Queering Hip Hop, Liberation, and Telling Truths with Shirlette Ammons #44

In this episode, musician and artist Shirlette Ammons digs into what it means to be an interdisciplinary artist—moving between music, poetry, and page-based writing with different tools, stakes, and intentions. She reflects on influences ranging from church music and mass choirs to Janet Jackson, Meshell Ndegeocello, Tribe, De La Soul, Outkast, and Lauryn Hill, describing a “rich” musical palette that shaped her sound. Shirlette also explains how learning about blues singer Gladys Bentley helped her “queer” her approach to hip hop performance and build the project Twilight for Gladys Bentley around the question, “What would Gladys Bentley do?” Co-hosts Daniel WK Lee and Mattie Bynum connect her work to movement-building, emphasizing that there’s “no movement without music,” and Shirlette argues the arts are essential for free thinking and critical thinking—especially when independent thought is being discouraged.