Princess Nokia performed three songs at a charity fashion show for Cambridge University earlier this week after experiencing an act of sexism. The New York born and raised rapper has been building a career for herself as an artist and as an ambassador for empowering young women of color in New York City. Her recent hit album, 1992, released in 2016 has made her a coveted act for festivals and the like.
As Cambridge Universty’s forum for women and non-binary people of color reports, the singer “is claimed to have encountered a white male student “who harassed her during her performance” and mouthed “dirty obscenities like, show me your tits.” Though unconfirmed there are reports from show-goers that say she punched said male before walking out of the venue. The Guardian posted this tweet:
In an interview with BUST last year, Princess Nokia said that art is her safe space; “When I hit the stage, I have a lot of fun being in the wholesome environment I’m creating.” So it is a shame that at a charity event of all things, her safe-space was invaded by a dude who didn’t even know her name– ““I was standing in the audience and was told by a fellow audience member that the name of the performer was ‘Abigail’. Given that I was enjoying the performance, I shouted out ‘Let’s go Abigail!’,” he told The Cambridge Student.
The event was shameful but what is more shameful is that it was not a one-off. As a writer notes in the Fly story, “The humiliation experienced by Princess Nokia on stage is all too common in the daily experiences of women of color at Cambridge.” They added that the incident “is emblematic of the routine degradation of women, especially of women of color, who attempt to operate within spaces dominated by white men – spaces like Cambridge.”
Photo by Danielle St. Laurent
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