Aida Felicitas Rodriguez Barrera aka cuppycake

HIP HOP AND LITTLE GIRLS

To the little girl that moves

to U.N.I.T.Y cause mommas

raising you right.

I promise this music

is for you.

You just got to find the right type.

Don’t let mainstream and the greed

for money sway to a catchy tune

ask you to twerk.

You see our art can be a hit

or miss but it’s new and learning.

Just like you.

Listen to Ms. Lauryn Hill’s “Doo Wop”

learn respect and how you’re to be

a gem in a sea of women

selling their soul to European ways.

Find yourself some Janelle Monae

groove to “I Got The Juice”

learn that you’re it, that light

shines on you, little girl.

Now find her track “I Like That”

learn how to love yourself

even when you’re low,

sitting on the shade.

Even the sun rests, babygirl.

Let’s learn our history

have our pain empower our inprint look up Rapsody

listen to her album Eve

especially her song titled “Nina”.

Let those tears form the words

you will choose to fight back.

Let’s take it further back

to the likes of TLC

how our hearts are not meant

for mediocracy

listen to “No Scrubs”

We got our own and more.

We deserve effort.

Let Unpretty remind us

how we are not to let anyone

make us feel unworthy–unpretty.

Now let’s have some fun

bring it to the now.

Search Lizzo

move to some “Juice”,

cause you’re goals

all they gotta do

is blame it on your juice.

“Truth Hurts” let’s you live

your toxic self

“Good As Hell” guides you

to embrace and be human.

Yes, little girls like you

can be superhuman

but you can rest as well

glorify how you heal

get right up

conquer what the world has set up

for you. Little girl,

hip hop is for you, too.

THE DAY I FELL FOR HIP HOP

I was ten years old

I met my home

home is where your heart feels safe

my hometown being Chitown

where my heart strings roam through

skyscrapers, the Infamous Chicago blues,

windy skies and graffiti filled

with people like me and you

light skin, bi racial colors, attitude

for defenses and sixth senses

like watching the cue for when to run

express love thru rhythm and prose

where our environment shows us how to express

our words as subliminal messages

try to hear my art

there she was

sitting on the front steps of my building

by Little Village on 26th and Central Park Ave

Hip Hop

She whispered love thru musicians like Common

the notion that I deserve romance

in a city where sirens go off

where Chance the Rapper discussed into my mind

we are not living amongst gangs and crime

but a sea of art, spoken words, beats

THIS IS LIFE

we are producers, can manipulate the art

we offer through God

even amongst how some get lost

in these streets

don’t let the dark scary parts of home

sway you from the gospel

Hip Hop

Bj the Chicago Kid delivers for us too

we believe in kingdoms

choose to either create our struggle

or create with our struggles

praise comes in the form of art, love, and hip hop

now let me talk about Mr. West

made me fall hard

since his days from the blueprint

my streets say

“nothing is ever promised tomorrow today”

and though he became someone else

his form shows you how easy it is

to let Hip Hop take you away

from the harsh reality Chi-City can be

Hip Hop

on my headphones

on the way to school

where metal detectors checked us

for guns each morning

Hip Hop

kept giving me a beat to go thru

while emergency sirens went off

on the way home

Hip Hop

comforted me

when shotguns were heard

made me quiver

dream and wonder

Hip Hop

made me anxious

to deliver my message through words

if you can feel my words

if you can feel my hook and beat,

maybe you can hear her too

keeping me alive in the streets

away from crime

the day I fell for Hip Hop

was the day she saved my life

as Common said,

“I met this girl when I was ten years old”

and Her name for me was Hip Hop

AIDA FELICITAS RODRIGUEZ BARRERA is a latinx, genderfluid poet, also known by their poet name Cuppycake or Sebastian. They are currently an undergraduate at UTSA and are double majoring in English Language Arts with a concentration in Mexican American Studies and African American Studies and in Art History. They enjoy the Culinary Arts and plan to continue to break cultural stereotypes, homophobic teachings, and expose toxic, generational upbringings with their writings. More of their pieces can be seen on Cuppycake Writings and Poetry on Facebook.