On the Record

What is missing from Me Too?

I--it's difficult for me

to say,

but I don't think

it's a coincidence

that most of the women

who have come forward

in Hollywood

have been white women.

I don't think

it's a coincidence

that they are generally

quite successful.

If we look at the earning power

of people in America,

for example,

at the very top are white men,

and at the very bottom

are women of color,

and that is something

that I think is necessary

to look at when we are talking

about who gets to come forward

and give their own stories

about surviving sexual abuse

or sexual assault.

America picks and chooses

who they're gonna listen to.

Not only does class

have an indicator,

but what that person

looks like has an indicator.

So who we decide to listen to

is totally predicated

on who we see as valuable

in America.

A lot of black women

felt disconnected

from Me Too initially.

They felt like, "That's great

"that this sister is out there,

"and we support her

as an individual,

but this movement

is not for us."

If we're gonna

move this forward,

it can't simply remain

a problem of the beautiful,

the wealthy,

the popular.

This has to be a moment where,

yes, that might lead us,

but we need to be able

to make sure

that a broader group of women

are introduced

into the public consciousness

at the same time.

It is high time

that the lens turns to us

and that we're allowed

to be heard

and, more importantly,

believed.

Where is it?

Okay, so I think I have

to look in my closet.

How could I have lost it

so quickly?

Here it is.

Yeah, this is the demo

for "Junior M.A.F.I.A."

That's insane, right?

Yeah.

With Lil' Kim and--

I think actually

Biggie gave me this,

or Daddy-O must have given me

this demo.

At the time, Biggie was--

let's just call it

a entrepreneur.

So he was working outside,

you know?

He just lived

around the corner,

and he was trying

to be a rapper.

I was trying to be

a rap A&R person.

We were all trying

to be something.

[Gang Starr's

"What I'm Here 4"]

When I lived here,

I worked at Empire

Artist Management.

I was a receptionist

pre-Def Jam.

I was working with Gang Starr,

DJ Premier,

Jeru the Damaja.

This is how I would walk

to the train,

and I specifically walked this

way because Biggie told me,

"Walk down my block

because I run my block

"and everybody knows

you're cool with me,

"so if you walk down my block,

you're not gonna have

any problems."

I mean, it was different.

It was the early '90s.

There were crack vials

everywhere.

It was still, you know,

rough and rugged.

I always wonder

what would have happened

if Biggie had lived.

I feel like Biggie--

Biggie had my back.

Music has always been sort of

this language that I spoke.

Everything from, you know,

the Doors to the Beatles

to Prince to jazz.

You know, my mom was a big

Billie Holiday fan,

so I consumed Billie Holiday

voraciously.

I mean, I would stay up

in the middle of the night

and organize my mom's albums

on the living room floor

and I would just play

the songs in order

and I would chase the fades.

I would turn it up to catch

every last drop of the record

because some of the best stuff

was in the fade.

Hip-hop then also had this

additional appeal to me

as this sort of black movement

that was empowering people

who were otherwise lost

and overlooked,

and I grew up feeling

like that was my mission

as the daughter

of local politicians.

I grew up in the thick

of black D.C.

You know,

knocking on doors,

trying to convert one voter

at a time,

and then hip-hop just combined

two things that I loved:

activism and this sense

of pride with music.

And it seemed like it could

sort of, I thought,

change the world.

Mayor Dixon, are you--

Mrs. Dixon, are you prepared

to take the oath?

I am indeed.

Would you please place

your left hand on the Bible?

When my mom was elected

mayor of D.C.,

I took my junior year off

from Stanford

to help

with her inaugural ball,

and in the process of putting

together her inauguration,

I had the opportunity

to pick the artists.

So I picked Rare Essence,

my favorite go-go band.