she expresses herself in her tracks with a nonchalant flow and trap rhythms, which she always punctuates with wise punchlines. Finally, BrutX goes to meet Lalla Rami, a twenty-one-year-old transgender woman who is inspired by her own story to build her music. While she is particularly fascinated by shikhāt, traditional Moroccan singers and dancers (her country of origin), she uses rap to respond to all the men who have subjected her to a lot of violence throughout her life, especially during her transition period. In the end, these three queer women who (or almost) come together and record a track at the end of the documentary, a symbol of a whole generation of female artists set aside in an environment still far too dominated by the male gaze.

Queer (2021), by Sara Kheladi, available on BrutX.