Lesbian emcee joins other local hip hop artists at The Bends tonight

By Tiffany Razzano on Wed, Mar 27, 2013 at 2:12 pm

From an early age, Figment was drawn to the written word, writing poetry, essays, children’s stories, comics; it was about the content, not the genre. She just knew that she had something to say.

Then, she said, even though she didn’t seek it out, “hip hop … found me.” She appreciated hip hop, sometimes listening to ‘80s rappers and ‘90s alternative hip hop artists. “But being a rapper was never really in the forefront of my mind.”

She met a DJ who heard her poetry and asked her to rap over some of his beats. “From that spawned a whole new world of artistic expression,” Figment said. “It’s become one of the main outlets for my emotion and creativity. I had stumbled on something new, something that seamlessly fuses two things that encompass who I am: poetry and rhythm.”

LGBT issues don’t usually work their way to the forefront of her lyrics, though. Rather she’s inspired by more universal themes — love, social standing, economic issues, the world at large — themes everyone can relate to.

“I am gay, but I am not defined by my lesbianism, just as heterosexuals are not defined by their heterosexuality,” Figment said. “I feel pain and anger, I feel joy and love, just like everyone else no matter their orientation, so I choose to have that come out in my music.”

Tonight’s show at The Bends, 919 1st Ave. N., St. Petersburg, starts at 8 p.m. Find more information on the event here. For more info on Figment, visit her reverbnation.com page.

[
      {
        "name": "Ad - NativeInline - Injected",
        "component": "12461396",
        "insertPoint": "3",
        "requiredCountToDisplay": "5"
      },{
        "name": "Real 1 Player (r2) - Inline",
        "component": "12436357",
        "insertPoint": "2/3",
        "requiredCountToDisplay": "9"
      }
    ]

St. Petersburg emcee Figment proves there’s more to lesbian music than girls with acoustic guitars.

Eschewing that stereotype, the hip hop artist and spoken word poet instead picks up a mic and expresses herself through a flow of beats and rhymes.

“Hip hop is a very real form of music and expression, one of realist I've ever seen,” Figment said. “One (heart) beat in the background and one or more passionate lyricists/poets taking control of everything around them. It can be breathtaking.”

Figment takes the stage tonight at The Bends in St. Pete as part of a benefit for fellow rapper Rhymesayers Independent P.O.S., who will soon undergo a kidney transplant. Other local hip hop musicians on the bill include Prossess, Pedro el Poeta, Prince Golden of Samurai Shotgun, and spoken word artist Camilla Shoosmith.