Whew! Now that I’ve gotten some feminist concerns off my chest [Sneaker Wave, “We’ve Got to Talk Misogyny in Hip-Hop,” March 8], received overwhelmingly positive feedback, and endured just one instance of mansplaining (why do I even read Facebook comments?), I’m excited to return to the central point of this column: highlighting my favorite new developments in the local hip-hop scene.
As I pointed out in my last column, there are so few quality femcees in Portland’s scene that I can basically name them all. So imagine my surprise when I heard through the grapevine about the slayage that ensued at Mic Check this month courtesy of Wynne, a young blonde-haired rapper from Lake Oswego and Eugene.
She was the sole feminine presence on the bill, and took on better-known local artists Hanif, Vursatyl, Theory Hazit, OnlyOne, and Donte Thomas. To quote Mic Check photographer (and friend) Renée Lopez, Wynne had “bars on top of bars” and “murdered everyone in the cypher,” even though it was her first live performance in Portland. It’s fitting, then, that her name is pronounced like “win.”